Decade-Old IE Killing Leads To New Arrests

INLAND EMPIRE, CA — More suspects have been arrested in connection with an Inland Empire homicide case that went cold for nearly a decade, authorities announced last week.

Denise Reames-Watkins, 70, of Lucerne Valley, Hector Rodriguez, 30, of Adelanto, and Alexander Francisco Cortez, 30, of Pendergrass, Georgia, were taken into custody earlier this month in the 2016 murder of 54-year-old Apple Valley resident Michael Brooks Jr., according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

A fourth suspect, Michael Austin Roberts, 28, was arrested in the case in January and charged with murder.

Rodriguez was charged with a single count each of murder and conspiracy. Information on Reames-Watkins and Cortez was unavailable. Cortez was being extradited from Georgia to San Bernardino County.

On Aug. 10, 2016, Apple Valley Station deputies responded to the 12600 block of Apple Valley Road in Apple Valley after a man was found dead inside a home. There was no one else inside the residence at the time his body was found.

The decedent, identified as Brooks, was found to have died from a single gunshot wound, according to the sheriff's department. He left behind a grieving family looking for answers.

After an extensive investigation, multiple people of interest were identified and interviewed. Investigators exhausted all leads at that time, and the homicide case eventually went cold.

A suspect was never identified until the case was reopened in fall 2025.

"The Sheriff’s Cold Case Homicide Team routinely reexamines cases that have been previously exhausted and works to develop new information and leads," a spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said. "In 2025, the Cold Case Homicide Team resumed the investigation into Michael Brooks’ murder."

According to Brooks's father, interviewed by the Victorville Daily Press in 2018, the wait for answers was "rough. I say there’s always a reason. But when it happens to you, in your family, you have to wonder why."

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department has not disclosed a possible motive in the killing.

Anyone with information regarding the case is urged to contact the sheriff's Homicide Detail at 909-890-4904. Callers wishing to remain anonymous can contact We-Tip at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463) or go to wetip.com.