Arlington Heights man sentenced to life for hatchet murder
An Arlington Heights man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2014 hatchet slaying of his estranged wife.
Cristian Loga-Negru's claim of insanity was rejected by a Racine County judge in July, and the same judge on Wednesday issued a life sentence for the killing of Roxana Abrudan in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, on Nov. 19, 2014.
"You asked for hope. Your father asked for humanity. What hope does Roxana have?" Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene asked Loga-Negru.
Loga-Negru, a Romanian immigrant and businessman, apologized in court. He said he has been painted as a villain but added, "A villain cannot cry every night."
Loga-Negru and Abrudan, 36, also a Romanian immigrant, had married earlier in 2014. Authorities say that before her death, Abrudan had fled their home in Arlington Heights and was staying with her boss, Michael Enz, and his wife in Mount Pleasant. Before leaving, Abrudan had made several calls to police about her husband and obtained an order of protection against him.
Loga-Negru, 40, tracked his wife to Wisconsin and lay in wait outside her boss' home, then hit her in the head several times with the hatchet outside the home. After the attack, he put her in his car and drove to a nearby hotel where he had been staying.
Police arrested him at the hotel, and Abrudan died later that night in a Milwaukee hospital.
"This is as brutal a case as I think we will ever see," Racine County District Attorney W. Richard Chiapete said at the time of the killing.
Loga-Negru pleaded no contest in May to first-degree intentional homicide. In July, Gasiorkiewicz rejected Loga-Negru's contention that he was insane when he killed his wife. After a two-day trial, the judge found that Loga-Negru was likely "full of rage and emotional turmoil" but that did not qualify as a mental disease or defect.
Enz told the court Wednesday he hopes Loga-Negru "thinks every day of his life about what he did and what he took away from this woman."
Loga-Negru may be eligible for release in 30 years.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.