Openings in Crystal Rogers murder trial give glimpse into evidence to come

Yahoo

25-06-2025

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — During opening arguments in the Crystal Rogers murder trial on June 25, prosecutors pointed to a conversation that they said marked the beginning of a plan to kill the Bardstown mother of five, who disappeared in July 2015 and has yet to be found.
The conversation did not include Brooks Houck, Rogers' boyfriend at the time of the disappearance, who is charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence in the trial. It was his mother, Rosemary Houck, who approached Danny Singleton, a man worked for Houck, about killing Rogers, prosecutor Jim Lesousky said.
In his response to the proposition, Singleton said something to the effect of, 'If you got enough money, you can get anything done,' Lesousky said.
"That was the beginning of the conspiracy to kill Crystal," Lesousky said.
Steve Schroering, a defense attorney for Houck, told a different story.
During opening arguments for his client, Schroering foreshadowed possible testimony from Singleton himself, noting he had pending felony charges that were amended to misdemeanors after he alleged the conversation occurred.
Schroering said that's just one example of how prosecutors have built a case on 'assumptions, theories and guesses' aided by 'coercion, manipulation and bullying' amid mounting pressure for investigators to find answers to the decade-old case.
Attorneys for Joseph Lawson, who is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence in the trial, reserved their openings, meaning they will likely come after the prosecution rests its case. Lawson's father, Steven Lawson, was convicted for his role in the alleged murder in late May.
Following a full day of jury selection June 24, the second day of the high-profile trial kicked off with openings from the prosecution.
During his statements, Lesousky noted a lack of physical evidence in the case, something Houck's defense attempted to exploit in their openings.
Rogers went missing the night of July 3, 2015, but her body has never been found. Her car was found a few days later abandoned on Bluegrass Parkway with her keys, phone and purse inside. Investigators presume she is dead.
Because of the lack of physical evidence, Lesousky asked jurors to instead use their 'God-given common sense' to understand the accusations.
On the afternoon of July 3, Houck told Rogers they would enjoy a 'kids-free, romantic evening,' Lesousky said. The couple, who shared one child, was enduring a rough patch at the time, so Rogers was looking forward to the outing.
But the couple ended up going to the Houck-family farm accompanied by their son, arriving around 7:30 p.m. and leaving around midnight. Houck later told investigators that it was Rogers' idea to spend the evening on the farm, which is where she was last seen.
Around 12:07 p.m. July 4, Steven Lawson called Houck for about 13 seconds.
Steven Lawson's explanation for why he called Houck has evolved over the course of the investigation, though he testified at his trial that the call was to inform Houck that the job of moving Rogers' car was done. Houck, who owns several rental properties in Nelson County, has claimed that Steven asked about properties during the brief phone call.
Houck told investigators that Rogers was using her phone on the couch when the couple returned home from the farm around 12:30 a.m. that night, Lesousky said. But data that will be presented as evidence will show Rogers' phone was not used after 9:27 p.m. the previous day, he said.
Schroering countered during his opening arguments that interview recordings will reveal Houck said that's what Rogers would normally do at that hour, not necessarily what she did that very night.
While Joseph Lawson's attorneys declined to give opening arguments for now, Schroering declared both men innocent.
His remarks focused heavily on dispelling 'suspicions' that the prosecution raised.
For example, Lesousky said Houck installed dark tints on his truck windows days before Rogers disappeared, likely to block people from seeing what occurred inside the truck. Schroering said the tint job was simply to accommodate his young son's medical condition that made his eyes sensitive to sunlight.
'If you look at it through a sinister view, then you come to a sinister conclusion,' Schroering said.
Schroering went on to purport flaws in the prosecution's evidence that Steven Lawson drove to pick up his son, Joseph, from where Rogers' car broke down on Bluegrass Parkway.
Data from Steven's phone, which is slated to be shown as evidence, will show the likelihood that he was actually on Boston Road, a corridor north of the parkway that runs parallel to it, Schroering said.
In 2014, Schroering said, Steven jointly financed a car through Capital One with an ex-girlfriend, whom he dated while on a break with his wife at the time, Tammy Lawson. The couple broke up, and Steven got back with his wife.
The two disputed over who would own the car after the breakup, and both maintained keys to the car.
The night Rogers disappeared, Steven's ex-girlfriend was picked up from work early because she felt sick. While driving past a bar in Bardstown, she noticed the car she shared with Steven parked in the lot and asked to be dropped off. She drove the car back to a residence on Boston Road to hide it, Schroering said.
The car was 'stolen back' within 24 hours, Schroering said.
Steven's phone data from that night shows he called Capital One and visited its website, and he texted his wife in the early morning hours of July 4 about the car.
Despite thousands of hours of investigating, dozens of searches around Nelson County and countless tips, the 'scientific evidence' in the case remains the most certain, Schroering said.
'Where the case stands today is that there is no sign of Crystal Rogers' body,' he said.
Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at [e-mail] or @bkillian72 on X.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Crystal Rogers trial openings done for Brooks Houck