LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Nick Houck, the brother of Brooks Houck, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Crystal Rogers, was arrested Thursday and charged with perjury, Kentucky State Police said.
KSP said Nick Houck "allegedly committed perjury between 2015 and 2023." According to the indictment, Nick Houck "made a material false statement, which he did not believe, in an official proceeding, while under oath required or authorized by law."
He was arrested at 1:41 p.m. Thursday, according to his citation. His bond was set at $25,000, and he's scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. June 18. He was booked into the Hardin County Detention Center in Elizabethtown and released at 6:02 p.m. Thursday.
The arrest prompted strong reactions from some Bardstown residents who have followed the case for years.
"I'm glad this is finally happening," said Bardstown native Alexis Dunford. "Maybe the family can get some peace. Maybe they won't have to continuously look over their shoulders thinking someone they love is gonna get hurt."
Dunford said she knows one of Rogers' children.
"It was a hard time watching her cry," Dunford said.
Debbie Miller, who was visiting Bardstown on Thursday, said she believes more people were involved in Rogers' disappearance.
"I'm not surprised. I feel like (the brothers) were in on it together along with the mother," Miller said.
Rogers was last seen on July 3, 2015. The next day, her car was found on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway with her purse, phone and keys still inside. But there was no sign of the mother of five. Brooks Houck was quickly named the main person of interest because he was the last known person to see her alive when they were at his family farm the night of July 3.
"I've always thought that he was involved with Brooks, so maybe they'll get what they need to prove he was involved," Tommy Ballard, Rogers' father, said in 2016.
Over the years, the Houck family farm, the homes of Brooks and Nick Houck, have been searched multiple times.
Nick Houck was arrested at 1:41 p.m. Thursday, according his citation. His bond was set at $25,000. (Photo courtesy of Kentucky State Police)
In September, Brooks Houck was sentenced by a Nelson County judge to life in prison. 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.
Ballard was shot and killed in November 2016 while hunting with his grandson on family property in Nelson County. During a court appearance for Brooks Houck in October 2023, prosecutor Shane Young said the rifle used to kill Ballard was purchased from Nick Houck, who was using a fake name. Brooks Houck's attorneys said in court documents that Young said the gun was "sold to an undercover agent." Young said the gun is the same caliber as the gun used in Ballard's death.
Nick Houck was suspended from his job as an officer with the Bardstown Police Department in September 2015 and fired in October 2015, accused of interfering with the Rogers investigation. Her body has still never been found.
'Unindicted co-conspirators'
During Brooks Houck's trial, Young told jurors Nick Houck, a Bardstown police officer at the time of Rogers' disappearance, had his cellphone turned off between 11 p.m. July 2 and the middle of the afternoon July 4. He was supposed to be helping his girlfriend 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 girlfriend he was helping Houck, Rogers' friends testified she told them Brooks Houck was taking her on a kid-free, romantic date July 3.
"The surprise date was her surprise ending," Young told jurors.
After Rogers disappeared, police searched Nick Houck's cruiser. 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. Throughout the trial, the prosecution called him and his mother "unindicted co-conspirators."
Ryan Cecil and Daniel Donohue testified in the trial they were in a coon hunting competition the night of July 3, 2015, near the Houck farm and saw a white Buick parked on the road. Jamie Brooks, a detective with the Internal Revenue Service, testified a white Buick similar to the one seen by Cecil, Donohue and McKinney was owned by the Houck brothers' grandmother, Anna Whitesides.
Cecil and Donohue reported seeing the car to police July 10, 2015, but the information laid dormant until April 28, 2016, when Tommy Ballard posted on Facebook asking about a white Buick. Three days later, on May 1, detectives got a call from Ballard and then obtained a search warrant for Whitesides's home.
When they arrived, "the white Buick had been sold," Brooks said, adding that another car in the garage had a temporary tag.
He said the Buick was sold at a Louisville dealership May 2, 2016, and pictures show Whitesides and Nick Houck at a Louisville dealership that day, according to surveillance pictures.Â
'You do know the truth'
Detectives served Nick Houck with a search warrant while at his grandmother's house in Bardstown in 2016. In 2020, FBI agents went door-to-door on Pulliam Avenue, just a few doors down from the home of Nick Houck, interviewing neighbors.
Nick Houck, while still an officer, failed a lie detector test surrounding Rogers’ disappearance as he maintained he had nothing to do with her disappearance and was telling the truth.
Just before the heated exchange, Nick Houck sat calmly in his unbuttoned Bardstown police uniform as he's told he did not pass a lie detector test.
Some of the questions in that test included: Do you know where Crystal is right now? Are you hiding any information about what happened to Crystal?
"Deception indicated, 100%," the examiner said.
The examiner also asked Nick Houck about a phone call he made to Brooks Houck as he was being questioned by a detective.
During the Oct. 5 bond hearing for Brooks Houck, the prosecutor said Young also said that Houck's family members — including Nick Houck — secretly recorded grand jury proceedings, which are supposed to be secret, when they were testifying shortly after the murder.
"The question is why?" Young said, adding that he's never seen anyone do that before. "I think everyone in this courtroom knows why: to make sure everyone's stories is consistent."
This story will be updated.
"I'm not surprised. I feel like (the brothers) were in on it together along with the mother," said Debbie Miller, who was visiting Bardstown Thursday. "And from what I've read and seen on the news, I think they hated Crystal."
Alexis Dunford "I'm glad this is finally happening," said Bardstown native Alexis Dunford. "Maybe the family can get some peace. Maybe they won't have to continuously look over their shoulders thinking someone they love is gonna get hurt."
Dunford said she knows one of Rogers' children.
"It was a hard time watching her cry," Dunford said."
I really hope for the family, that there's some closure," Miller said. "That somebody will tell them what happened to her, and where her body is."
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