Hatchet murder suspect still hasn't hired lawyer
An Arlington Heights man accused of killing his estranged wife in a hatchet attack last month appeared in a Racine County, Wisconsin, courtroom Thursday, but a hearing to determine his mental competency to stand trial was postponed because he has not yet hired a lawyer.
Cristian Loga-Negru, 38, faces charges of murder, kidnapping and mayhem stemming from the Nov. 19 slaying of Roxana Abrudan in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, where authorities said she had been hiding from him at a friend's home.
Loga-Negru has been held without bail in the Racine County jail since his arrest.
In court on Thursday, he said he has not been able to get in touch with family in Europe to transfer funds that would allow him to hire a private attorney. Loga-Negru is a Romanian citizen who attended law school in Romania and the United States.
Racine County District Attorney W. Richard Chiapete said Loga-Negru does not qualify for a public defender.
The competency hearing has been rescheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19, and Loga-Negru has been ordered to have representation by that time.
Loga-Negru and his 36-year-old wife, both of Arlington Heights, had married in July, but the relationship turned violent soon after, according to an order of protection Abrudan had recently obtained against her husband.
Loga-Negru is accused of tracking her to Mount Pleasant, 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.
“This is as brutal a case as I think we will ever see,” Chiapete said during a bond hearing last month.
Loga-Negru faces life plus 85 years in prison if convicted.
Cook County court records show Loga-Negru had finalized a divorce in April, three months before marrying Abrudan, from a woman he married in 2010. That's the same year, records show, he got divorced from another woman.