CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Police and family are still looking for answers in the disappearance of Bradley Brooks, who went missing on Aug. 18, 2019, after telling his daughter and girlfriend, Ashley Nelson, he was going fishing.
“He’s somebody’s father, somebody’s brother, somebody’s son," said Buck Chapman, Brooks' brother-in-law. "If this was your brother or son or father how would you feel if he was missing for two years?”
“I was assigned to the case, I work on missing person," Corpus Christi
Police Detective Edward Alvarado said. "Basically, Mr. Brooks went out to go fishing one night and never came home.”
Brooks had recently moved his daughter to live with him in Corpus Christi.
Brooks told people he was fishing near Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. His truck was found off Stingray Courts near the bay.
Texas EquuSearch was brought in to help look for Brooks. Texas EquuSearch officials said they didn't learn enough from their efforts to comment for this story.
Since that time, Brooks’ family has learned little about what happened. They all agree. however, that Brooks wouldn’t have stopped contacting his family, as his mother noted when speaking to KRIS 6 News a little more than a month after his disappearance.
“He just wouldn’t leave his daughter like that," Brooks' mother Karen Winegarner said. "There’s no way. And the other thing is he always stays in contact with me. Always.”
Chapman said he was told Brooks may have been acting unusual the night he disappeared.
“He did off and on use drugs, but that’s not who he was," said Chapman. "He would — he loved his family he would always call his mom. It might have been a little much. Ashley had her kids there and bringing in his daughter. It just might have been a little much.”
Searching for any answers, Brooks' family has asked CCPD to talk to two people who may have had contact with Brooks the night he disappeared.
A tip came in about a year after his disappearance that Brooks might have been spotted in Oklahoma, a place where he formerly lived.
Chapman and his wife, Misty, Brooks' sister, drove to Bartlesville, Okla., to the gas station he may have been spotted at. Sheriff's deputies and the city manager helped the family look at security footage and search the town.
It turned out to be another person, but Chapman said the law enforcement help there was dramatically improved compared to the help he’s gotten in Corpus Christi.
“At this point, we’re so discouraged because we either don’t get calls back from them or they don’t have any answers for us or we call or they don’t even answer when we call,” said Chapman.
“If anybody knows anything about my son just please come forward," said Winegarner, as she held back tears. "We need closure."
Anyone with information is encouraged to call crime stoppers at 361-888-TIPS or submit a form online. Chapman said you can also message the Find Bradley Brooks Facebook page with any new information.
