BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- Brooks Houck was sentenced by a Nelson County judge Wednesday to life in prison for the 2015 murder of his former girlfriend, Crystal Rogers.
Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms III largely followed the recommendation of a Warren County jury, which, in July, found Houck guilty of murder (principal or accomplice to the crime) and complicity tampering with physical evidence. The jury had recommended a sentence of life plus five years, but Simms said that is not allowed under state law.
Joseph Lawson, who also stood trial with Houck, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Joseph Lawson's father, Steve, was tried separately and sentenced last month to 17 years in prison.
Several of Rogers' family members, including her mother, Sherry Ballard, stared directly at Houck as they gave statements during the sentencing. They said they would see him again to fight against his release when he is eligible for parole in 18 years and each subsequent time.
Ballard thanked Lawson for looking at her before telling him how much he had damaged so many lives, saying she had nothing but "contempt" for him and saying he is a "coward."
They gave emotional testimony.
"Never once have I seen you shed one tear," Ballard said with a calm force. "You will spend the rest of your miserable life in prison where you belong."
Ballard, as well as other family members, asked Houck to tell them where Rogers' body was buried. Houck didn't express emotion or talk during his sentencing, maintaining eye contact with each speaker.
"I pray one day you will grow a heart and have the decency to tell me where my daughter is," Ballard told him. "You owe that to your son."
Rogers and Houck, 43, had one child together, Eli.
"Did she beg for her life?" Ballard asked Houck at one point.
As for Lawson, 34, Rogers' family had few words for him, saying 'karma" had already done more than anything they could. Lawson is in ill health, partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair after a motorcycle accident years ago. He did not saying anything during the sentencing.
"They can take you and wheel you out to the dumpster because that is all you are worth," Casey Ballard, Crystal's brother, told Lawson.
Attorneys for Houck declined to comment after the sentencing. Prosecutors did not speak with the media.
While the family of Rogers had asked the judge to sentence Houck to life without the possibility of parole, Simms said that was also not permissible under Kentucky law.
The sentencing closes one chapter of a mystery that has captivated the town of Bardstown and beyond for years. The trials were moved to Warren County because of the amount of media coverage.
It's not known what will happen with Houck's brother, Nick, and mother, Rosemary, who were named by prosecutors as "unindicted coconspirators" and mentioned repeatedly during court hearings and the trials. Neither has been charged.
Rogers' family members spoke of Nick, Rosemary and others in the Houck family during the sentencing, with Ballard saying the "whole family will be united (in Hell) one day."
Brooke Ballard, Rogers' sister, called Rosemary Houck an "evil woman who raised evil children. I hope you have the worse life possible because that is what you deserve."
Both Lawson and Houck are appealing their convictions.
The 10-day trial, which began June 24, included more than 50 witnesses, testimony about cellphone data, experts on policing, surveillance videos and recorded interrogations, among other evidence.
Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five from Nelson County, was last seen alive during the Fourth of July weekend in 2015 with her boyfriend, Houck.
Days later, her car was found abandoned — still running — on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway. Her purse and other belongings were inside. Despite years of searching, she's never been found.
While there was no physical evidence, such as a body, murder weapon, crime scene or witness, the prosecution hammered Houck's actions in the days before and after Rogers' disappeared.
Houck acknowledged he was with Rogers from about 7 p.m. until midnight on July 3, 2015, at the family farm. She was never seen again. He took her to his family's farm that rainy night on what was supposed to be a special date, according to her friends.
Prosecutors said Houck's version of events given to police for what he did that day was a lie. While saying he'd been driving around doing business July 3, he was actually at the Houck farm most of the day.
After Rogers disappeared, Houck didn't answer multiple texts and phone calls from her family members but did answer a call from his mother, Rosemary Houck.
Houck had told police Rogers stayed up playing on her phone when he went to bed after they got home. But records show her phone battery died at 9:23 p.m. that night, according to prosecutors, while they were still at the farm.
In his closing arguments, defense attorney Brian Butler referred to the prosecutions' case as a "convoluted mess" with unreliable witnesses, contradictory and coerced testimony and data proving Houck nor his co-defendants were involved.
Investigators searched the Houck farm, using hundreds of FBI agents, K-9s, divers and drones and found no evidence a murder had been committed, Butler said.
Attorney Robert Boyd, one of Joseph Lawson's attorneys, said he was "shocked' and "dumbfounded" by the verdict, telling WDRB News that the prosecution barely mentioned Joseph Lawson during the trial.
The evidence against Joseph Lawson was scant, mostly consisting of a few people claiming they overheard Joseph and/or Steve Lawson talking about Rogers' murder.
The Lawsons were, in part, charged with moving Rogers' vehicle after she disappeared.
During his trial Steve Lawson admitted he was guilty of tampering with physical evidence for helping his son move Rogers' vehicle after she disappeared. Joseph Lawson drove Rogers' car, and his father picked him up when the vehicle had a flat tire, leaving it on the side of Bluegrass Parkway, he testified.
Joseph Lawson's attorneys denied he was involved, arguing his fingerprints were not found on the steering wheel of Rogers' vehicle. No DNA of either of the Lawson's was found in the car. A fingerprint found on Rogers' phone did not belong to either man. A palm print found on the car also didn't match the Lawsons or Houck.
"I truly believe that the Rogers' family deserves more answers to the questions that they have and with the amount of effort that the government has spent, and the inability to provide those answers, it's not fair to them," Boyd said in an interview in July. "I just believe Joey Lawson is innocent in this case."
The family is also still waiting to see what, if anything, will happen to Nick and Rosemary Houck.
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Ballard said of Rosemary Houck on Wednesday.
Nick Houck, a police officer at the time, had his cellphone turned off between 11 p.m. July 2 and the middle of the afternoon July 4, 2015. He was supposed to be helping his wife move July 3 but told her he was going to help his brother with something instead. She called Nick Houck 15 times over a 24-hour period.
Nick Houck's phone came back on at 1:47 p.m. July 4. While he told his wife he was helping Houck, Rogers' friends testified she told them Brooks Houck was taking her on a kid-free, romantic date July 3.
The defense argued Nick Houck turned his phone off because he was fighting with his wife.
After Rogers disappeared, police searched the cruiser of Nick Houck when he worked for the Bardstown Police Department. A blanket was found in the trunk, and audio accidentally recorded by Brooks Houck of him and Rosemary Houck talking about the search showed she was worried, asking Houck, "What about the blanket?" Nothing of evidentiary value was found on the blanket.
Nick Houck refused to answer questions in front of a Nelson County grand jury.
He was fired from the Bardstown Police Department in October 2015 for interfering with the investigation. And prosecutor Shane Young told a judge in October 2023 that Nick Houck used a fake name to sell a gun to investigators that may have been used to kill Tommy Ballard, Rogers' father.
In the weeks before Rogers vanished, Rosemary Houck talked to a man named Danny Singleton, who worked for her son, and asked if he would find someone to "get rid of Crystal," according to prosecutors.
Also, according to court documents, Rosemary Houck's cellphone, "shows no activity between June 16, 2015, and August 4, 2015. This would indicate that Rosemary was using a different phone during the period of Crystal's murder and that communications on that phone were never obtained by law enforcement."
In addition, a witness testified to a grand jury that Rosemary Houck "seemed to take pleasure in Crystal's disappearance" and was overheard saying Rogers should have disappeared long before she did and that "now that she is gone, the child would be raised right" — a reference to Eli, the child Rogers shared with Brooks Houck.
Rhonda McIlvoy, Brooks Houck's sister, was granted permanent custody of the 12-year-old this week.
This story will be updated.
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