A man has been charged with the murder of a beloved Chicago charter boat captain six months after he was killed.
Alexis Trader, 34, was charged with first-degree murder Thursday in the Labor Day weekend death of Nabil Abzal, 63, who was known by those at DuSable Harbor at “Captain Bill.”
Abzal was sleeping on his charter yacht, named “Gone”, on August 30, 2025, when Trader allegedly climbed a locked, dock gate and let some friends, a man and two women, onto the pier, according to prosecutors.
Surveillance video shows the trespassers entering the area around 2:45 a.m. When the women got onto the boat and began taking photos, Abzal came out and confronted them.
Abzal escorted the women off the boat and toward the gate, prosecutors said. As he opened the gate, Trader allegedly approached and struck him. The captain hit his head on a metal part of the gate, then fell into the water and sank beneath the surface, prosecutors said.
“It’s the equivalent of giving someone a push as they stand next to a cliff,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Pekara said. “This was an unprovoked attack on a senior citizen.”
A nearby fisherman heard the splash and was told by Trader that someone had fallen into the water and should be rescued, prosecutors said. The fisherman had a friend call 911, it was reported.
Trader also called 911 but did not disclose how Abzal fell into the water and gave police a false name, “Young James,” prosecutors said.
When police and paramedics arrived, Trader again said someone had fallen into the water and pointed to the location where Abzal had gone under but did not mention hitting him, prosecutors said. Trader allegedly then scaled the fence again to retrieve what appeared to be a wallet, then left the scene with the group in a ride-share vehicle.
Ten minutes later, Chicago Fire Department divers recovered Abzal’s body and he was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy determined he drowned and ruled his death a homicide.
An investigation revealed that yacht staff had found blunt wraps and vapes on the boat where the women had been sitting. Investigators later recovered surveillance video showing Trader strike Abzal, prosecutors said.
Detectives were also able to identify Trader through body-worn camera footage from a DUI arrest a week earlier. Trader was already in custody on an unrelated aggravated battery case when he was charged in Abzal’s death. Prosecutors said his criminal history dates back to 2008 and includes burglaries, attempted burglaries and an armed robbery, along with an alleged attack on a gas station attendant in January 2025.
In court Thursday, defense attorney Scott Kozicki claimed that no one directly witnessed Trader strike Abzal and argued that his client stayed to help.
“Did he run? No. He called 911 and told them all the information that he knew,” Kozicki said, according to The Chicago Sun Times. “He’s trying to help, he’s not hiding.”
But prosecutors argued that Trader’s actions showed recklessness and deception, including giving a false name and leaving the scene. Judge Hock said Trader’s history and the alleged violence justified detention.
“A violent punch in this way of someone who’s not expecting it at night, it’s clear that it’ll be a strong probability of death or great bodily harm,” Hock said. The judge ordered Trader held in jail pending trial. His next court date is scheduled for February 25.
Abzal’s death devastated his loved ones and the boating community. He worked as a licensed charter captain on multiple boats and often slept aboard vessels to avoid commuting from his home in Plainfield, Illinois.
“I was stunned. I have no words to express how I felt. It’s still very surreal,” his wife, Laura Abzal, told The Chicago Sun Times at the time.
“At first, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he had a heart attack,’” she added. “He was very careful, very safety-conscious. He didn’t drink. He never did anything that would impair his judgment.”
Abzal earned the nickname “Captain Bill” because many struggled to pronounce his given name. His wife said he fell in love with boating decades ago after a neighbor took him out on a small, beat-up motorboat.
“He loved [Chicago] and he loved [Lake Michigan], and had it not been against his beliefs, he would want to have been buried in that lake,” she said. “He never met someone who wasn’t a friend.”
