Murder charges filed against suspect in drowning of beloved boat captain

A Cook County Jail detainee was scheduled to appear in court Thursday, accused of causing the suspicious drowning death of a beloved 63-year-old boat captain who fell into the lake at DuSable Harbor over the Labor Day weekend, police said.

Alexis Trader, who was already in Cook County Jail on an unrelated burglary case, was charged with murder Wednesday afternoon in the death of Nabil Abzal, 63, according to a police report. Trader was expected to appear in court Thursday for a detention hearing on the charge.

According to the police report Trader allegedly caused Abzal to fall into the water by shoving him into a gate, causing a head injury, on Aug. 30 in the 200 block of North Lakefront Drive.

He was among nine people killed in violence over the long Labor Day weekend. His cause of death was drowning, but the manner of his death was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Abzal, 63, was pulled from the DuSable Harbor on Aug. 30 and pronounced dead at the scene, Chicago police said.

Officers spoke with witnesses on scene, who said they spotted Abzal walking on the dock, and falling backwards into the lake, according to the report.

Detectives reviewed surveillance video of the dock area and saw Abzal walking on the dock approaching the dock gate exit, followed by two women he didn’t know. As the group reached the dock gate, Abzal opened it and was confronted by two men, according to the report. The video then shows Abzal being “propelled” into a metal grate attached to the dock gate, causing him to hit his head and fall into the lake, the report said.

“I was stunned. I have no words to express how I felt. It’s still very surreal,” said his wife, Laura Abzal at the time. “It’s going to sink in when I realize today’s Tuesday, and he’s not home.”