Suvechha Sarkar
The peaceful community of Bardstown, Kentucky, changed forever in July 2015 with the sudden disappearance of Crystal Maria Rogers. The 35-year-old was a mother of five and was known for her kind nature. The following eight years left Crystal’s family, friends, and the community searching for her remains as law enforcement presumed her dead. Oxygen’s ‘The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers’ revisits the case and chronicles a new investigation to try to uncover her killer. It also features the emotional interviews of her loved ones, who continued to endure a painful journey as they fought for justice.
Crystal Rogers Was Presumed Dead 3 Months After Her Disappearance
Crystal Maria Ballard arrived as a bundle of joy in the lives of Sherry Ballard and Thomas Marvin Ballard, AKA Tommy, on April 4, 1980. She grew up in Bardstown, Kentucky, alongside her brother, Casey, and her sister, Brooke. Although there is very limited information about her early life, we do know that Casey stated that Crystal had welcomed her first child at a very young age. Over the years, she embraced motherhood, giving birth to Kyleigh Fenwick and Ashley Miller. At one point in her adulthood, Crystal had reportedly gotten married, allowing her to welcome her children, Thomas and Victoria Rogers, into her life. Unfortunately, her marriage didn’t work out, and she parted ways with her partner.
Crystal thought that she got another chance at love when she crossed paths with Brooks Houck. It wasn’t long before she moved in with him, and by 2013, they gave birth to their son, Eli. Everything seemed to be going well until July 3, 2015. On that fateful day, Sherry received a call from Kyleigh, asking if she had heard from Crystal. When Sherry was unable to reach Crystal or learn about her whereabouts from several friends and acquaintances, she grew concerned and finally reported her missing on July 5. On that same day, authorities reportedly learned from an acquaintance of Crystal that her car had been spotted off the Bluegrass Parkway in Bardstown, Kentucky.
When detectives arrived at the scene, they discovered Crystal’s car abandoned by the road with a flat tire. Her wallet was found inside, with the car keys still in the ignition. Furthermore, they uncovered her cellphone inside the vehicle with its power off. The discovery led to an intensive search in the nearby ditch, which was surrounded by woods, but they were unable to find any leads. When they did not get any trace of her, on October 16, 2015, law enforcement reportedly announced that she was presumed dead. It was later reaffirmed in subsequent court proceedings. According to official reports, her remains have not been found to this day.
Suspicious Timelines and Conflicting Stories Sparked Doubts Among Detectives
After the discovery of Crystal’s car, her brother, Casey, had reportedly told the police that he didn’t believe she was driving it. According to police records, he informed them that his sister always kept the seat reclined, which wasn’t how the car seat was found. Authorities next discovered Walmart CCTV footage from the afternoon of July 3, 2015, which was the last footage of her alive. They next focused on her live-in boyfriend, Brooks, who was the last person to see Crystal. Reports state that in his statements, he claimed that he and Crystal had set out from their home with Eli around 7 pm and had allegedly gone to his family farm.
Brooks continued that he and Crystal then allegedly took a walk around the farm with their son and returned home by midnight. As per official records, Brooks claimed that he had gone to sleep immediately after returning home. According to reports, he stated that Crystal was allegedly playing a game when he went to sleep. He further claimed that when he woke up the next morning, he found Eli in the bed with him, and Crystal wasn’t present. He reportedly underwent a polygraph test, but its results were inconclusive. Police records indicate that during his interview, his brother, Nick, called and asked him to stop speaking with the officials. When Nick was asked to come in for interrogation, he initially refused to do so, per reports.
Moreover, Nick reportedly failed a polygraph test and insisted that he had no idea where Crystal was. It led the investigators to believe that Nick might know what happened to Crystal. According to court records, a witness informed detectives he had seen a white car a mile away from Crystal’s abandoned vehicle before midnight on July 3. Officials soon learned that the white car belonged to Brooks’ grandmother. When a search warrant was executed on the vehicle, they discovered that it had been sold a few weeks after Crystal disappeared. According to investigative reports, when they tracked down the car, the forensic tests reportedly yielded no notable results.
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Phone Records and Secret Calls Exposed a Hidden Conspiracy Behind the Murder
For years, officials thoroughly checked Crystal’s phone records, which revealed that on the day of her disappearance, her phone had died before 9:30 pm. It also reportedly disclosed that the cellphone had turned back on around 11:57 pm before it was turned off. A breakthrough in the case arrived when a witness came forward, stating that she overheard a man named Joseph Lawson speaking with his father, Steven Lawson, about moving the remains of Crystal. As the investigators dug deeper into Joseph and Steven’s cell records, they reportedly found that they had called each other multiple times, leading up to midnight on July 3.
Surprisingly, investigators also found out about a 13-second call that went from Steven’s mobile to Brooks’ on that night. They also learned that Steven worked for Brooks. Based on the overwhelming circumstantial evidence, Joseph was arrested in September 2023 and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. On September 27, 2023, Brooks was arrested and faced the charges of murder and tampering with physical evidence. Steven was the last person to be arrested in September 2023, and he was indicted on the charges of criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Steven’s jury trial began in May 2025, and he was convicted on all his charges on May 30, 2025. He received a 17-year term for conspiracy and a 5-year term for tampering with evidence on August 6, 2025. On June 24, the joint jury trial of Joseph and Brooks commenced. While Joseph was found guilty of both charges, Brooks was convicted of murder as principal or accomplice and tampering with physical evidence. Joseph was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy and received an additional 5-year term for the second count. On September 17, 2025, Brooks reportedly received a life sentence for murder and an additional 5 years in prison for the second charge.
