A Humboldt Park man has been charged with killing a beloved 70-year-old Northwestern Memorial Hospital employee in a hit-and-run traffic crash on Lower Wacker Drive in December 2020.
Judge Mary Marubio ordered Marcel Windham, 21, held in lieu of $200,000 bail.
Christine Campbell was a month from retirement when she left work around 11:30 p.m. on December 2, 2020. About 15 minutes later, Windham ran a red light at Lower Wacker Drive and Columbus Drive and slammed into the side of her car, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said. Windham’s car was traveling 53 MPH at impact, according to Murphy.
Windham and his female passenger got out of their car and asked the driver of a vehicle traveling behind Campbell for a ride, Murphy said. That driver, who happened to be Campbell’s co-worker, refused.
Murphy said surveillance video shows Windham and his passenger getting into another vehicle and leaving the area.
Campbell was pronounced dead at Northwestern.
DNA on the steering wheel airbag in Windham’s car matches Windham, Murphy said, proving that he was the driver at the time of the crash. Windham’s phone GPS records allegedly put him at the scene, too.
Windham’s attorney said he is a high school graduate who lives with his girlfriend and their newborn baby.
He is charged with felony reckless homicide with a motor vehicle and felony leaving the scene of an accident involving death.
After Campbell’s death, her son, Herman, told WGN that his mom was “the greatest person I ever knew.”
“The world is at a loss since she’s gone, I can guarantee you that one. She gave a lot of love and a lot of knowledge. Everybody she came in contact with, she always left them with something.”
He also sent a message to the driver who killed his mother: “Just turn yourself in, cause you can’t run and you can’t hide ’cause the law got more time and more eyes than you do, and eventually you will get caught.”
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