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Police reports detail abuse before Arlington Hts. murder

Roxana Abrudan asked Arlington Heights police for help several times in the eight months before her murder.

She called them to her condo in March 2014 and asked to be escorted inside because she was afraid her then-boyfriend, Cristian Loga-Negru, was waiting for her.

Months later, she told them how Loga-Negru beat her with his fists a few days after their July marriage, and again a few months later. In October she showed up at the police station to describe verbal abuse and stalking, detailing how Loga-Negru would wait in the lobby of her workplace for multiple days in a row.

She told them he had a gun and had threatened to “put a bullet in her head” or “hire a guy to kill her for $50,000.” She got an order of protection from the courts. She started the process of hiring a divorce attorney. She fled her house and stayed with an employer in Wisconsin.

None of it kept her alive.

Police reports newly released by the Arlington Heights Police Department after a Freedom of Information Act request detail an abusive and fearful relationship throughout 2014 leading up to Abrudan's gory hatchet murder Nov. 19 in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin.

Loga-Negru, 38, pleaded not guilty late last year to charges of murder, kidnapping and mayhem related to Abrudan's death. He was found competent to stand trial and will next appear in Racine County Court on Friday morning for a pretrial conference.

In documents recently obtained by the Daily Herald, Arlington Heights police first became acquainted with the couple March 9 when they got a call from a woman who feared Loga-Negru took too many Advil pills. Later in the same report, the woman, whose name is redacted, said she didn't think it was a suicide attempt but that Loga-Negru was just trying to scare her. Loga-Negru told paramedics he actually only took two Advil pills that night.

Two days later, Abrudan — now named — called 911 again, telling authorities she was involved in a domestic dispute with her now ex-boyfriend Loga-Negru. Police had already advised him to leave their condo and not come back, but she had just gotten a text message from him saying he was outside her condo, the report said.

“Abrudan related that she didn't want to leave her vehicle without a police escort, because she wasn't sure if (Loga-Negru) was waiting for her in the parking lot,” the report said.

A police officer walked her to her door without incident and then called Loga-Negru and again told him not to contact Abrudan by phone or text.

There's then a seven-month gap in the police records, during which Abrudan and Loga-Negru, both Romanian immigrants, married in July, according to Cook County records.

On Oct. 29, Abrudan showed up at the Arlington Heights police station to ask for help.

She told an officer she was planning to end her marriage to Loga-Negru because of verbal abuse and asked for information on obtaining an order of protection against him.

Police gave her a domestic violence information form, instructions for how to get the order of protection and the phone number for the village's victim services coordinator, according to the report.

“Because Abrudan is scared of how (Loga-Negru) will react to her leaving, she requested that I do not contact him,” the officer wrote.

Two days later on Oct. 31, Abrudan came back to the police station, accompanied by her employer, to report that she was the victim of domestic battery and feared for her well-being.

Abrudan told police she married Loga-Negru on July 11, 2014, after dating him for two years. Since the wedding, she said, Loga-Negru had beaten her twice.

Once was less than a week after the marriage, around July 16. The other was Oct. 2, reports said.

“After each incident her husband explained that he will 'put a bullet in her head' and that he 'had hired a guy to kill her for $50,000,'” the report said.

The most recent attack had happened because Loga-Negru was upset that Abrudan had been working past 5 p.m.

Abrudan's boss, whose name is redacted, had recently noticed issues as well, according to the report.

He told police that on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, Loga-Negru was seen sitting in the lobby of their office and asked a cleaning crew to help him get into the office suite.

Her boss told police he saw bruises on Abrudan after Oct. 2, but they had healed by the time she decided to report the abuse later that month. Since there was no evidence of the battery, Loga-Negru was not charged with any crime.

At the time of the Oct. 31 police report, Abrudan told police she was in the process of hiring a divorce attorney.

“Because of the history of violence and the fear of great bodily harm or death she has moved to an unknown location and deactivated her cellphone,” the report said.

She said she knew Loga-Negru had a handgun that he kept in a drawer under the bed. Police found he had a valid FOID card but no concealed carry permit.

On Nov. 3, Abrudan received an order of protection against Loga-Negru at the Cook County courthouse in Rolling Meadows. After the proceedings, a copy of the order was faxed to the Illinois State Police to revoke Loga-Negru's FOID card.

The same day, Arlington Heights police went to the couple's condo, where Loga-Negru was living alone, to notify him about the order of protection.

Loga-Negru opened the door and saw the police. He picked up a winter coat and started to head toward the bathroom, but police told him to stop, the report said.

Police told him about the order of protection and asked him to surrender his firearm because his FOID card was no longer valid.

“Loga-Negru told me he did not know where it was,” the officer wrote. Then the officer picked up Loga-Negru's coat and found the weapon inside, loaded, the report said.

Police served him a trespass warning, read him his Miranda rights and told him that he needed to vacate the condo immediately.

Loga-Negru gathered up some clothing and toiletries and as police walked him to his car, he reportedly told the officer that Abrudan “should have had more respect for her husband.”

Police officers put a small piece of Scotch tape along the seam of the condo door to determine if Loga-Negru came back, the report said.

Two weeks later, Loga-Negru is accused of “hunting” Abrudan to her boss's house in Wisconsin where she was staying, attacking her with a hatchet, then dragging her body into a car and driving to a nearby motel, where police apprehended him. Abrudan died later that night at a Milwaukee hospital.

The last time Arlington Heights police were involved with the case was Dec. 1, according to a report, when officers escorted Abrudan's father into the couple's condo to package up her personal effects — clothing, a Bible, family pictures — to be sent back to Romania.

Loga-Negru is being held without bail and faces life plus 85 years in prison if convicted.

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Cristian Loga-Negru, 38, during his initial appearance in court via teleconference from the Racine County jail in November. Courtesy of Racine Journal Times
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