07/31/2025
It only takes a phone call...
ROBIN APRIL BROOKS (43) … Unsolved Homicide … $1,000 Reward … The Queen of Clubs*
At 10:00 p.m., Thursday, October 27, 1983, the dead body of 43-year-old Robin April Brooks was discovered inside a travel trailer parked behind her Spanish-style home at 4205 Eve Road in Simi Valley. The resident of the trailer, a local heavy equipment operator, arrived home to find her lifeless body.
In a November 1983 Simi Valley Star news article, a police investigator said, “It was not unusual for Brooks to be in the trailer because she often was in it to cook food. Gas service to the woman’s house was not connected so Brooks cooked meals on the trailer’s butane gas stove. It is not known what Brooks was doing in the mobile unit when she was slain … but it did not look like she had been cooking.”
According to a 1987 Ventura County Star article, her body “was riddled with 14 bullet wounds … She was slain in what was apparently an unprovoked attack that occurred in the middle of the day … she was not s*xually molested and nothing in her home was disturbed. She was shot nine hours before her body was found.”
From an October 30, 1983, Simi Valley Star article: “ … Brooks felt like her life was threatened. She reportedly was so afraid that she often kept her house lights on all night.”
After more than four decades – despite Simi Valley police investigators developing “significant leads” and being hopeful for a quick arrest – nothing has been revealed as to who murdered Robin.
Her friends and family wrote in a letter to the editor of the Ventura County Star: “We are all looking forward to the resolvement of this horrendous murder of a beautiful and talented lady who had so much to offer.” She was described as a "warm, quiet person who didn’t seem to have an enemy in the world.”
Robin was born in Los Angeles to Charles Walter Hobson and Dorothy B. Manwaring Hobson on October 29, 1939. She had two sons, Brian Brooks and Andrew “Andy” P. O’Neill; and two daughters, Cynthia Marie “Cindy” O’Neill Smith and Charleen O’Neill. She was a former Simi Valley School District employee, having worked as an instructional aid from 1975 to 1980 at Santa Susana Elementary School. At the time of her death, she was an art instructor at Nora’s Art Gallery.
(Our apologies for the incorrect death date on the cold case playing card. The death date should have read October 27, 1983.)
If you … KNOW SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!
If you have any information relating to the unsolved homicide of Robin April Brooks (or any criminal case), there are three ways to submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers: 1) call the Crime Stoppers tip line at 800-222-8477; 2) visit P3Tips.com or download the P3Tips app; or 3) visit venturacountycrimestoppers.org and click on “Submit a Tip.” Should your anonymous tip result in a felony arrest, you may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 through Crime Stoppers.
Your identity is always encrypted and anonymous. No personal information, phone number, e-mail, IP address or location is ever requested, saved, traced, tracked or monitored. It is not necessary to testify to receive a reward, and you remain 100% anonymous without fear of retaliation.
In addition, you can always contact local law enforcement or the Ventura County Sheriff's Office COLD CASE UNIT at (805) 383-8739 or email [email protected].
To help our cause, please visit www.venturacountycrimestoppers.org and navigate to the “Support Us” tab.
*Through the support of Season of Justice, local law enforcement, and victim advocates, Ventura County Crime Stoppers presents Cold Case Playing Cards (first edition). Decks are distributed to inmates housed in Ventura County detention facilities. To view the entire deck, visit venturacountycrimestoppers.org.
