THE VANISHING OF CRYSTAL ROGERS
SHE'S BEEN MISSING FOR EIGHT YEARS, BUT IS THE TRUTH ABOUT TO COME OUT?
As 2023 was drawing to a close, a third arrest was made in the case of missing mother-of-five Crystal Rogers. Last seen in Bardstown, Kentucky, her disappearance has remained a mystery for over eight long years. But now it seems investigators may be on their way to unravelling the shocking tale, which began on 3 July 2015.
ABANDONED VEHICLE
Crystal’s family were members of a close-knit farming community. She was a devoted mother to her children, who she adored, and a loving daughter to parents Tommy and Sherry Ballard, who doted on their eldest child. Hailing from a loving home, Crystal, 35, was a laid-back and easygoing parent, who often worked two jobs to provide for her family. She shared her youngest child, who was just two years old in 2015, with her live-in boyfriend, Brooks Houck.
But on 3 July, after the couple had spent the night at the farming home of his family, Houck woke up to find Crystal gone. He would later tell the police he had last seen her before he went to bed, and that she had been playing games on her phone. Her car, which had been parked on the drive, was also missing. In the two days that followed, Crystal’s daughter Kayleigh contacted her grandmother Sherry to ask if she had heard from her mother, but she hadn’t. Crystal’s sister Brooke had also tried and failed to reach her. Concerned, Sherry began calling around town to see if anyone had seen her daughter, but to no avail. She would later say that she knew then something was very wrong.
On 5 July, Sherry and Tommy reported Crystal missing to the local Sheriff. While they were filing the report, a relative who happened to be at the police station at the same time told them he believed he had seen Crystal’s car parked by the side of a stretch of road known as the Bluegrass Parkway.
The family, accompanied by a team of officers, rushed to the highway and found Crystal’s maroon Chevrolet Impala. There was, however, no sign of Crystal. Worryingly, the unlocked car had a flat tyre and the keys were still in the ignition. There was also a host of Crystal’s belongings, including her purse, phone and half-drunk bottles of Coke, scattered inside the vehicle. Crystal’s brother Casey noted to investigators that Crystal had an unusual driving position and would lay her seat back low, but the seat was not in that position, leading him to believe Crystal had not driven herself to the site. He also told officers that she’d had a flat tyre on that road before. His sister was a cautious driver and he said she would not have exited her car on such a dangerous stretch of highway. She would – as she had previously done – have carried on driving until she reached a safer spot, even if that meant damaging the wheels.
The car was seized by investigators, but police would later tell the Ballards that no
forensic evidence was recovered and it was subsequently returned to them.
Almost immediately, Tommy began coordinating his own searches for his daughter, founding “Team Crystal”, which was comprised of a group of dedicated community members. Together, they searched acres of land in the hope of finding her. Meanwhile, the family already harboured their suspicions about Crystal’s fate and focused on who they believed was the prime suspect, her boyfriend Houck. Not only had he failed to raise the alarm after he woke up and found Crystal gone, he also did not assist in the searches or volunteer to aid the authorities with their investigation.
The family’s suspicions were shared by police, and on 8 July, he was called in for questioning. But their attempts at gleaning more information about Crystal’s last movements were to be abruptly halted. Houck’s brother Nick was a police officer and, during a call he made to his brother while he was at the police station, he advised him to “protect himself” and stated that investigators might be trying “to trip him up”. Nick’s actions were later deemed an act of misconduct and, after failing an Fbi-administered polygraph test regarding his knowledge of Crystal’s disappearance, he was subsequently fired from the force.
Frustrated by the lack of progress, the Ballards hired numerous private investigators. One discovered that an unaccounted-for white Buick had been seen parked outside the Houck residence on the night in question. Further investigations would later reveal that Houck’s grandmother had owned a white Buick and sold it two weeks after Crystal vanished.
As the authorities continued their enquiries, Tommy’s own search for the truth was gaining momentum and he had become a high-profile figure outside of Bardstown. It was clear to everyone who knew him that he was never going to stop looking for his daughter. If he wasn’t physically combing the areas that he had mapped, he was scouring the internet for clues. Many believe it was because he was getting closer to discovering something that someone would do anything to keep hidden, that on 19 November 2016, Tommy paid with his own life.
SHOTS FIRED
It was the first week of rifle season in Kentucky, and Tommy was beginning a family hunt with his grandson Trenton, Crystal’s eldest son, on the Ballard Farm. He had owned the land for 12 years and it ran alongside the same stretch of highway where Crystal’s car had been recovered. It was well-known by the community that the Ballards would be hunting there. While his own son Casey was located on another part of the farm, Tommy and Trenton were readying their equipment when Casey heard a single gunshot, followed by a distressed shout from his nephew. Casey rushed to his father’s location and found him bleeding on the ground. He had sustained a single, fatal gunshot to the chest. It was another unthinkable heartbreak for the Ballard family.
When authorities arrived, they were met with signs of a third party at the scene. A portion of the hedge approximately 70 yards from where Tommy was shot had been cut back to leave what was described as a lookout point. The cleared area provided an uninhibited view of Tommy and a clear shooting vantage point. Police believe that whoever fired the shot may have been sitting in a car
‘IT WAS CLEAR TOMMY WOULD NEVER GIVE UP LOOKING FOR HER’
on the highway across from the farm. Tommy had been murdered.
Sherry Ballard’s life was in ruins. With her daughter and now her husband gone, she desperately held on to the hope that, one day, she’d find out why her family had been the targets of such evil crimes, and by whom. In the wake of the double tragedy, a website was set up dedicated to the ongoing investigations. Crystal’s daughter wrote, “My mom is a very special woman. 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.”
ITEMS OF INTEREST
Five years after Crystal’s disappearance, there had still been no arrests. There had also been none in connection with Tommy’s murder. But there were areas that still needed investigation, and in 2020, the FBI took over the investigation. New CCTV footage was released of cars in the area in a renewed hunt for witnesses, and with 150 officers on the case, multiple searches focused around the Houck family farm where Crystal was last seen alive.
At the time of Crystal’s disappearance, a construction company owned by Houck was building three new homes in the area. An FBI search of those homes and the surrounding areas in August 2021 revealed an item of interest in a concreted area. Further searches also recovered more items pertinent to the case. In October 2022, the FBI tweeted, “We hope that the evidence collected will move our investigation one step closer to holding accountable the individual(s) responsible for Crystal Rogers’ disappearance,” adding, “FBI Louisville and all of our law enforcement partners are committed to successfully resolving this case and giving Crystal’s family peace and, more importantly, justice.”
In addition to the FBI findings, an independent forensic investigation was conducted on Crystal’s car during the filming of docuseries The Disappearance Of Crystal Rogers. During that search, a cadaver dog indicated there had been human remains in the boot of the car. There was also evidence of human blood found in the boot, and multiple bags of evidence were sent for testing.
Finally, in September 2023 – eight years after Crystal vanished – a series of arrests were made. Joseph Lawson, who is reportedly an employee of Houck’s construction company, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the case. His father, Steven Lawson, was also arrested under the same charges. Both have pleaded not guilty. While Steven’s attorney says he knows nothing about the deaths and is co-operating with investigators, court documents allege he agreed to “aid one or more persons in the planning or commission” of the death of another and then “destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed or altered physical evidence on 3 or 4 July 2015.” Lawson’s attorney did say his client’s son Joseph, “drove Crystal’s vehicle west on the Bluegrass Parkway to… mile marker 14 or 16, where he had a flat tyre.” This was the first and only time the circumstance of Crystal’s car being located on the highway had been made public. He continued, “There likely is, for my knowledge of this case, evidence that there was solicitation,” implying that Crystal may have been the victim of a murderfor-hire plot, adding that prosecutors would doubtless make “a heavy effort to prove that”.
GUN FOUND
The third arrest was one that the Ballard family had long hoped for. Brooks Houck was charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence. Court documents allege that Houck, “intentionally, or under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, wantonly caused the death of Crystal Rogers”. He has pleaded not guilty. It was also revealed investigators had recovered a gun they believe to be the weapon used in the still-unsolved shooting of Tommy. Nick Houck was reportedly identified as having sold it, although at time of press, no charges had been brought, and he denies wrongdoing.
While the Ballard family can only hope the arrests signal the beginning of the end of their long fight for answers, trial dates are yet to be set. Crystal’s body has never been found. ■