$100K reward offered for information in 16-year-old cold case

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reaching out to the public again as it continues to seek information into the 2004 suspicious death of Alonzo Brooks in La Cygne, Kansas. The case was featured this summer in an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries."

“The investigation into this cold case was initiated in 2019 and a reward up to $100,000 for information was announced at a press conference on June 11, 2020,” the FBI said in a news release.

The agency said new information has come to light surrounding the evening that Brooks died. This new information includes the FBI learning there was another party that same evening, a short distance away from the party Brooks attended.

“Through interviews, investigators have learned that a confrontation occurred at the nearby party, and many of the attendees left that gathering and joined the party at the farmhouse where Brooks was present,” the FBI said.

The FBI is looking to identify and speak with anyone who attended either party on April 3, 2004. Brooks' body was found a month later in a shallow creek in Linn County, but his death could not be determined due to his body’s advanced state of decomposition.

In July, Brooks’ body was exhumed authorities began taking a new look at the case. The FBI said Brooks was among three Black men at the party of nearly 100 people, and they’re investigating the death as a potentially racially motivated crime.

There is a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Brooks' death. Anyone with information should call the FBI at 816-512-8200 or 816-474-TIPS, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov