Alonzo Brooks Pt. Two

His friends gradually left throughout the night, assuming that Alonzo would get a ride with somebody else, but instead he wound up vanishing without a trace. When his family went to the area to search, they found Alonzo's hat in his boots located in separate ditches at the end of the driveway near the farmhouse where the party had took

him place, so the instantly became concerned. Once the search was launched for him, they were unable to find anything, but then when Alonzo's family did their own search twenty seven days after he originally disappeared. They wound up discovering his body in a creek which was very close to the farmhouse, and this creek had already been searched before by an underwater rescue and recovery team who were absolutely certain that if Alonzo had been there the entire time,

they would have found him. So this led to speculation that he may have been planted there at a later time, and that perhaps his body was kept in the freezer for a couple weeks because he had very little sign of decomposition, He did not have any noticeable injuries. He only appeared to have decomposition on his neck, so as a result, the original medical examiner was unable to determine his exact cause of death, so it was officially listed

as undetermined. It was featured on Unsolved Mysteries in twenty twenty, and by that point the FBI and the Department of Justice had gotten involved started to investigate it as a potential hate crime because this was a predominantly white air area and there were rumors that Alonzo had gotten into a fight at the party, that people had used a racial slur in his presence, or that he had been hitting on a white girl, but none of these rumors

were actually confirmed. After the Unsold Mysteries episode aired, the investigation got new tips, so they decided to exume Alonzo's body and perform a new autopsy. And while details are vague and very secretive, the FBI did confirm that they found new evidence that conclusively proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Alonzo was the victim of a homicide. So his death was officially reclassified and is being investigated

at as a murder. But it's been a couple of years now they're having any new developments in quite some times, so at this particular moment, Alonzo's murder is still officially unsolved. So honestly, before Alonzo's death was reclassified as a homicide, I had mixed feelings about the case following my initial viewing of the Unsaw Mysteries episode. On one hand, I seriously doubted that this was a simple case of an intoxicated man wandering away from a party and dying of exposure.

It did make a whole lot of sense to me that Alonzo would leave the farmhouse walk to the end of a long driveway, remove both of his boots, toss them each into separate ditches, and then walk back onto the property in the opposite direction towards Middle Creek. Admittedly, people can do incredibly strange and a logical things when they're drunk, but I had a hard time believing that his body could have been missed at that location for

nearly an entire month. Of course, we covered a number of other cases where people of God missing in a rural or wilderness area and the remains were mist in the initial search effort, only for them to be discovered in the same area months or even years later. If Alonzo's search effort had only been conducted by a small town police department who were inexperienced at this sort of thing, I could give them the benefit of the doubt that

they missed his body. But this particular search involved the KBI, the FBI, and an underwater rescue and recovery team who were specifically trained at this sort of thing. Members of this team were even interviewed on UNSAWD mysteries, and they seemed pretty certain that if Alonzo had been on the creek bank the entire time, they would have found him.

While they certainly could be capable of making mistakes. I think it says something that when Alonzo's family, who were not trained at this sort of thing, performed their own search of the property, they came across his body within

half an hour. But while the Unsolved Mysteries episode left me with the impression that something strange occurred and that Alonzo may have been the victim of foul play, my biggest issue is that I cannot figure out how he was killed or why his body would be concealed for twenty seven days and planted near the creek.

it a few feet which made it more exposed. But remember when you first were describing the day that the family went back the first day after he was missing, and they went back to look around this area and found his boots in his hat. You remember that guy that was on the ATV and ran them off and told him to get off to the property. If there had been a party at my house and you said, hey,

my son is missing, our best friend is missing. He was here last night, I would I'd meet you with grace and compassionate and be like, oh man, I'm so sorry. I haven't seen anything. If I do, I'll make sure you know to call you. Can I get your number. But there was like an anger and a protection of that property when it had been so open to people just the evening before, So that's quite suspicious as well.

obviously he didn't take very kindly. I know this was an area not known for the best race relations, and that at least one of Alonzo's friends in that day was black, so maybe that's why I had a problem with him being on the property. But It's easy to assume that if something ne faris happened to Alonzo, that maybe some sort of cover up was taking place, and that's why these people did not want his friends anywhere near the property.

at a later time. I know we talked about in our last episode the Kurt Sava case for Unsolved Mysteries, where there was always speculation that he got alcohol poison and he was kept in the basement of the duplex where the party attended was being held in hopes that he would nurse back to health. But then he died

and that's why they decided to dump his body in ravine. So, for all we know, Alonzo still could have been alive and being kept somewhere during the time period his friends were searching the property.

physically to get out of a confined space. I'm thinking you might have seen signs of that on his body if he truly was being held against his will. And remember, he's wearing the same clothes he was wearing the night of the party.

The mild level of decomposition on Alonzo's body really seems to go against the idea that he was lying out in the elements for weeks, and since he was carrying personal possessions which should not have noticeable water damage, it's

unlikely that he was submerged in Middle Creek. This is why a theory has spread around that the body was kept inside a freezer for a few weeks, And I think one of the reasons this rumor caught buyer is because a prominent family from the area who were suspected of being complicit in Alonzo's death apparently owned a restaurant with a large freezer. All that being said, it would be incredibly risky and brazen to store a body of a murder victim at your place of business. In fact,

why even hold onto the body to begin with. Lacine is surrounded by a lot of open land, so there would be plenty of spots to bury a victim and ensure he would never be found. But then perhaps the responsible parties felt that if Alonzo continued to remain a missing person, people would keep returning to the area to keep searching for him for years to come, so they felt they should leave them something to find.

to think that you have a deep freezer. My poor mama still hoards freezer food, like she's feeding twenty people and it's just her and my dad. So it's this like nine foot deep freezer. I'm like, what are you? What's in there? You know? And there's a lock on it, which makes it really fun. But yeah, I think that the place that they were rinning could have easily had a deep freezer, or another farm, you know, two doors down where another kid lives, could have had a deep freezer.

So it would not surprise me if it was more common than not in this rural area for families to have a deep freezer.

or anything to indicate his exact cause of death. Doctor Eric Mitchell, the forensic pathologist who perform the original autopsy, acknowledged that he could not rule out the possibility of drowning or strangulation, but he did seem to feel that the evidence supported the idea that Alonzo's body had been lying on the creek bank the entire time he was missing. But while Mitchell was Douglas County Corner at the time he examined Alonzo, he does have a pretty controversial background.

Before he relocated to Kansas, Mitchell had worked in upstate New York as the Onondaga County Medical Examiner, but resigned from his position in nineteen ninety three over allegations of his conduct as His offenses included harvesting organs from deceased victims without the consent of their families and improperly storing

skeletons and body parts inside his office. Mitchell has also been at the center of a wrongful conviction case from Douglas County, as a daycare worker named Carroty Buckhorn was charging convicted of second degree murder for her ledged role in the death of a nine month old infant named Oliver Ortise. The conviction was made possible by doctor Mitchell's testimony as he believed that Oliver had a skull fracture

which was caused by his head being stepped on. But it would later come out that the boy actually died from congenital heart disease and there was never any foul play, So Bockcorn's conviction was overturned and she was released from prison after serving four years for a crime that never happened. So this obviously shows that Mitchell has some credibility issues and that he could have made mistakes during his autopsy and Alonso and missed something which showed that he was

the victim of a homicide. All we know about the second autopsy from the Armed Forces medical Examiner is that Alonzo had injuries which were quote unquote inconsistent with normal patterns of decomposition. If I had to make an educated guess, I think that Alonso may have had injuries to his neck, as Mitchell even acknowledged that he couldn't rule out the possibility of strangulation. A Lonzo's body was found, the soft tissues of his neck were gone due to decomposition and

damage from animals and insects. If Alonzo had some noticeable wounds on his neck when his body was placed on the creek bank. Then it's only natural that this would be the first spot that scavengers feasted upon, So I would not be surprised if the second autopsy found evidence

of damage to Alonzo's neck. I don't know how true this is, but it's worth mentioning that one of the many unconfirmed rumors which is spread around the community is that a shot collar or nearly used to train dogs, was placed around Alonzo's neck in order to torture him.

at his elbow, and this is what happened. And you could have someone who had given such specific information that a relook at the body then showed a very different story because they had very specific information, and or, like you said, you simply have someone who was caught with misconduct and making you know, really wrong claims that had some big consequences relocate to this tiny town and he's just not as attentive as he should be and or makes assumptions to quickly clear his desk off, or he

didn't have the information that would have allowed him to find this damage as well. So tons of options of what could have really happened when you look at the discrepancies in the autopsies.

evidence that this might have take place. And all this evidence might have been concealed because of the decomposition and because the animals feasted upon his neck and maybe concealed any injuries he might have received.

sure that's an entirely fair assessment. The Lynn County sheriff at the time was Marvin Steitz, who has since passed away and is no longer a round to comment on the case, but the Brooks family did not have many flattering things to say about him on the Unsolved Mysteries episode.

On the one hand, he did not seem to take Alonzo's disappearance all that seriously at first, and if he really did try to imply that Alonzo left the party, took off his boots, and attempted to walk back to his home forty seven miles away, then yes, that's pretty ridiculous. But on the other hand, Stites did contact the KBI for assistance only four days after Alonzo went missing, and of course the rumors about a potential hate crime soon

led to the FBI becoming involved in the investigation. If Stites was attempting to orchestra to cover up to protect Alonzo's killers. I have my doubts that he would bring in all these outside law enforcement agencies so quickly. It's also worth noting that, even though Lcine is a very small town, Alonzo's death was not the only high profile

criminal case to occur during that time period. Notorious serial killer John Edward Robinson happened to live on a farm near Lycine and was arrested there only four years earlier in June two thousand. Robinson is currently serving multiple life sentences in prison and was responsible for the murders of at least eight victims, two of whom were found inside

some chemical drums on his property. Marvin Stites was still Lynn County Sheriff at that time, so he was no stranger to bringing in outside agencies like the KBI and the FBI when the investigation was too large for him to handle. It's yet to be conclusively proven if Alonzo's death was actually a hate crime, but even if it wasn't, these rumors have helped ensure that the FBI is continuing to take the case seriously.

emotional component. I'm telling you my son's missing. You didn't react. What if you had reacted sooner, would he still be alive. There's that kind of emotional weight that comes with an investigation like this. And also when you don't have an offender to blame, you start to blame everyone else. When I would work with cold case families, they would say, you know, I hate to say it, but at some point I blamed my son or I blamed my husband. Why were they out that late? Why did they go

to the party. Then I blamed myself. Why did I let them go to that party? Why did I not shut it down? Why didn't I say yes, let's go to dinner instead? I blamed law enforcement. I blamed the friends. So when you don't have a target to say I will now hold you accountable and you're responsible for choosing to take the life of my son, then all of a sudden, I need to direct that anger towards someone

to have a fair narrative. And so oftentimes, if law enforcement has not solved the case, they become the person held responsible for this being an unsolved murder, and it would likely feel that they don't care enough, or they didn't try hard enough, or it would have been solved. So that's I think a very natural reaction for a family to have, even if law enforcement had been working very hard to solve this case.

So I can imagine like his family totally second guessing everything all these years later because it's still unsolved and Sheriff's Sites has become the target of some of the wrath. I know that many of Alonzo's friends and family members have always believed that racism played a role in his death, as we have how the account from his brother Billy and sister in law Cindy that people were looking at

them very strangely while they were searching through Lacene. During the Unsolve Mysteries episode, there was a vivid moment when Alonzo's friend Rodney English, who also happens to be black, revisits the spot where he found Alonzo's hat and boots and then tells the camera crew that he needs to get out of there because he doesn't feel safe at all. Rodney, as well as Alonzo's family, have always felt a lot of resentment towards Alonzo's friends for leaving him behind at

the party. Since all these other friends were white, I get the sense that Rodney believes they severely underestimated the racial tension surrounding Alonzo's presence that night and should never have left him alone in such a potentially hostile environment. And while Alonzo is known for being a very sweet and easygoing guy who got along with everyone, it also sounds like he would show no hesitation to confront someone

if they used a Rachel slur in his presence. But if Alonzo was murdered at the farmhouse, how would these events have played out?

But as kids and when they're not paying attention to the community, the circumstances, how other people react. Not everybody has the same mentality or relationship with Alonzo like these

boys did. But I truly believe that those boys were just ignorant to the fact that when Alonzo leaves the safety of that group and he's a minority at a party where it's not a welcoming group necessarily, or there's these underlying currents of racist tendencies that the friends don't pick up on that Alonzo could have, and then he's left in this situation regardless with these people who don't

have his best interests at heart. But I truly believe his poor friends were just like, yeah, it's Alonzo, Like we didn't even we weren't even thinking that these are some young kids going to a party to drink and being silly and pretty flippant with who's going where and when. So I don't know, I just have a lot of sympathy for the fact that these are young kids who didn't pay attention to things that they very likely should have.

that age until it doesn't. And then, like you said, these kids, they've just got all of this scrutiny, and they're getting criticized by so many people. But I do think it was a brave thing to go on Unsolved Mysteries and to put yourself out there, and I do think that it shows that they do care about Alonzo. And although his one friend may have a story that changes in places, I think that, like Robin had mentioned earlier, it could be that he was driving drunk that night.

Just because he may come off as looking deceptive doesn't mean that he's being deceptive because he did something to Alonzo.

they thought was going to be a tiny party. It ends up kind of falling apart and everybody ends up almost miscommunicating what's going on. And I just think it's a sad, sad situation. And you have tons of victims in this case, because no one's life when your best friend goes missing and then this found murdered, no one's

life is the same after that. The guilt you would carry for and in feelings you would carry for his poor parents and his siblings and those kinds of things, even though you aren't to blame, that would change the whole trajectory of your life.

travel to this particular party. In the scene, since Alonzo was described as being more of a homebody. His family was a bit surprised that he even wanted to go to the party, so I get the impression that this was not his idea and he just wanted to tag

along with his other friends. While their identities have never been made public, this farmhouse was being rented by four young males at the time, but it sounds like they weren't really living there per se, and just decided to use the location as a party house, which wound up attracting people from outside the area since it was an

ideal spot for underage drinking. While Alonzo was twenty three, he was actually a few years older than most of his other friends from this group, who were technically not

the legal drinking age yet. I've read that one of Alonzo's friends had a loose connection with one of the four individuals renting the farmhouse, and they had once gone to the same high school together, so this might explain how they found out about this party to begin with, even though it took place nearly fifty miles away from

where they lived. Now, he goes without saying that Alonzo's friends have received a lot of criticism for leaving him behind at a party, and some online sloops have gone so far as to accuse them of being responsible or being involved in Alonso's death. At the very least, there's been suspicion that these friends have never told the whole

truth about what actually happened. But it's worth noting that they were extensively questioned and investigated by law enforcement who've never publicly stated that they believe any of them are withholding information. And while I would certainly find them guilty of being young, drunken, irresponsible, I would stop short of accusing them of being complicit in a murder.

I'm not going to tell them that. And I think at some point, you know, investigators down there like, listen, I do not care about anything else right this second. I don't care if you were high as a kite. I don't care if you were doing cocaine. I don't care if you were selling drugs. I don't care if you were having sex. I don't care. The only thing I'm asking you for is tell me the truth about Alonzo.

And I guarantee you by the time they get there, with these young, scared kids, they're able to get the best version of what they can remember that night about what happened to Alonzo. So did they come on off suspicious? Did their stories change? I bet their stories did change. I bet they did evolve because they got more comfortable, they remembered more things. You know, there's a chance that at some point they talked to each other and get

called back to the police department. They're like, oh man, do you remember this? Oh yeah, I remember, I forgot about that. So stories do change, and it's not always because someone's involved and didn't want to tell the truth about the situation.

argument with another partygoer before he intervened and pulled him away. Well, Justin reported seeing no confrontations or hostility at all, and said that Alonzo was having a great time. Well, this doesn't necessarily mean Justin as being untruthful, because if he was separated from Alonzo at the time and not present to witness this altercation with the partygoer, then he was probably unaware that anything happened had had no qualms about

leaving Alonzo alone to go out and buy cigarettes. Justin's stories that he got lost and his car got stuck on those rural gravel roads, so rather than go to the trouble of making a lengthy drive back to the party, he called a friend of his named Adam and asked him to give Alonzo a ride back home to Gardner. But of course Adam was not interviewed on Unsawn Mysteries, and since we've never heard him publicly share his side of the story, it's unclear why he left without Alonzo well.

On our last episode, we discussed a post about this case from the Cold Case Kansas blog, and it makes mention of a guy named Edward Smith, which I think is probably an alias for the mysterious Adam. According to this post, Edward Slash Adam did approach Alonzo about leaving the party, but Alonzo told him he wanted to stay

and would get a ride home with someone else. If this account is true, then it's possible that Alonso may not have been aware that all of his other friends were gone and there was no one left to give him a ride. But if he was intoxicated, it's understandable

that he wouldn't be thinking clearly. We also have all these uncorroborated rumors that Alonzo have been flirting with a white woman at the party, and if these rumors are accurate and Alonso thought he was getting somewhere well, this could provide an explanation for why he wanted to stay and turn down Adam's offer for a lift.

being intimate with somebody or have fun that night, and so I think you get this kind of tunnel vision, especially if you've been drinking, where you think about, I'm making progress here. I can figure out a solution once I get what I want, which could be this girl. And so I very much believe that could be potential. Where he's shoving the guys, I'll just go, just go, like you're interrupting my flow, get away from me. I'm actually, you know, getting somewhere with this girl, and then things

could turn south. Let's say she has somebody else who's interested in her. Let's say it's just motivated by race. In someone's sees and says, I'm not okay with this because there are different races. But it could be a million things concerning that specific girl. I wish that a female had emerged from the party and said, yeah, we were getting along so well and then you just disappeared, or we were getting along so well and then you know, my friend Steve got really angry or something like that.

But we have no information about a girl specifically at that party that's been identifying.

I shout out of his claimer that since the Daily Mail is a notorious tabloid which is known for being an unreliable source of information, I would take the information that I'm about to share with a huge grain of salt, but if their reporting is accurate, it could shed some additional insight into why Alonso was left behind at the party.

Rodney English was interviewed for the article and claimed the story shared by Justin on Unsolved Mysteries it was different than the one he shared right after Alonzo went missing, as he apparently never mentioned anything about getting lost and only said that his car broke down and he was able to fix it himself by the side of the road.

Alonzo's mother, Maria, also alleged that Justin has changed his story about six times over the years, while The Daily Mail spoke to an anonymous source who was supposedly close to Justin and claimed he'd received death threats since he appeared on Unsolved Mysteries and felt the show had let him down by editing out significant parts of his interview. According to this source, Justin did leave the party to go purchase cigarettes, but the episode did not mention that

he was actually accompanied by another friend. They did apparently get their car stuck in the ditch, but Justin elected not to call for help because he was drunk and high at the time, since he was about to enlist in the army, he did not want a dui charge to potentially scoopings up. But if Justin was not entirely truthful about how events unfolded that night, this could provide

an explanation why. However, The Daily Mail reported that phone records did support Justin's story that he used his cell phone to call Adam at the party, and that surveillance cameras showed that Justin went to a gas station and withdrew two hundred dollars from an ATM. Justin and his friend then went to a strip club, but they wound up being ejected from there for unknown reasons. Thus far, the Daily Mail is the only media outlet I've seen

which has published this account of Justin's story. But if it's true, then it gives him an alibi placing him away from the farmhouse and would clear him of any

direct involvement in Alonzo's death. So yes, while Justin may have been irresponsible that night, it sounds like he does not have any further insight into how or why Alonso was killed, And during his Unsolved Mysteries interview, Justin became fairly emotional, so I get the sense that he was genuinely guilt ridden and remorseful about not being there for his friend.

he's getting ready to go into the army. Is it something that he was worried would make him look bad? Is it something he was worried his parents would be embarrassed about. Is it something you know five years later that he doesn't want his wife to know. I mean, there's other explanations for a change in stories, And there's also the way that our memories changed. They're malleable, they're pliable. When you sit there and you have a dream about the incident, you wake up and you wonder what was

fact and what was the dream. When you talk to someone else, your story shifts a little bit. So I believe you know, by your fifth interview, it's possible a piece of information has been added or taken away. I don't think Justin seems like a person who is a dark force in this story. I think he was an other kid making some really bad decisions and had no idea that the consequences because he had no anticipation that

his friend was going to pass away that night. He thought that he was leaving his friend and many other people that knew Alonzo, and that his buddy would make it back just the way he said he would.

to fourth. For this reason, investigators had a hard time nailing down a precise timeline, because when you're dealing with a bunch of partygoers who have been drinking, I'm sure many of them are not going to be keeping track

of when the clocks move forward. Where I have an accurate recollection of what time certain events occurred, it's been reported that a fight took place at the party sometime around two or three am, although it's unclear if Alonzo was involved, and the original reporting on this story said the last time Alonzo was seen was at around three

or four AM. I'm sure these inconsistencies are the results of different witnesses having different recollections of what time these events took place, as I doubt that all of them would have taken daylight saving time into account. But what's important is that we don't seem to have a solid, concrete account of the last time Alonso was confirmed to be alive.

So that's why it would be useful to know, like how many people were still at that party by the time something happened to Alonzo.

a huge party the night before. The wording is a bit ambiguous, so I'm not sure if Cindy's trying to imply that the house are being completely cleaned up or cleared out, but this could be taken as a sign that something happened to Alonzo there and the responsible parties made sure to do a very thorough cleanup job in

order to get rid of potential evidence. One thing that has never made sense to me is why Alonzo's hat and boots were found in separate ditches across the road from each other near the end of the farmhouse driveway. We didn't find it likely that Alonzo would take off his boots there and walk back onto the property towards the creek, but if he was murdered, it's also weird that someone would get rid of his boots at that

particular spot. Rodney English theorized that someone may have driven to the end of the driveway and tossed the hat and one of the boots in a ditch across the road from a moving vehicle, and then tossed the other boot into a different ditch after they turned right and started heading in that direction. When Justin picked up Alonzo at his residence that night, he said that Alonzo put on two pairs of socks and rolled one pair down to tie his boot tighter since he'd recently suffered an

ankle injury. But if Alonzo's ankle was bothering him that night, could he have decided to remove his boots at the party before something happened. If Alonzo was not wearing his boots when he was killed, this could explain why they were found step or from his body. But then why not just get rid of the boots altogether rather than leave them out in the open at a spot near

the farmhouse. This has caused speculation that perhaps the responsible parties wanted the boots to be found in order to send some sort of message, which adds to the whole aura of Lacine being a close knit small town concealing a dark secret, with most of the residents feeling powerless to do anything.

have no support or anything going on. So I wonder if he would have left the boots on to provide the support for that ankle instead of saying, hey, I'm going to take it off and have no stability on my foot.

a polygraph and lawyered up when investigators attempted to question him. While I'm not saying this guy was responsible for Alonzo's death, it does open up the interesting possibility that Alonzo was killed by someone who did not actually live in the Lacine area. If Alonzo realized that all of his friends had left and he no longer had a ride home, could he have accepted a ride from a stranger he

just met at the party that night. Could this person have murdered Alonzo at another location and then brought his body back to Lcine and planted it on the bank

of Middle Creek. What's interesting is that when doctor Mitchell performed his original autopsy, it sounds like he was unable to provide a conclusive determination of how long Alonso had been dead before he was found, though he was inclined to believe that his body had been lying on the creek bank during the entire time period he was missing. But how can we be so certain that Alonzo was

dead during that entire twenty seven day window. We've heard all these wild theories about Alonzo's body being kept inside a freezer in order to explain why he had such mild decomposition. But the alternate explanation is that someone could have abducted him and held him in captivity for a few weeks before he was killed, and they then proceeded to bring his body back to the property and dump

him on the creek bank. Of course, I'm not entirely sure why they would keep him alive this entire time, as it's not like he had any noticeable injuries on his body to suggest he was tortured. But then again, maybe something was found during the most recent autopsy to indicate that Alonzo experienced violence or torture before he died.

was to attack him. And then they placed his body on that fence that night and so I'm wondering could something like that have happened where someone got frustrated they liked the girl that he was talking to, but instead of in front of all these people being rude to him, they befriend him and manipulate him to a point where, hey, man will take you home. Hey buddy, why'n't you ride

with us? And they get him in the car under pretenses that they're going to be good to him, and then turn on him when they're away from the rest of the party gooders, So it rose absolutely no suspicion with anybody.

thinks I'm not going to stand for that. This is somebody who I don't know how they would have viewed him, if they viewed him his mixed race or they viewed him as black, but either way they are thinking our family is white and we aren't going to invite somebody who is from the outside in in that capacity. And it makes a lot of sense to me, like you said, Ash, that they could have befriended him, and they could have gotten close and then used that against him at another location,

whatever the case. Coming up with a concrete theory about what actually happened to Alonzo is incredibly difficult because even though there are a ton of rumors, gossip, and hearsay about events which may have taken place at that party, there are very few verifiable facts. Other than Justin Tyler and Daniel, no one who was in attendance that night

have gone on the record to speak about it. And assuming these three guys are telling the truth, they would have already been gone before the events which caused Alonzo's death took place. Even though we've heard reports about people from the party lawyering up and refusing to be questioned

or take polygraphs. That doesn't necessarily mean they're guilty of anything or concealing information, because refusing to take a polygraph or speak to the police without an attorney is always considered to be sound legal advice, even if you're an

innocent person. It sounds like the lack of a coherent timeline has always been one of the biggest obstacles for this investigation, because we know at some point that party had to come to an end, but we have no idea if Alonzo was still there at that time and when the last confirmed sighting of him took place. I've always found it hard to believe that something bad could have happened to Alonzo at the party in full view of several witnesses, because I just don't believe that many

people could keep a secret for two decades. Remember, this case has been investigated by many agencies, including the KBI and the FBI, so even if local law enforcement was witnesses would have had many avenues to turn to if they wanted to talk. Granted, we're not privy to all the details of this investigation, so perhaps people would have come forward to share important information with the authorities, but they still don't have the necessary evidence to file charges

against anyone. I still wouldn't rule out the possibility that Alonzo's death did not actually take place at the party, but instead occurred after he hitched a ride with someone who harms him at another location. If this is what happened, there may only be one person or a small handful of people who know the truth about how he died.

And then they're discarding his items and his shoes, his hat, those types of things. I don't know. I just have to lean more towards that the idea that people lawyered up or didn't take a polygraph test. My goodness. I think there's a host of families, especially in small towns, that they could have an attorney friend who said, you know, like, hey, you tell your kids if they're ever questioned, the answer is not without an attorney present, and no way will

they take a polygraph. So I don't see that as being a clear sign that these kids knew. But I definitely think that it's somebody who was at that party who said, Hey, I'm going to isolate this man away from this group, and then I can do whatever I want, punish him, get revenge, quiet him, whatever their goal was, And I'm starting to lean towards that's how that occurred.

family unit. But in this case, people who went to the party, they might have a myriad of things to hide, so they might register as deceptive on a bunch of different questions or come up as inconclusive. So if it were my kid, or even if I was in my twenties and know what I know now, I certainly wouldn't be doing a polygraph.

Alonzo's death. There just is stuff that you're not telling the police, or.

According to the website, Pratt has been working on this project for several years, even before the Unsolved Mysteries episode came out, and it's going to contain a number of interviews with people connected to the case, including Alonzo's friends

and relatives, law enforcement officials, and even persons of interest. However, I have no idea when the series is going to be completed or when its projected release date might be, and perhaps the reclassification of Alonzo's death as a homicide in twenty twenty one has sent the project in an entire life different direction. Whatever the case, if and when this series does get released, it may finally shed some additional light on things and answer a lot of the

questions I've had. By all accounts, Alonzo Brooks was a very nice person who loved his family and never caused any trouble. So if he was the victim of a hate crime and the responsible parties have managed to get away with it for two decades, then that's a terrible injustice. We still can't be one hundred percent certain that his death was a hate crime. But even if that wasn't the actual motive, a young man still had his life

stolen away from him. When I first watched the Unsolved Mysteries episode back in twenty twenty, I have to admit that I had mixed feelings about Alonzo's death being a homicide, as I felt his death could have been some sort of accident, such as a negative reaction to drugs or alcohol, and someone decided to conceal what happened before placing his

body out in the open. However, the results of the latest autopsy do seem to confirm with absolute certainty that Alonzo was murdered, and even though it's been four years since that announcement was made, I do hope that things are still going on behind the scenes to build a case against the responsible perpetrator or perpetrators, and that they

will eventually face justice. So if you have been to have any information about the murder of Alonzo Brooks, please contact the Kansas City FBI office at eight one six by one two eight two zero zero. That's eight one six by one two eight two zero zero. You can also submit a tips through the FBI website or called the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline at eight one six four seven four tips. That's eight one six

four seven four eight four seven seven Jules Ashley. Any final thoughts in this case.

son is missing. We need your help, and they're told, well, we have to wait forty eight hours, and then they're on their way trying to do their own invent instigation, turned away by the man on the ATV, to leave the feeling that my voice doesn't matter, that no one listened when I said something was wrong, No one listened to us when we were begging them to search to

help us find him. We had to go and find him ourselves twenty seven days later, and then you know, there's this continued flee from the family to say, listen, there were one hundred people there that night. Someone saw something, and so they're right. It's likely that people know tiny little piece of information that seemed incredibly insignificant, and yet if they came forward and if they were able to share those there's potential that this case could have a resolution.

But the idea that you know, no one's talking and that their own voices are not being heard has to be something that completely complicates and elongates the weight of the grief that they're feeling. Alonzo went to a party that night, a kid that doesn't really even get out of his house. He's a homebody, and you know, so he went to spend time with his friends and to go along with their plan, and something that should have been so innocent and so fun in it in his death.

And so I'm praying that this is one of those cases that because there is a tension, because people are finally listening, is this a case that actually could be solved.

genuine emotions watching them talk about it. It felt like there was remorse, and not remorse in the sense that I'm sorry because I hurt this person, but remorse because they weren't there in the capacity that they felt like they should, and they've taken a lot of heat for that.

This case has just made so much more complex, given the fact that there's all these conspiracy theories about prominent families and a potential white girl from a prominent family and Alonzo being quite drunk and getting into a verbal altercation with somebody. So there opens up all these different possibilities. Because there weren't his friends there to basically hold him back and go buddy, like it's time to walk away,

it's time to leave. He was left to his own devices, and nobody else is talking about exactly what went down that night. I honestly don't know if he was taken somewhere else or his body was frozen, but it does seem odd that he ended up somewhere that had previously been searched. There is a possibility that he could have been frozen. I think it is less likely that he was held at another location for close to a month

and then killed and then put there. But the idea of the shot caller was brought up and like that is a possibility, But it seems like if you're going to hold somebody there for a long period of time, that you're going to do so because you want to torture them with more than just a shocking dog collar. But I mean, I have no idea. This is just a case that has left me with more questions than answers.

mysterious than they really are. But this one is definitely the exception to the rule, because this is a rare case where it was technically an unexplained, undetermined death when they originally featured it on the show, and then one year later they gave a new autopsy and were able to confirm with one hundred percent certainty that Alonzo was the victim of a homicide and that there was a

crime here that needed to be solved. It is frustrating that it's now been four years and we still don't seem to have any further answers about what happened, but I do think that law enforcement is vigorously working on it behind the scenes, and for all we know, maybe the big break they need is for someone to come forward with in because if it took place at a party, then it's possible that there are people out there who know the truth and have kept silent about it for

two decades, and we have so many uncorroborated rumors. I mean, some people think that because Alonzo was a minority in a predominantly white area and was causing some friction at this party, that maybe he was the victim of a hate crime, And just hearing about the decomposition on his neck has made me suspect that that might have been

the source of his homicide. That he could have been murdered by being lynched literally or being strangled to death or having his neck broken, and that's why it was missed on the autopsy the first time around. So if it was and Alonzo was targeted because of the color of his skin, then this would fit the definition of a hate crime and whoever was responsible definitely deserves to face justice. I mean, I can't come up with the

theory of what happened with the information we have. I don't know where Alonzo was during the twenty seven days he was missing, why his body wound up on that creek bank after all that time, But I do not believe he was there the entire time when the original search effort took place. So something fishy definitely has been going on here. And I do sense that there are a number of people in this small town in rural Kansas who have their own ideas about what happened but

have not talked. So it's now been over twenty years, and Alonzo's family definitely deserves to see justice done because it is long overdue.

the ten dollars tier. One of the features we offer is a audio commentary track over classic episodes of Unsolved Mysteries, where you can download an audio file and then boot up the original Unsolved Mysteries episode on Amazon Prime or YouTube and play it with my audio commentary playing in the background, where I just provide trivia and factoids about the cases featured in this episode. And incidentally, the very first episode that I did a commentary track over was

the episode featuring this case. So if you want to download a commentary track in which I make more smart ass remarks about Jewel Kaylor, then be sure to join Tier three.