Alonzo Brooks' Body Has Been Exhumed Following 'Unsolved Mysteries' Coverage

On Tuesday morning, a work crew with heavy equipment arrived at a cemetery in Topeka, Kansas to start the grim task of exhuming the body of Alonzo Brooks. According to KSNT, which was the first to report the story, Brooks' family said they had received new information about the 23-year-old man's death in recent weeks, although it is not publicly known whether recent attention from Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries reboot is what prompted the exhumation.

Brooks was last seen alive at a house party in rural Linn County, Kansas in April 2004; he was reported missing after his friends left the party without him and he failed to return home the next day. At the time, local officials claimed that they scoured the area for evidence about what happened to him, only to turn up nothing. A month later, a search party organized by his family quickly found his body beside a wooded creek. His mysterious death—and presumed murder—was featured on in the new Unsolved Mysteries episode "No Ride Home."

In an interview with Variety, Unsolved co-creator and executive producer Terry Dunn Meurer said that the episode about Brooks had generated more tips and potentially credible information from viewers than any of the other cases that were featured. "[Viewers submitted] lots of theories that we had already heard when we were producing the episodes, but there are some new names that have come in and that we forwarded onto the FBI," she said, adding that she believes that "somebody" at the party was a witness to what happened to Brooks.

In mid-June, the FBI reopened its own investigation into Brooks' death, and it is offering a $100,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the crime.

"His death certainly was suspicious, and someone—likely multiple people—know(s) what happened that night in April 2004,” U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said during a mid-June press conference. "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.”

The FBI Field Office in Kansas City is leading the Brooks investigation. It is encouraging anyone who has information about the case to contact them at 816-512-8200, to call the FBI Tips hotline at 816-474-TIPS, or to submit that info anonymously at tips.fbi.gov. Alternatively, Unsolved viewers can submit tips about Brooks or any of the other cases that were featured on the series through its website.