The 4 spookiest stories from Netflix’s reboot of Unsolved Mysteries

Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix, photo courtesy Netflix
Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix, photo courtesy Netflix /
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“No Ride Home”

The Story: On April 3, 2004, Alonzo Brooks went to a party in La Cygne, Kansas with a group of friends about an hour away from his home in Gardner. When Alonzo didn’t return the next day, Alonzo’s mom reported him missing, but since police told her she would have to wait 48 hours to file a missing persons report, she went with Alonzo’s older brother to see what they could find. They found Alonzo’s shoe and hat scattered on the side of the road and left the investigation in the hands of the local police department.

The La Cygne investigators were unable to find anything near the creek behind the house and turned the case over to the Kansas Bereau of Investigations, which could not locate him. They continued to search with the FBI for weeks, working under the assumption that Alonzo had been a victim of a hate crime. Twenty-seven days later, the investigators allowed Alonzo’s family to investigate the area, and they discovered his body in the creek some 200 meters from the house. The autopsy showed no signs of stabbing, shooting, strangulation, or drowning, and the cause of death was left undetermined.

In 2019, the KBI closed the investigation into his death due to finding no evidence that he was a victim of a crime.

Theories: At a time when race is at the forefront of the national conversation, Alonzo Brooks’ story hits very close to home. Something that sticks out to me in the documentary is the way that Alonzo’s white friends who took him to the party talk about race. In their interviews, they say that, “race wasn’t something that mattered to us,” “we didn’t care about any of that crap,” “there was definitely some racism as you go further south but that never stopped Alonzo from having a good time,” and “Alonzo hated the N-Word. He’d get really mad if someone said it.”

These guys are flashing warning signs about the dangers of white complicity and indifference to racism. At best, these boys were negligent, at worst responsible. I don’t really believe that these kids had anything to do with Alonzo’s disappearance and eventual death. Their story of miscommunication and thinking that someone else had given Alonzo a ride makes perfect sense to me. Growing up in a small town myself, I’ve had more than one experience where someone was forgotten or left behind someplace when we were out drinking and being young and stupid. White folks do not understand that there’s danger for a Black man surrounded by white people in America even if they are “having a good time.” They left him alone not out of malice but because they didn’t understand the situation he was in. If there’s a lesson in this story, it’s to take care of your Black friends by being aware of different social situations that are outside your understanding.

Then there’s the reprehensible behavior of the police. When they investigated the house where the party had been, they found Alonzo’s hat and boot on the side of the road only a few miles away. The police were convinced that he got drunk, took his shoes off, and tried to walk home, despite assurances that Alonzo would never do anything like that and had recently twisted his ankle, making such a trek impossible. The sheriff would not let the family search, and told them to stop calling every day as they were working on the case. A month later, they let the family go search for Alonzo, and they soon found his body along the creek. He was by an old shed that had not been investigated and was since torn down. None of the searches had turned up anything, and then the family finds him in 30 minutes of searching.

All of Alonzo’s stuff was intact, and there was no indication that he had been in the creek for an extended period of time. I agree with Alonzo’s brother that his body was moved strategically after the police were done with their investigation.

But how deep does this potential cover up go? The actions of the police department highlight that in America, Black lives are not valued by the justice system. The police conducted interviews with people who were at the party, and many people they interviewed got lawyers and refused to take a polygraph test. Yet these people were never followed up with. I believe that multiple people who were at that party know exactly what happened to Alonzo Brooks. Either the local police are aware of someone’s involvement and are choosing to ignore it, or they’re just unwilling to further investigate.

After Alonzo’s death, many rumors began circulating online about what happened that night. Some people claim to have seen one thing, some another. These stories are for the most part farfetched, but one seems likely to me.

The story goes that Alonzo had been flirting with a white girl and some of the other guys at the party didn’t like it. They kidnapped and killed Alonzo, then kept him in a freezer of some kind until his body could be disposed of in the creek. Due to the fact that Alonzo’s body had no injuries, I believe that somebody at that party drugged or poisoned him, then stored him in a freezer until the police had finished their investigation.

Bottom line: there are people out there who know what happened. Hopefully one day, someone will be brave enough to provide more answers, but for now it remains a sad mystery that feels all too familiar.