MOUNT PLEASANT, WI A northwest suburban man pleaded not guilty and is still held without bond on charges of murdering his estranged wife who had been staying with a friend in Wisconsin to hide from him before he killed her with a hatchet.
Cristian Loga-Negru, 38, faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide, mayhem and kidnapping, according to the Racine County, Wis., District Attorney’s office.
Loga-Negru and his deceased 36-year-old wife, Roxane E. Abrudan, are both from Arlington Heights, according to the court complaint.
Officers responded just before 8:30 p.m. to a 911 call about a domestic violence incident in the 600 block of Calvin Lane, a statement from Mount Pleasant, Wis. Sheriff’s office.
The caller told police they “heard someone screaming and a body was observed being dragged across the front lawn to a vehicle,” police said. The man then drove off with the woman about two minutes before police arrived.
“They had been separated and the wife was trying to hide from her husband in Mount Pleasant at a friend’s residence. Prior to this assault the victim had filed a restraining order against the suspect in Arlington Heights,” police said.
The woman had been returning to her friend’s home when she was attacked with a “hatchet-type weapon,” police said.
About 10 minutes later, a second 911 caller reported a woman bleeding at the Super 8 Motel at 1150 Oakes Rd., police said.
The husband was arrested without incident moments after police arrived in the motel parking lot, the statement said. According to the court complaint, Loga-Negru told police that he “can stand a lot of smells, but not her blood on me.”
Officers also located multiple passports, including a Romanian passport and ID cards, from Loga-Negru, the complaint said.
