Lawrence Brooks is the murder victim in The Puzzler in the Pit.
Brooks was known for his exceptional crossword puzzles, and have even written at least one book. However, he had a secret tragedy in his past, as his college girlfriend had died giving birth to their son, prompting Brooks to put the boy up for adoption as he didn't feel capable of caring for a child on his own. As an adult, Brooks gained a reputation as 'the Puzzle King' for his challenging crossword puzzles.
A few years before his death, Brooks had an accident that caused him to suffer brain damage that gave him a condition that was essentially the equivalent of early Alzheimer's. His wife attempted to hide the condition by publishing some of the crossword puzzles he'd created and discarded in the past for not being challenging enough, once even publishing a puzzle Brooks' old partner had sent to him by mistake. However, his assistant, Alexis Sherman, took advantage of his condition by tricking him into providing her with access to his accounts to fund her own gambling habit, which led to Brooks having his fingers broken by a bookie.
At some point, Brooks was contacted by Emory Stewart, the son he'd put up for adoption long ago. Although Brooks agreed to meet with Stewart, his condition meant that he forgot about the meeting, and when Emory confronted Stewart in the street, he was so outraged at his father's apparent dismissal of him that he pushed Brooks down a hill, Brooks' already-frail skeleton suffering fatal injuries as a result.
Stewart attempted to dispose of Brooks' remains in a fracking pit, but the body was discovered by a group of environmental protesters and sent to the Jeffersonian, where the team were able to identify Brooks based on the reconstruction work done to his skull after the original accident as that treatment was particularly rare.