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A Code of Silence: Was Alonzo Brooks Murdered in a Hate Crime?
The family of the young mixed-race man hope someone will one day come forward to reveal the truth.
The family members of a young man who died after attending a party at a remote farmhouse have said they will never stop searching for the truth about what happened that night back in 2004.
A party gone wrong
Alonzo Brooks was 23 and usually something of a homebody. He lived with his mother in the Kansas town of Gardner and, thanks to the big age gap between him and his older siblings, was usually seen as the baby of the family.
On the night of April 3rd 2004, he was looking forward to attending a party with his friends at a house in La Cygne. Carpooling was arranged for what would be about an hour’s drive and the friends set off in high spirits.
But while Alonzo was there, something went awry. The designated driver popped out to get cigarettes and couldn’t find his way back to the party venue. He rang a friend and asked him to make sure Alonzo caught another ride home, but it’s not known if this message was passed on.
The following morning, there was no sign of Alonzo and his mother Maria Ramirez realised he had never made it home.
