Brooks’ grave was excavated in Topeka Cemetery on Tuesday “as part of an ongoing investigation,” FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton confirmed to CNN.
She declined to comment on more details.
After she was unable to return home the next day, her family contacted police who began searching for Brooks. It wasn’t until a month later, after a group of his family and friends organized their own search, that his body was found atop a pile of bushes and branches in the stream, according to the FBI.
After the official autopsy performed in 2004 did not determine the cause of death, Brooks’ case went nowhere.
But in 2019, the Justice Department and the FBI reopened the investigation into his death. Additionally, the FBI announced last month that they were offering a reward of up to $ 100,000 to anyone with information about her death.
“We are investigating whether Alonzo was killed,” US Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a press release at the time. “His death was certainly suspicious, and someone, probably several people, knows what happened that night in April 2004. It is time for the truth to come to light. The code of silence must be broken. Alonzo’s family deserves know it. ” the truth, and it’s time for justice to be done. “
The FBI added that his death was being investigated as a possible racially motivated crime.
From the start of his case, rumors had spread that Brooks was the victim of foul play.
“Some said Brooks may have been flirting with a girl, some said that drunk white men wanted to fight an African American man, and some said that racist whites were simply upset by Brooks’ presence,” the FBI said.
Brooks’ mother, María Ramírez, believes that her son was the target of her race.
.
