'Unsolved Mysteries': What to Know About Alonzo Brooks's Potential Hate Crime Case
The FBI and Department of Justice have reopened the case of Alonzo Brooks, who attended a party in La Cygne, Kansas, in East Central Kansas, on an April night in 2004 and never returned. His body was found in a creek a month later. He was 23 years old. His story is also featured on the reboot of the Netflix series Unsolved Mysteries.
On June 11, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister and FBI Special Agent in Charge Timothy Langan announced that the FBI is reopening the investigation. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 to anyone who knows anything about Brooks's disappearance. The decision to reopen Alonzo's case is potentially motivated by the case being featured on Unsolved Mysteries.
"We are investigating whether Alonzo was murdered," McAllister told KSNT. "His death certainly was suspicious, and someone, likely multiple people, know(s) what happened that night in April 2004. It is past time for the truth to come out. The code of silence must be broken. Alonzo's family deserves to know the truth, and it is time for justice to be served."
Alonzo's death is being investigated as a potential hate crime
Per KSNT, the FBI is looking into the murder as a racially motivated crime.
I’m Mexican and his father is Black," his mother, Maria Ramirez, told NBC's Dateline. "So he's mixed. They didn't just target one race. Or kill one race. They killed two. He was targeted because of the color of his skin."
There was conflict at the party where Alonzo was last seen
Per Dateline and according to an investigation by the FBI, there were approximately 100 people at the event between the ages of 16 to 25, and Alonzo was only one of three Black people at the party.
McAllister said there were reports of multiple fights breaking out and people making racist comments. Alonzo's ride left the gathering without him.
"My God, it was awful," Billy Brooks Sr. told Dateline. "To find my boy like that. Nothing can describe that pain."
He added however, that when he and the other members of the search party found the body, the overcast skies cleared. "It was like my boy was telling me everything was OK now," Billy said. "At least we had found him. It wasn’t how we wanted to find him, but at least we did."
Officials have never been able to make conclusions about the death
By the time Alonzo's body was discovered, it was too late for an autopsy to determine the cause of death. From the beginning, McAllister said, there were reports of foul play in the man's death.
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