Crime Weekly - S3 Ep321: Update in the Crystal Rogers Case

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

Crystal Rogers, a Kentucky mother of five who vanished in July 2015, was a true-crime mystery for years, until recently. On July 8, 2025, former boyfriend Brooks Houck was found guilty of murder and evidence tampering, while his accomplices Joseph Lawson and his father Steven Lawson were convicted of conspiracy and tampering, bringing renewed hope for justice despite Rogers’ remains still being missing. We're coming to CrimeCon Denver! Use our code CRIMEWEEKLY for 10% off your tickets! https://www.crimecon.com/CC25 Try our coffee!! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod

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If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BenMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Hey everyone, welcome back to Crime Weekly News. I'm Derek Lavasser. And I'm Stephanie Harlow. And as you can tell from the title of this episode, we're going to be doing an update on the Crystal Rogers case.

This is a case that we covered on Crime Weekly as a series. Fascinating case. We had a lot of engagement on it. I can't remember how many parts we did, but it was extensive. Yeah, we definitely, we covered a lot because we had so much footage from Brookhawk's interview, his brother's interviews. You loved the detective there. What was his name? John Snow. He was a badass. He testified during the trial that we're gonna talk about, but so his name came

back up and I was like, yes. Jon Snow, still there. So after nearly a decade of unanswered questions, there's finally been a major breakthrough in the Crystal Rogers case. Her boyfriend, Brooks Hauck, who we've talked about extensively, was found guilty of murder alongside Joseph Lawson, who was also convicted for his role in the crime.

The jury has recommended life in prison, and the Rogers family may finally be getting the justice they deserve. We're going to give you a recap because for some of you, you may not know the Crystal Rogers case, but we're going to talk about how we got here today and where we go from here. Yes, so we're going to give it kind of a little quick recap because it's been a little while since we talked about it. So it was a warm summer evening in Bardstown, Kentucky, July 3, 2015, when 35-year-old Crystal Rogers seemingly vanished without a trace. A devoted mother of five, Crystal had spent that evening at home with her boyfriend, Brooks Haug, and their young son. But by the morning of July 5, her red Chevy Impala was found abandoned on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway.

She still had the keys to the car inside, her phone, her purse. Crystal was gone. She'd never be seen again. Now for nearly a decade, her family never stopped searching. They walked fields, handed out flyers, they held vigils, they demanded answers from law enforcement, and her case was covered in a lot of big places. We talked about it, obviously. Oxygen did a series on it. And this is Crystal Rogers' family and loved ones pushing because they're like, hey, something happened here. And also from Brooks, the man who was last known to see her alive. The family wanted answers from him. Now, as suspicions mounted and investigators dug deeper, a troubling web of secrecy lies and potential conspiracy began to unfold, culminating in the tragic death of Crystal's father,

Tommy Ballard. Remember, that was another kind of plot twist to this case. He was shot and killed while hunting less than two years after his daughter disappeared. And he was the one who was really spearheading the investigation. And he was collecting documents and talking to people. And he was very vocal about this.

That he was kind of- Yeah, he was shot in the chest, right? Yeah, he was on the trail and he was uncovering things. And he was telling people this. And then all of a sudden, he was shot in the chest. He was on the trail, and he was uncovering things, and he was telling people this. And then all of a sudden, he's dead too. So this case has been long considered one of Kentucky's most haunting cold cases. It has been far from forgotten.

And then nearly eight years after Crystal's disappearance in September of 2023, Brooks Haug was arrested and charged with her murder. And in July of 2025, after a tense trial and emotional testimony, a jury found him guilty, not just of taking Crystal's life, but of trying to cover it up. So now for the first time since 2015,

there's accountability. And yet one thing remains that we don't have any answers to is Crystal's body has never been found. Yeah, so she's been missing, presumed dead. He's been now, you know, charged and convicted of murdering her, but we don't know where she is. And that's kind of where we're at. There's a few things that came out in the trial.

First of all, this guy, Joseph Lawson, he was the son of one of Brooke's employees, Steven Lawson. And so the prosecution said he kind of helped plan this, he helped carry it out, and he helped hide the truth in the aftermath. And so obviously, this has been something the prosecutor, the prosecution has fought for. And several witnesses for the prosecution did testify about incriminating comments made by people close to Joseph Lawson and Brooks Hauck. For instance, Charlie Gordley, who used to work for

Brooks Hauck's construction business, he claimed that Steve Lawson told him that Hauck was looking for someone to get rid of his old lady, which he understood obviously to be a reference to Crystal Rogers, and he also testified that he saw Brooks Hauck give Joseph Lawson Rogers car keys on July 3rd, 2015, and heard Lawson mention moving Crystal's body with a skid steer, though the timing of that conversation is unclear. So obviously we have people who are hearing things, who are seeing things. Another employee of Brooks' howl, her name was Ashley Nally, she testified that, it was kind of well known Brooks and Crystal had a,

tumultuous kind of relationship, and she asked Brooks why he stayed with Crystal despite their frequent arguments, and he replied, because I won't lose Eli, which was the son that they shared. So Crystal had several children, but Eli was the son that she shared with Brooks. And so the motivation, well, the prosecution is saying

the motivation for Crystal's death was Brooks how knowing like they weren't going to stay together, he and Crystal, whether she was gonna leave him or he wanted to leave her, but he wanted to make sure that there wasn't going to be a custody battle, that there wasn't going to be any issue where he did not have access or custody of his son, Eli. And so this is what the prosecution is basically saying. The motive was Eli and another. There's this blanket that there was audio of Brooks Hae talking to his mother Rosemary Howe because apparently Rosemary did not like the fact that Crystal Rogers had

children before she started dating Brooks and if you remember the Howe family like very prevalent in the area they own businesses they own lots of land they're wealthy they're kind of like very I guess the royalty of Bardstown and so they they thought quite a lot of themselves and Rosemary, I suppose, thought that Brooks could have done better. And Danny Singleton, who was another employee of Brooks Howe, he testified that Rosemary once told him she was looking for someone to kill Crystal Rogers. And obviously the defense countered this and they're saying these are not reliable witnesses, etc. etc.

But yeah, it's pretty it's pretty concerning. Now, I do want to talk about the blanket conversation. So if you remember after Crystal disappeared, police searched the cruiser of Brooks brother, Nick Hauk, who at that time had worked for the Bardstown Police Department. A blanket was found in the trunk and there's audio accidentally recorded by Brooks of him and his mother Rosemary talking about the search and it showed she was really worried. She asked Brooke, what about the blanket? And we came to find in the trial, nothing of evidentiary value was found on the blanket. But the fact that this blanket was found in Nick's trunk and then Rosemary was, you know,

worried about the blanket. It kind of shows that there's a lot of people involved in this besides Joseph Lawson, besides Brooks Hauck. Obviously, we know that we believe and that law enforcement believes and lots of people believe that Brooks' brother, Nick, who was a police officer, is involved in some way. And that also Rosemary, the mother of both of these boys'

men, knew kind of what was going on and was in the same mind state, at least, that Crystal had to go, allegedly. Don't come for me. But yeah, that's pretty much where we're at. Now, whatever the jury heard, they found to be compelling enough to find Brooks Hauk guilty. And they did suggest or give the judge their

belief that he should serve life in prison plus another five years for tampering with evidence. And this Joseph Lawson guy, he's been a, they've suggested that he gets sentenced to 25 years. So yeah, it's pretty good. I mean, we also know the cell phone data showed that Steve Lawson, who's Joseph Lawson's father, was near where Crystal Rogers' vehicle was found after she disappeared. It proved he was on a parallel road trying to get a vehicle back from an ex-girlfriend, allegedly. That's what the defense is saying, basically. They basically said this whole case is a convoluted mess. And all of these pieces of evidence that the police have

showing people who were connected to Brooks Hauck and how they were in certain areas, it doesn't matter because they have reasons for being in those areas. They have excuses, they have alibis, things like that. But regardless, Steve Lawson was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence on May 3rd.

So Joseph Lawson's father, Steve, he's already been found guilty. He was Brooks's right-hand guy. Yeah, that was the guy he was on the phone with that night, several times. He got a sentence, well, he faces a recommended sentence of 17 years. So this is the jury's recommendation.

His sentencing comes on August 6th. Obviously, Brooks Hauck and Joseph Lawson haven't formally been sentenced yet, but I do believe that the the judge usually follows the recommendation of the jury. Unless there's any other, and this is a reason not to, no I would agree with that. There's a lot here and we're, and it's, there's so many layers to this onion. We have some justice, as I kind of opened the show where I said you know some answers for Crystal's family but there's still more questions than

answers in my opinion you talked about Nick a little bit being a former police officer I don't remember the exact details but if my memory serves me right he he had a rifle and he sold that rifle to a I believe it was like a private citizen or might have been a pawn shop but the interesting thing about that rifle and if I'm wrong you guys can correct me I'm sure you will he sold it under an alias he didn't sell it under his own name which right there that's that's a problem why why would you do that right but he sold it under a different name and I don't believe law enforcement has ever disclosed

the exact weapon that was used, the make, the model, et cetera, but I do believe they've come out and said that they believe that the same rifle that was used to kill Tommy Ballard was this rifle. The question is, can they connect the dots? So there's a lot more people involved with this, more than likely, and the question for me,

as I sit here now, with Brooks going to jail, Joseph going to jail, Steve going to jail, depending on how much they were involved. I mean, if they were out there actually burying her body, there's not much they can do to offer a deal. But I would see a small opening for law enforcement to go back to Joseph, to go back to Steven and say, listen, you got called after the fact.

You did not kill her. You were helping a friend. You made a mistake. Well, they don't actually know. Now that's the problem is. Well, that's why I'm saying, this is how I would pitch it. They don't know who killed her.

The prosecution has acknowledged during this trial, we don't know who killed Crystal. He's just, the prosecutor was like, the head prosecutor was like, I'm just telling you who's involved. And he was one of these three or all. Yeah. And he's specifically speaking about the house.

So he, you know, it's also known that Rosemary and Nick Hauk are considered co-conspirators, but they haven't been arrested yet. So he's like saying, I know all of the yet yet. I know all of these people were involved and the Lawson's Steve and Joe. I know they were involved. I don't know who did it. So these two individuals, Steve and Joe Lawson, could have actually been involved in the actual murder. And in that case- Which would explain why they haven't snitched on anybody.

Which would explain why they're not trying to get better deals, right? That's my point. By saying, let me throw Rosemary under the bus here. Let me throw Nick under the bus. Let me give you a bigger fish. They could be far more involved and actually be more hands on, which is why they're taking these 17 year sentences, 25 year sentences, and not doing a thing to help themselves because they can't. Yeah. So, so that's where, again, how I would approach it.

You go in there, you offer them that type of deal where you say you were a friend, you were helping out, see what they have to say, see if they take the bait. They may not be able to take the bait because if they say something, then Brooks can implicate them because he's going to say, I didn't do it. They did it. And this is how they did it. And as far as Nick, that's also the same situation where not everybody killed Crystal. Some people were involved after the fact. And so there's less culpability there. They still did something wrong, but those are the people where,

if you can pin them down, you get them charged, you get them them convicted and now they're in prison for a crime. They didn't commit they're more inclined to help law enforcement and The really the only piece of this puzzle that I would like at this point for the family would be crystal To find her wherever she is and what condition she's in bring her home Reunite her with her family, with their children so that they can, whatever they believe in, have a proper burial or whatever it might be in order to know once and for all, she's back home with us. That's the really the last thing that we need to figure out here because this is a fascinating

case from the sense of we've had cases where there's no body, right? You have a no body homicide and you get a conviction, but this is a nobody homicide and Not definitively knowing who quote-unquote pulled the trigger right they know the people involved they know these guys Did it but they can't tell you which one of them did it which was similar to the Aaron Rogers murder if you remember that One night when he killed Odin Lloyd or allegedly killed Odin Lloyd But there was a group of people there. They couldn't put the gun in Aaron Hernandez's hand They couldn't didn't have anything physical to put it there But based on the other witness testimony, that's how they got him So this is a complete this is a complete stretch for prosecution to get this conviction and yet they got it

I agree actually and they didn't have a ton of evidence. I was not hopeful I'm really glad because in my bones, I know and yet think you're on the same page Yeah, based on how Brooks and Nick acted based on all of what crystal was in the house Yeah, playing video games according to Brooks. Nobody broke into the house Yeah, like I said, it's very circumstantial very circumstantial case because there's no fingerprints found in her car. There's nothing on the blanket, you know. So it was going to be difficult to get the conviction. But I think they acted so suspiciously and so dumbly in the aftermath that it was so dumbly. The irony.

I know. But but I literally how do you refer to dumb people's behavior other than to use a dumb word? Yeah, it's dumb. They behave dumbly, stupidly. And so I think based on that, the jury was like, well, I mean, although the other possible or potential things that could have happened to Crystal don't make any sense. This is the only thing that makes sense.

Now, Brooks may reveal, maybe, you know, they maybe use the sentencing to sort of try to get him to give the location of Crystal's remains. It's like, hey, you're going to prison. You got a life in prison, but hey, we'll give you, you know, 75 years or whatever. We know how important Brooks' son is to him. I mean, that's according to the prosecution, and really all we can tell, that's his motive. He wanted to make sure that he would be with his son and his son wouldn't be taken from

him. So maybe if he thinks there's a potential that he can get out and still have some life with his son and meet his grandkids and stuff, he may be willing to reveal the location of her body. Would Crystal's family members be okay with that? Knowing that this man could have served life in prison? I don't know, that's gonna have to be something that they figure out. I personally would not like to see, I would like to not see him ever see the light of day again.

Yeah, I don't think he'll make that deal, and I'll tell you why. He's not gonna make this deal because, I'm just being honest with you guys, I believe he did it. I believe Brooks is actually the one who killed her. I think it happened. You think that he thinks he might have a chance on appeal? Oh, of course.

That's where I was going with this. I think there's a real strong case for him to make where he will go to his grave saying he didn't do it. This is Scott Peterson 2.0. Scott Peterson even better because there's more evidence against Scott Peterson. Technical, more physical evidence against Scott Peterson than there is against Brooks Howe.

Correct. So he's already planning his appeal, depending on what defense attorney comes in. He does have money. So there's a chance he could beat this. Yep. There's a chance he could beat this. So he is going to stick to the story of I didn't do this until he dies. So I don't think you'll ever get him to make a deal because I personally believe he is the one responsible for killing her. And I think he called his buddies after the fact and they were just

Loyal they were just loyal and they got in the mix. Well, no, I mean Steve and Joe Lawson allegedly were talking to people before Crystal died saying, you know that he wanted to get rid of her Yeah, so there's there's a lot of evidence that so when he made the call finally Yeah, there's a lot of evidence that they were more far more involved and maybe even involved the night of hiding her car And that's what the answers we won't have was this a premeditated thing where there was planned throughout the day and they knew this Was going down that it looks like it was planned for weeks It could have been for a while or Brooks had been saying right along that I'm gonna take this You know what out eventually and then on this particular night. He called him and said yep. I did it. She's done. She's gone

I need your help get over here Let's do it and they were like, yep, we're all in so regardless. They're still guilty So that's that's that's the bottom line here But yes, I think for everybody involved we'd like to have crystal back if for no other reason than to reunite her with her family But I do think if we found her from an investigatory perspective, we'd know more about what actually happened How was she killed? Where was she killed? What's her condition now? There's a lot of information we can obtain from her body and figure out maybe exactly

who is the person responsible. At this point, you're not going to have any skin, you're not going to have any of the muscles, so you're not going to have any signs of strangulation, but you may have a fractured hyoid bone. You may have something there to indicate how she was killed. Not a guarantee, but I would like to have that opportunity at least. But that is the latest update, although I do think this is not the last we're going to hear about this case. Either it's going to be an appeal or there's going to be more heads to roll.

More people will be arrested. Either way, we're going to be covering this again on Crime Weekly News at some point. Yeah, I agree. He's definitely gonna appeal, and it may be this thing where you just see him put appeal, like Scott Peterson, appeal after appeal after appeal, and in a decade, something sticks, something works, and he might be out. That's just-

And there's gonna be people who come forward for him. There's gonna be a group of people who, and I'm not even necessarily saying I don't agree with this, there's a group of people out there who say, listen, yes, we want to get people responsible for the crimes, but it's also equally important, if not more important, to make sure everyone gets due process, gets a fair trial, because we can't have these rogue police officers and prosecutors doing things in order to get convictions because what if the person's innocent? So there is a faction of people who will come to Brooks defense saying, listen, he may be guilty, he may not be, but based on what you have, he should have been found not guilty.

And that's the problem here. So we'll see how it goes. And if there's a major update, we'll absolutely let you guys know. Anything else to add? I know we're going to be going into Titan part 2 later this week We're also gonna be announcing the winner of the crime con giveaway anything you'd like to add before I wrap it up No, I'm actually good. I mean, yeah, I we gotta wait and see what happens here. That's all we can do Yeah, well, we're thinking of crystals family

Obviously, this is a small win someone's being held accountable for what they did to your loved one Not everybody gets that but we'll see how it develops and where it goes from here. But until then, everyone stay safe out there. We'll see you later this week with Titan part two.