Arlington Heights Man Jailed After Wife Killed With a Hatchet

An Arlington Heights man kidnapped his wife and attacked her with a hatchet Wednesday night in Wisconsin, killing her, authorities told the Racine County Eye.

Mount Pleasant police told the news agency that the 38-year-old husband will face charges of mayhem with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, and first degree intentional homicide while armed. Cristian Loga-Negru is being held on $1 million bail on those charges.

The Racine County Eye reports that neighbors called police after hearing screams and seeing a woman being dragged across the grass at a house in the 600 block of Calvin Lane in Mount Pleasant, just outside of Racine. Police also were called to a nearby Super 8 motel at 8:30 p.m. for a report of a woman bleeding from the head, and they determined the calls were related. Police said the husband forced her to the motel and he attacked her in the car.

The Racine Journal Times reports that the woman was staying with a friend at the house to hide from her husband, against whom she had a restraining order. WISN 12 reports that the owner of the motel said the husband was in town to visit his father for Thanksgiving. The hotel owner told the TV news reporter that the father ran into the motel at about 9 p.m. and told him to call police.

Police said the wife was struck in the head. She was flown by helicopter to a local hospital but died around 10 p.m. Wednesday of her injuries. The husband was taken into custody and remains in the Racine County Jail.

Neighbors in Arlington Heights told NBC Chicago that Loga-Negru wasn’t a very nice person to live near and everyone knew the marriage was turbulent.

“Everyone in the building, they say hi to each other and stuff,” neighbor Stephanie Gomez told the TV news reporter. “We are all civil, and this guy was just there. He was just rude.”