17-Mar-16 – Surveillance video of an altercation in River North more than a month ago that resulted in the death of a Lake View man outside Mother Hubbard’s Sports Pub does exist but Chicago police will not release it to the public.

After his shift ended at Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile, cocktail server Marques Gaines was hit in the head at about 4:20 a.m. by another man in front of the bar near the intersection of State & Hubbard. He fell into the street and was struck accidentally by a taxi. Taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition, Gaines, age 32, was pronounced dead about four hours later.

In the five weeks that followed, Marques’s sister, Drexina Nelson, and other family members flew from Georgia to speak with Chicago Police Department detectives investigating the case.

They “were disappointed to learn that they have no leads and won’t even release the video footage they have to the family,” said a friend of the family, Kim Lippke, on Wednesday.

Phyllis Nelson, who was Marques’s guardian after his parents died in 1992, says based on what she has been told, she believes Marques was confronted by two men after he left the 7-Eleven convenience store next door to the bar. After he tried to walk away from the men, she speculates, Marques was punched in the back of the head by one of the men, knocking him unconscious into the street. As he lay in the street, the second man went through Marques’s pockets and took his debit card and mobile phone. Both assailants then ran away.

The taxi driver stopped and was not ticketed. He says he did not see Gaines lying in the street.

(Above) 7-Eleven at corner of State & Hubbard, next door to Mother Hubbard’s Sports Pub with its dark red awning. (Click on image to view larger version.)

Family says release of video will help find killer

According to Drexina Nelson, a noted fashion photographer in Atlanta, the video “does not capture the final moments of Marques’s life” and should be released to the public as it could result in someone identifying his assailants. She believes police will not release the video because it portrays River North as dangerous.

“They want to make the area seem pretty and that it is a safe place so that it will not deter tourists,” says Drexina (left). This is all about money. Well, to me Marques’s life was more…than money. He did not deserve this and I will not let up until they make this right.”

More than 100 people from Chicago alone attended a “homegoing celebration” for Marques on February 20 in Atlanta, near where he was born in Fayetteville. The service, says Kim Lippke, “was beautiful and has helped with the healing process, but it is still hard to move on with so many questions unanswered.”

According to Lippke, the family is trying to organize a rally at State & Hubbard, proposed for April 2, “in hopes that it will inspire the police to take further action on the case and make that area safer in the future.”

Friends, meanwhile, are trying to raise money to hire a private investigator. As of Wednesday, 114 people had donated $6,707.

CPD denies records request

After considering it for a month, Chicago police have denied, in its entirety, a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by Loop North News on February 10 for documents such as the Original Case Incident Report.

In a March 11 letter to Loop North News, CPD said the investigation is ongoing but also hinted at the existence of suspects in the case…

CPD also denied our request for a copy of any surveillance video.