What's happening in the Crystal Rogers' murder trial: court date, venue change
After nearly a decade of little to no public developments, the high-profile disappearance of Bardstown mother Crystal Rogers saw significant breakthroughs at the tail end of last year with the arrests of three men that police say are tied to her now presumed murder.
Her ex-boyfriend, Brooks Houck, and a father and son pair, Steve and Joseph Lawson, are currently in the midst of pretrial motion filings and hearings that have the potential to make significant impact ahead of their trial dates of Feb. 10, 2025.
With both a civil lawsuit and criminal trials underway, here's what has happened in the Rogers investigation and what are the lingering questions.
July 2015: Crystal Rogers disappears
Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five children, went missing around July 3, 2015, from Bardstown. Her car was soon found abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway with her keys, phone and purse inside.
Rogers was not known to go anywhere without her kids, according to the FBI.
"My mom is a very special woman," one of Rogers' daughters wrote on a website dedicated to the investigation. "The memory that will forever be in my heart is going to DQ and buying my momma lunch. We would always get the chicken strip basket with the toast and gravy to go with it. Going over to mamaw Martins and playing Phase 10 and Aggravation over and over while eating snacks. Since my mom’s been missing, life has been really hard. I always wonder what my life would be like if she and my papaw was still here."
While Rogers' body has never been found, she is presumed dead by investigators.
October 2015: Brooks Houck named suspect
Brooks Houck, 42, was Rogers' boyfriend at the time and is the father of her youngest child. While he has told officers he'd last seen Rogers alive when they visited his family's farm the night before she went missing, then-Nelson County Sheriff Ed Mattingly named Houck as "the sole suspect in her disappearance" in October 2015, as reported by the Nelson County Gazette.
Houck has denied any involvement in the case.
Houck's brother, Nick, was a police officer with Bardstown Police at the time of Rogers' disappearance and was fired after interfering in the investigation.
The mayor of Bardstown said Nick Houck phoned his brother when he knew Brooks was being interviewed by detectives, warning that his brother "should protect himself," and that investigators "might be trying to trip him up," the Kentucky Standard reported in 2015.
City officials held an administrative hearing on Nick Houck's actions and fired him a day later.
November 2016: Tommy Ballard shot to death
On the morning of Nov. 19, 2016, just 16 months after his daughter's disappearance, Tommy Ballard was preparing for a hunting trip with his 12-year-old grandson on family property next to Bluegrass Parkway in Bardstown. An unknown person fired one shot and hit Ballard in the chest, instantly killing him, according to the FBI.
Ballard, 54, had created Team Crystal, a group of Bardstown community members dedicated to finding Rogers shortly after she went missing.
Kentucky State Police issued a news release that said they do not believe Ballard's grandson was at fault in his grandfather's death.
Authorities have since announced they believe they have the weapon that killed Ballard.
August 2020: FBI takes over investigation, conducts multiple searches
The investigation was initially handled by the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky State Police before the FBI took over the lead investigative role in 2020.
FBI agents have conducted multiple searches in and near Bardstown since Rogers went missing.
In August 2020, more than 150 federal agents served search warrants at three sites owned by Houck and his family members. An FBI spokesman said all three locations had been searched "to various degrees" over the years.
In August 2021, agents searched a subdivision where Houck owns properties. Agents reportedly were using a cadaver dog to search the subdivision and a Courier Journal photographer saw investigators using a jackhammer on the driveway of a home. The driveway was dug up, and large chunks of it were hauled out of the neighborhood in construction trucks.
On Sept. 7, 2021, the FBI announced that the search in Bardstown had ended, with several "items of interest" sent to a lab in Virginia for testing.
One of the latest searches occurred in late 2022 at a farm at 345 Paschal Ballard Lane, which sits on 30 acres and is owned by the mother of Houck.
September 2023: First arrest announced in Crystal Rogers case
In a significant break in the eight-year investigation, a Nelson County man Joseph Lawson was arrested in connection to the case.
Lawson, 33, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, according to court records. Lawson's direct relationships with either Houck or Rogers has not been shared by investigators.
Lawson pleaded not guilty.
September 2023: Brooks Houck arrested in Nelson County on murder charges
A few weeks after Lawson's arrest, the FBI announced Houck was arrested "without incident" at a job site.
According to court records, Houck is charged with murder "by intentionally or under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life wantonly causing the death of Crystal Rogers." Houck is also charged with tampering with physical evidence.
Houck pleaded not guilty.
October 2023: Prosecutor implicates Houck family, reveals details in Ballard case
During Houck's arraignment in October, Hardin County Commonwealth Attorney Shane Young, who was appointed as a special prosecutor to the Crystal Rogers investigation, alleged Houck's family played an active role in impeding the investigation.
Young said that Houck had close family members record secret grand jury proceedings in 2015.
Young also said investigators had recovered a gun sold by Houck's brother under an assumed name that could be a match for the murder weapon in the killing of Rogers' father, Tommy Ballard.
Ballard's death is under investigation. No one has been charged in his death.
December 2023: Third person arrested in Crystal Rogers' case
In December, the FBI announced a third arrest — that of Joseph's father, Steve Lawson.
Lawson, 53, faces the same charges as his son: tampering with physical evidence and conspiracy to murder. He pleaded not guilty.
WHAS previously reported that Houck referred to an employee named Steve Lawson when interrogated by the Nelson County Sheriff's Office.
December 2023: Rogers' family sues Houck
Crystal Rogers' family filed a civil case against Houck over the missing Bardstown mother's death.
Rogers' mother, Sherry Ballard, alleges in the suit filed Dec. 18 in Nelson Circuit Court that Houck "intentionally and wrongfully caused the death of Crystal M. Rogers."
Claims made in a lawsuit represent only one side of a case.
Ballard, who is listed as the administrator of Rogers' estate, is seeking compensation for funeral and administrative expenses, Rogers' lost earnings and her inability to earn more money since her death. Ballard also includes Rogers' "physical pain and mental suffering" prior to her death and the loss of her enjoyment of life as part of the damages.
March 2024: trial to move outside of Nelson County, Lawson wants charges dismissed
While Judge Charles Simms has yet to rule on whether the three men will be tried together or separately, he decided no trial related to Crystal Rogers' murder will be held in Nelson County.
All three defendants filed motions to move court proceedings outside of Nelson County, arguing they could not have a fair trial if they stayed in the local community.
At a March 21 pretrial hearing, Young agreed with the venue change request and said he would speak with the defense attorneys in the next month to propose a different trial venue. If all attorneys cannot agree on a location, Simms said he could propose one.
Simms has requested the new venue be large in size and have a separate entrance for jurors.
The new venue is expected to be released at a pretrial hearing on May 1.
Young's request to consolidate the three defendants into a joint trial, citing the grounds that each indictment is centered around Rogers' murder, was objected by defense attorneys for all three men. The legal teams have asked for more time to respond in writing. A hearing review date is scheduled for June 13.
Steve Lawson's defense has filed a few motions, including one to dismiss his charges.
According to the motion, Lawson was promised immunity by state investigators in exchange for his cooperation. He is now asking for either a dismissal or for statements made last year to Kentucky State Police and a Nelson County Grand Jury be suppressed.
Defense attorney Theodore Lavit has claimed Lawson was verbally promised immunity if he told the truth to investigators. Lavit declined to share the content of Lawson's testimony to police. This motion will be ruled on at a later, unspecified date.
Reach reporter Rachel Smith at rksmith@courierjournal.com or @RachelSmithNews on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: What to know of Crystal Rogers' murder trial: court date, venue change
