Cook County judge faces criticism after fatal stabbing in Portage Park

CHICAGO – A deadly stab Chicago’s Northwest Side rekindling calls for changes in the way domestic violence cases are handled, following a tragic incident that left a woman dead and an off-duty police officer injured Tuesday afternoon.

The incident happened around 2:23 p.m 5600 block of West Leland Avenuewhere the officer saw a man stabbing a woman and intervened by shooting the suspect.

During the incident, the officer suffered a leg wound and was taken to Lutheran General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He is expected to recover.

The victim of the stabbing, identified as Lacramioara Beldie, aged 54, died on the spot.

Surveillance footage from a neighbor’s Ring camera captured the suspect fleeing the scene in a gold minivan.

Hours later, Chicago police located the suspect, identified as 57-year-old Constantin Beldie, dead inside a vehicle in the 5500 block of West Leland Avenue.

Court records show Beldie had a history of domestic violence charges.

He was arrested Oct. 7 on kidnapping and domestic battery charges.

According to a petition for preventive arrest, prosecutors said that on October 3, Lacramioara was walking in an alley when she was approached by Constantin.

Constantin allegedly got out of his vehicle and accused Lacramioara of poisoning him. He then punched her several times in the face and body.

When Lacramioara tried to defend herself, Constantin allegedly threw her to the ground using her backpack.

He then dragged her to his vehicle and placed her in the back seat. She was in the vehicle for about 10 seconds before escaping, prosecutors said.

A witness said he heard Lacramioara scream and the incident was caught on surveillance video.

Constantin would have fled the scene after the incident.

On October 8, the victim was granted an order of protection against Constantine by Judge Thomas Nowinski. The order was due to expire on October 29.

On Monday, Constantin appeared in court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to the following charges:

• Aggravated domestic battery/strangulation
• Attempted abduction by force or threat
• Aggravated battery/strangulation
• Aggravated battery/public place
• Unlawful detention

Constantin was released under electronic monitoring.

The stabbing has renewed criticism of the court system’s handling of domestic violence cases. The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, a coalition of more than 40 organizations, called for reform and criticized Judge Nowinski’s handling of the case.

“Judge Nowinski’s failure to protect the community has now resulted in two tragic, preventable murders,” said Amanda Pyron, president and CEO of The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence. “He has shown time and time again that he lacks the judgment to keep survivors safe and at the very least needs to be reassigned. When survivors go to the courts for protection, that protection must be effective. Judge Nowinski has failed in this duty and allowing him to continue to hear domestic violence cases sends the wrong message to Chicagoland survivors.”

Advocates say these cases highlight systemic failures to protect victims of domestic violence.

The network also called on the Preprocess Division to improve screening procedures to ensure judges have all the information they need when making decisions about releasing suspects in domestic violence cases.