(LEX 18) — A man charged in connection with the 2015 disappearance of Crystal Rogers has pleaded not guilty in Nelson County court.
53-year-old Steven Lawson was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month with criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.
In court Thursday, Lawson waived a formal reading of the charges from the indictment and entered a not guilty plea.
Steven Lawson’s atty waived formal arraignment and entered a not guilty plea. He asked judge to lower Lawson’s $500k bond - judge denied it.@LEX18News pic.twitter.com/AwUAQkwHhW
— Leigh Searcy (@LSearcLex) December 21, 2023
Lawson's attorney requested a bond hearing to lower his bond, which is scheduled for January 4, 2024. A status hearing was also scheduled for February 8, 2024. He was previously incarcerated in Harrison County, Indiana, and has since been transferred to Nelson County, Kentucky.
Steve Lawson’s attorney Ted Lavit once again said that his client’s only involvement was picking up his son, Joseph Lawson, when he got a flat tire on the Bluegrass Parkway. The car with the flat tire is believed to have been Crystal’s. It was found abandoned there on the BG pkwy pic.twitter.com/atDi0r7EC8
— Morgan Eads (@MorganEads1) December 21, 2023
Crystal Roger’s grandfather, Till Ballard, says he’s waiting for three more arrests in the case.
His son, Joseph Lawson, was the first to be indicted on the same charges in September, followed by Rogers' then-boyfriend, Brooks Houck, who is charged with murder in the case.
Rogers, a mother of five, disappeared around July 4, 2015, and her body has never been found.
Steven Lawson's name came up early in the investigation when Brooks Houck was first interviewed by police days after Rogers vanished.
Authorities wanted to know why Lawson made a late-night call to Houck the night Rogers disappeared. In the interview, Houck said Lawson worked for him and told the investigator Lawson called to inquire about rental property that Crystal managed for Houck.
During that 2015 call the night Rogers disappeared, Steve Lawson said that Houck had told him that he'd call Rogers to ask her about something work-related. But the detective pointed out that Houck had told police she was with him at the time of the call with Lawson.
"Okay, so that begs the question in my mind, if she's in the truck next to you when he called, why would you need to call her about getting numbers for rental properties?" the detective asks Houck in the video.
Steven Lawson's arrest comes days after authorities with multiple law enforcement agencies searched part of an area in Nelson County. At the time, special prosecutor Shane Young confirmed with LEX 18 that it was in connection to one of three unsolved death investigations in Bardstown.
Along with Rogers, Young has been assigned the death investigations of Tommy Ballard and Jason Ellis.
16 months after Rogers vanished, her father, Tommy Ballard, was shot and killed by an unknown gunman while hunting on his own property.
In May 2013, Bardstown police officer Jason Ellis was killed in a surprise attack on his way home from work. A decade later, no arrest has been made in connection with his murder.
