 "Photo: Marissa Evans")
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Former ACC student Nikolas Evans exited the Moose Knuckle bar on Sixth Street Friday March 27 around 2 a.m. with his friend Hugo Lagunas when the two men were approached by a group of people on Neches Street, officials say.
Evans was trying to break up a fight when one of the men in the group punched Evans in the face, knocking him to the ground, witnesses told police.
Evans died from these injuries at the University Medical Center at Brackenridge on April 5.
"Nikolas was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and thought he would do the right thing," said his mother, Marissa Evans.
Evans, 21, had been a student at ACC in 2006 and 2007. He took his prerequisite classes at Riverside before transferring to UT. He was taking film classes through UT and the Austin Film Festival.
"He had a interest in writing," said Marissa Evans. "Nikolas was a writer at a real young age: he always kept a journal, wrote poems."
"He didn't see color in people. He wanted the whole world to get along and he thought that he could make that happen through his documentary films."
According to his mother, Evans was not the kind of man to cause trouble.
"He was not a big drinker. He had just turned 21, and he was having some fun. But he never got carried away or stupid."
The night of the incident, Evans was trying to stop an altercation.
"He was always the one who thought that maybe by telling a joke or doing a silly dance it might help to diffuse the situation. He used to call it his dorky little white dance. He thought that they'd think it was funny but obviously they didn't."
Police reported that videotape footage from businesses in the vicinity of the altercation show a dozen or more witnesses, however, the suspect has not yet been apprehended.
"We have received some leads which we are following up now. It is part of an ongoing investigation," said Detective David Fugitt from the Austin Police Department.
The APD homicide Division website contains a description of the suspect, and police are asking for tips to be made on any of the three direct lines, while Capital Area Crime Stoppers is offering up to a $1,000 reward for information pertaining to the case. According to Fugitt, there is no evidence that Evans knew the killer.
After his death Evans mother agreed to have his organs donated, and controversially obtained permission to have a sample of her son's sperm harvested so that she could have a surrogate mother produce a grandchild in the future.
Marissa Evans was aware that her son had not given permission on his driver license for his organs to be donated when she agreed to the procedure.
"I just know that he was just that kind of person," said Evans. "Nikolas was brain dead. If they would have turned off his life support, his organs would have died. I thought that he would have made the decision like I did. He saved five lives with his organs. Oh I know that he would have wanted that."
Evans went on to ask for Nikolas' sperm to be retrieved during the donation process.
"Not only did I feel that I could let him live on with other people with his organs, I should let him live on with a child. I was going to do anything that I could for that," said Evans.
When the hospital officials did not cooperate with her request, Evans turned to Austin attorney Mark Mueller.
"I agreed to take the case because she needed immediate help and she was referred by a fellow trial lawyer," Mueller said. "When a brother or sister warrior for justice calls for help, we all do what we can."
Mueller requested an emergency hearing at which, April 6 at 3 p.m., Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman signed a mandatory injunction for the medical examiner's office to maintain the body of Evans and provide access so an expert could take the specimen.
"There were no close precedents in Austin, Texas or the USA involving a similar situation," Mueller said. "I can understand the mother's desire to see her son live on through a child/grandchild. That's her personal family decision; it's a difficult and traumatic time for her."
Wednesday, Austin urologist Dr. Elizabeth Houser offered to collect the sperm.
"The mother was very very grateful," Houser said.
Houser agreed to perform the harvesting because "I know how," Houser said.
"It was a mother's wish, she was hurting, and I honestly didn't think that they would find any viable sperm. It is highly unlikely that long after death," she added.
Nikolas had been off life-support for about 15 hours at the time of harvest, according to Evans. Experts state that the sperm needs to be collected within 24 hours of death or the body be kept at a temperature no higher than 39.2 degrees.
According to Evans, the fertility clinic is confident that enough viable sperm was retrieved. "We're not going to know until we find a surrogate and we try," said Evans.
"I will definitely try. I don't know when. Honestly there is a lot of stuff I need to work through to make sure me, my son, my family are doing okay first but we'll get it done."
The harvested tissue is now at the sperm bank California Cryobank.
"The bank has the sperm for two years but I will probably not wait that long."
Marissa Evans had consulted her family about the organ donation and sperm collection. "I talked to my ex-husband and his wife extensively. They thought that it would be wonderful. We would all provide the baby with an extensive amount of love. Everybody loved Nikolas, so we believe that everybody will love the baby as well."
When asked about the questionable ethics of the request, Houser replied "What I did was not unethical at all. I just harvested some tissue. What the mother does do or not with that may be questioned as unethical, but not what I did."
Commenting on the underlying motive of the mother's appeal, Houser declared "I don't think it was a desire to recreate her son as much as just wanting to raise grandchildren."
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