27-05-2025
Nearly 10 years after Crystal Rogers vanished in Bardstown, one of the men accused will stand trial: What to expect
BARDSTOWN, Ky. (FOX 56) — For nearly 10 years, the question 'Where is Crystal Rogers?' has plagued the Nelson County community, and on Tuesday, May 27, a jury will be seated to begin to unravel the answer for the first time.
In a Warren County courtroom, a little over 100 miles from Bardstown, 54-year-old Steven Lawson will face a jury of his peers. In 2023, Lawson was charged with tampering with physical evidence and conspiracy to murder in connection with the disappearance of Crystal Rogers.
8 years of no answers: Where is Crystal Rogers?
Crystal Rogers, a Bardstown mother, was 35 when she was last seen by her then-boyfriend, Brooks Houck, on July 3, 2015.
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, Hock said he went to bed alone, and Rogers allegedly stayed up on her phone.
That was the last time Rogers was reportedly seen alive.
She was reported missing by her mother on July 5. That same day, her father, Tommy Ballard, discovered her car abandoned with a flat tire at mile marker 14 on the Bluegrass Parkway. Her phone, keys, and purse were still inside the red Chevrolet Impala.
According to the FBI's Most Wanted Missing Persons database, Rogers was a mother to five children and is not known to go anywhere without them.
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In 2023, the seemingly cold case gained momentum, and police would make a string of three arrests in connection with the investigation.
Two years later, Brooks Houck, Steven Lawson, and Joseph Lawson are slated for trial by jury in connection with Rogers' disappearance. After a lengthy court battle, a judge ruled that Houck and Joseph would be tried together.
Steven will be tried alone.
The ruling stems from what the judge called Steven's 'wildly inconsistent' and 'ever-evolving' testimonies of what occurred leading to Rogers' disappearance. The court believed that Houck and Joseph wouldn't receive a fair trial if all three men were tried together.
His trial will be the first of the two, beginning at 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
The list of court filings made since Steven's 2023 arrest is lengthy, but its contents offer a glimpse of what the jury will hear in the Warren County courtroom.
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A reported immunity agreement was made between Steven and the investigators in exchange for the truth. However, prosecutors have argued that Lawson has lied repeatedly to minimize his role in the Rogers case. A judge later rejected Steven's claims.
In June 2024, evidence filed in Steven's immunity case revealed that he told investigators he saw his son and another man 'burning and digging' with construction equipment on a farm on Thompson Hill Road within five days of Rogers' disappearance in 2015.
'Obviously, the Commonwealth is convinced that parts of Lawson's statement are truthful,' May 2024 court documents state. But they go on to reveal that prosecutors believe that Lawson was more involved in Rogers' disappearance and death than he's let on.
He allegedly admitted that he was recruited by Houck to move Rogers' car in the early morning hours of July 4, 2015, as well as looking for someone to 'get rid of Crystal Rogers,' per court documents.
The filing alleges that the pair spent an 'inordinate amount of time together' preceding Rogers' disappearance, and witnesses allegedly claim that conversations between them and Steven show that Houck attempted to recruit Lawson or have him recruit somebody else to 'get rid of Rogers.'
'S. Lawson's statements fall apart when questions arise about what he was doing certain hours of the early morning of July 4 as well as the phone call Houck made to Lawson on July 8 from the police station,' the documents read.
Lawson allegedly told detectives that the call in the early morning hours of July 4, 2015, was to tell Houck that 'the job is done,' alluding to the car being moved, per court documents.
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The latest breakthrough in the case was in regard to hair that was recovered from Rogers' car in 2015 and never tested for DNA. Kentucky State Police investigators reportedly determined the samples are not 'similar in characteristics' to Rogers' hair.
A special prosecutor asked the judge to order that Steven complete a buccal swab for comparison. But DNA testing could take months, and the court opted not to delay the trial any further in an April 2025 order.
The trial against Houck and Joseph is set to begin on June 24. Jury selection for Steven's trial will begin around 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday.
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