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Brooks Houck was convicted on July 8, 2025, of murder, as principal or accomplice, and tampering with physical evidence in the disappearance of Crystal Rogers, 35, and was sentenced on September 17, 2025, to life in prison.

Rogers, a mother of five, lived in Bardstown, in Nelson County, Kentucky. In 2015 she was in a relationship with Houck, a Nelson County property owner and farmer, and lived at his home. Houck's brother, Nick Houck, was then an officer with the Bardstown Police Department. Rogers was last seen on July 3, 2015 and reported missing on July 5, 2015. Her red Chevrolet Impala was found abandoned that day on the Bluegrass Parkway with a flat tire and her keys, phone and purse inside. Her remains have never been found.

At trial, prosecutors argued that Houck took Rogers to the Houck family farm, where she was killed on the night of July 3, 2015. They said her body was moved in a white Buick belonging to Houck's grandmother. A hair matching Rogers was later recovered from its trunk. Prosecutors argued that Steve Lawson and his son Joseph Lawson helped dispose of her car, with Steve Lawson picking up his son on the Bluegrass Parkway after it was left there. Forensic witnesses testified that activity on Rogers' phone stopped at 9:23 p.m. and that it was manually powered off at 11:57 p.m. and never turned on again.

Houck was questioned by Kentucky State Police on July 7, 2015 and at the Nelson County Sheriff's Office on July 8, 2015, the latter time by Detective Jon Snow. He came in voluntarily and denied any involvement. Houck said he spent July 3 checking houses and banks and working, then was at the family farm from about 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. feeding cattle with his young son. He said Rogers was on the couch playing games on her phone when they returned home just after midnight on July 4 and was gone by morning. Houck spent more than an hour and a half writing an eight-page statement detailing his movements, which was later entered at trial as an exhibit. Nick Houck called during the interview and told his brother to stop talking to police. Houck took a polygraph that was inconclusive and left without being arrested. The next day, he said publicly that he was one hundred percent innocent.

Prosecutors used the interview against Houck at trial. Jurors saw him reading his written statements aloud while the detective was out of the room. Snow testified that, after reviewing the video, he saw Houck adjusting an audio recorder. Prosecutors argued that Houck was recording his account so his family could keep their statements consistent. People Houck said he had met on July 3 testified that they had not met him, while phone and other evidence placed him at the farm earlier than he claimed. Nick Houck was fired by the Bardstown Police Department in October 2015 over his lack of cooperation with the investigation. He has never been charged.

In November 2016, Rogers' father, Tommy Ballard, was shot and killed while hunting on family property. His death was initially treated as a hunting accident and later classified by the FBI as a homicide. No one has been charged in it.

Houck was indicted and arrested on September 27, 2023 on charges of murder and tampering with physical evidence. Joseph Lawson was arraigned in September 2023 on conspiracy to commit murder and tampering. Steve Lawson was tried first and found guilty in May 2025 of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering. Judge Charles Simms sentenced him to 17 years on August 6, 2025. Houck and Joseph Lawson were tried together in Bowling Green, Kentucky, beginning June 24, 2025. The jury convicted Joseph Lawson on July 8, 2025 of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering. On September 17, 2025, Judge Simms sentenced Houck to life in prison, with the five-year tampering term running concurrently because Kentucky law does not allow a sentence beyond life, and sentenced Joseph Lawson to 25 years. Both men sought a new trial or dismissal of the verdicts before sentencing. Houck appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court in January 2026, seeking acquittal or a new trial. Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman filed a brief on May 6, 2026 asking the court to uphold the conviction. The appeal was pending as of that filing. Crystal Rogers has never been found.

The video is a police interview-room recording that runs about 122 minutes. It presents the interview itself and opens with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.

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Part 2 of 3 of the recording described above.

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Part 3 of 3 of the recording described above.