DENVER — The father of the 14-year-old boy who allegedly shot and killed a bouncer outside a popular bar in Denver's Five Points neighborhood in July is accused of hiding his son from law enforcement after the crime.
Todd Kidd worked as a bouncer at Federales Denver, located near 29th and Larimer. Around 6:40 p.m. on July 10, Kidd intervened in a disturbance outside of the bar and was shot. He succumbed to his injuries two days later.
After "extensive investigative efforts," the Denver Police Department's fugitive unit investigators determined that the suspect, 14-year-old Steven "Echo" Marquez, Jr., was in Casper, Wyoming. He was arrested there on July 16 with assistance from the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and Casper Police Department, DPD said.
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The teen's father, Steven Joseph Marquez, Sr., was arrested on Sept. 27 for suspicion of being an accessory to a crime and attempting to influence a public servant. Denver7 obtained his heavily redacted arrest affidavit on Thursday.
According to the 9-page court document, investigators contacted Marquez Sr. on July 13 and asked about the location of his son. He reportedly told police he last saw his son on July 11 — one day after the shooting and one day before Kidd succumbed to his injuries.
Marquez Sr. told authorities he would turn his son in at Denver Police Headquarters and said, "I need to go get my son from Thornton," before hanging up on the detective, according to the affidavit. The father then turned off his phone, a "common tactic to avoid electronic surveillance," the court document states.
The detective waited at DPD Headquarters until 10 p.m., but Marquez Sr. and his son never appeared. The father also did not call back to make other arrangements, according to court documents.
The next day, on July 14, the father reportedly contacted the detective and said he would turn his son in on July 15 "but only after he, the suspect, told his story to a news station." Marquez Sr. told the detective there was video of the shooting "that the world needs to see," according to the affidavit.
The court document says authorities obtained a search warrant for Marquez Sr.'s cell phone records and spotted it traveling north along Interstate 25 into Wyoming on July 14. Around 12:36 a.m. on July 15, the father's cell phone "pinged" in Casper and remained there for about an hour before heading south on I-25 and eventually back into the Denver metro area, according to the affidavit.
Authorities arrested the teen in Casper around 10 p.m. on July 16. According to the father's affidavit, the 14-year-old had shaved his head "in an apparent effort to disguise [himself]."
The next day, detectives found posts on Marquez Sr.'s Facebook that suggested he had talked with his son about the facts of the case, according to the affidavit.
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