BARDSTOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — An arrest in the case of Crystal Rogers' disappearance is big news in a community that has seen more than its share of heartache. Bardstown has seen five unsolved homicides since 2013. Today, a man was charged with murder in one of those cases.
Brooks Houck, the former boyfriend of Crystal Rogers, was indicted on charges of murder and tampering with physical evidence and arrested Wednesday. Rogers disappeared in the summer of 2015. Police said Houck was a suspect, but charges didn't come until September 2023. Rogers has never been found.
"Now I am premature in saying the mystery is solved. This man's just been arrested. But people in this community are... I don't know if they're smiling as much as this sigh of relief that there is an answer to everyone's thought: 'Where is Crystal Rogers?'" said former Bardstown Mayor Dixie Hibbs.
The indictment says Rogers' death happened on either July 3 or 4 of 2015. It does not elaborate on what investigators believe happened. The FBI's Louisville office said in a statement Wednesday that more details will be revealed at Houck's arraignment in early October.
After Rogers disappeared in 2015, her family searched repeatedly for her. In November 2016, Rogers' father, Tommy Ballard, was shot and killed in a field in Bardstown while hunting. No one has ever been charged.
The community had already been dealing with the brutal double murder of a mother and daughter, as well as the unsolved killing of a local police officer.
On April 21, 2014, 48-year-old Kathy Netherland and her 16-year-old daughter Samantha were killed inside their home in the Nelson County community of Botland. Samantha was a sophomore at Bardstown High School and Kathy taught special education at Bardstown Elementary. No suspects have ever been named in that case.
A year before that, Bardstown Police Officer Jason Ellis was killed on his way home from work in an apparent ambush along the Bluegrass Parkway. As he drove home in the early morning hours of May 25, 2013, he came upon branches in the road on Exit 34. He radioed in that he was going to clear the debris. While doing so, he was shot several times and killed. Another driver came upon the scene and used Ellis' radio to call for help. Again, no one's ever been charged.
Houck is in jail on a $10 million bond, awaiting his arraignment. Another man, Joseph Lawson, has also been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and complicity to tampering with physical evidence. He has already pleaded not guilty. Houck's arraignment is scheduled for October 5.
