SERIALously - 309: Evil Lurking on the Farm: His Girlfriend Disappears & EVERYONE is Connected | Crystal Rogers

Starting point is 00:00:00 Book club on Monday. Gym on Tuesday. Date night on Wednesday. Out on the town on Thursday. Quiet night in on Friday. It's good to have a routine. And it's good for your eyes too. Because with regular comprehensive eye exams at Specsavers,

Starting point is 00:00:22 you'll know just how healthy they are. Visit Spexsavers.cavers.cai to book your next eye exam. I exams provided by independent optometrists. Well, imagine not knowing for almost 10 years what happened to someone you loved. They disappear and then all you know is that whatever did happen to them wasn't good. July 3rd, 2015 was the last day, 35-year-old Crystal Rogers, a mother of five was seen alive by her boyfriend, Brooks Howg. This was devastating for Crystal's parents and her dad, Tommy Ballard, made it his mission to find his missing daughter. Lawson's one of three men in charge. She could actually do the death of Crystal Rogers.

Starting point is 00:01:00 Another tense day in court to the point that a court officer had to stand in between the lead attorneys. Now the whole world, especially Nelson County, knows that possibly, hopefully justice has been and will be served. Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialist League. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all new episode of Serialessly, with me, your host, Annie Elise. I hope you had a great weekend. I hope you are like kickstarting the week, doing something fun. I know a lot of you are probably commuting into work right now. Some of you listen to this while you're cleaning. So maybe you're, you know, elbow deep in a toilet or a bathtub cleaning that out. But the point is, whatever it is you're doing right now. Hope you had a great weekend. Hope you

Starting point is 00:02:09 are starting the week off on the right foot. Although now that I say that out loud, I realize that I'm probably contradicting all of that, right? Because I'm about to like jump in and like sweep all over your good happy day and just dump all over it and ruin your day with this case. But you know what? Maybe not because that is what you're here for, right? No. Now, now, the case we're talking about today is one that I covered very briefly in the past, but there have been a lot of updates and it finally just came to a conclusion. A lot of you have also been requesting that I cover this case. And when I say a lot of you, I am talking about you've been in my DMs, in my comment section, tagging me, blowing me up over on Patreon. So many of you

Starting point is 00:02:52 have been requesting it. So you know what I like to say, right? I like to consider myself like a podcaster of the people, if you will, where not really, that sounds so cheesy and lame, but you get what I mean, where I want to deliver the kind of content that you want to hear and that you're interested in hearing. So here we are. Now let me backpedal a little bit and just kind of like set the stage for you. I want you to imagine this. Imagine that you are unlucky in love. I'm talking truly unlucky. You haven't been able to find your person, not your soulmate, not even like somewhat of a good quality candidate. You're fresh out of this toxic marriage, just kind of trying to now raise your family, your four children, all on your own,

Starting point is 00:03:35 just hopeful, but kind of defeated as well. You're struggling, you're wondering when things are going to finally start looking up for you, and then you finally get a place of your own. It feels like a fresh start. It feels like, okay, things are finally going in the right direction. We're getting back on our feet. I've got my four kids with me. Maybe there's brighter things on the horizon too in my love life. Things are just starting to look up. Then you meet your landlord of your new place. And this man seems like exactly what you've been waiting for. He seems like the man of your dreams. Well, that is exactly the situation that happened to Crystal Rogers. However, that happily ever after that she thought she was getting, it turned into an absolutely twisted

Starting point is 00:04:22 nightmare. Because it wasn't just a repeat of what had happened to her in the past with a man betraying her. This time, the man betrayed her, his family betrayed her, his friends, his employees, co-workers, you name it. A whole slew of people, really. And Crystal's story has stuck with so many of you since I first shared it and so many of you who never even had heard of my coverage. And I know for those of you who are hearing it for the first time today, it is also going to not only stick with you, but it will deeply impact you. As I mentioned at the top of this episode, this case finally, recently went to trial, and there is finally some sort of resolution.

Starting point is 00:05:01 So I want to go through everything, top to bottom, side to side, give you all the details, all the red flags, and I want you to hear Crystal's story. But before we get into all of that, I want to go back a little bit, and I want to really learn who Crystal was, and I want to tell you why she was so special. 35-year-old Crystal Rogers was born on April 4, 1980. She was the first child of the family, and Crystal's parents, Sherry and Tommy, went on to have two more children after having Crystal. Sherry and Tommy decided to raise their children in Bardstown, Kentucky.

Starting point is 00:05:38 Bardstown is a quaint little town in the Nelson County, Kentucky area, with a population of just a little bit over 13,000. The city is often referred to as the Bourbon County. capital of the world, due to the 11 distilleries within a 16-mile radius of downtown Bardston, so bourbon lovers often go there to try all of them out. Unfortunately, not a whole lot other is known about Crystal's personal life and the background of her life. One thing we do know, though, about Crystal, is that she was a mother, and her children were her absolute pride and joy. Crystal began having children pretty young and was married to the father of her three daughters and one son.

Starting point is 00:06:23 Crystal was the type of mom to do anything to make ends meet and to make sure that her kids had everything that they needed and so much more. She was very protective of her kids and would get mad if anyone else would ever try to discipline them also. And she was known to be way less strict than her mom Sherry had been. But overall, it was clear that Crystal's protective nature, like many parents, just stemmed from how much she truly loved her children. But eventually, as unfortunately many stories go, Crystal and the father of her children split up. After just ending a very toxic marriage, she was now looking for somewhere for her and her four children to live, to find her soulmate, to find a new father figure. And when Crystal finally found a home,

Starting point is 00:07:09 she met the landlord whose name was Brooks Hout. And Brooke's family was a very prominent family in the small community. They were known for owning many rental properties in the area as well as the construction work that they did. Brooks' brother was part of the police department, and in 2014, Brooks himself even ran for sheriff in this small town of Bardstown. So to say that they were well known in that small town is basically an understatement. So Crystal and Brooks hit it off very quickly and quickly began dating, not too long after meeting. They then found out that they were expecting, and they had their son Eli in 2013. But Crystal's family started noticing that things were a little bit off with Brooks. Brooks seemed to be very distant from Crystal's four

Starting point is 00:07:57 children. More specifically, they were not treated with the same level of respect and care that he treated Eli with. There was a clear divide, and Brooks made it known that Crystal's pre-existing four kids or hers, and hers only. Even though they all lived together and most families just share the groceries, for example, that didn't seem to be the case for them. Brooks would always buy the groceries for Eli, but would make it clear that Crystal needed to buy anything for the other four children, because again, they were not his. Now, we all know that the 4th of July weekend can bring in some really fun events, especially in small towns. It's usually full of events like barbecues, fireworks shows for just days on end, and that is no different in Bardstown.

Starting point is 00:08:47 But in 2015, the 4th of July weekend ended up being different from all of the others for Crystal and her family. On Sunday, July 5th, 2015, Crystal's mother, Sherry, received a text message from Crystal's daughter Kylie. And in that message, Kylie had asked Sherry if she had heard from her mom, Crystal. Sherry replied that no, she hadn't. Crystal usually responded, to people pretty quickly, too, but Sherry didn't really think much of it. So she sent Crystal a text that Kylie was looking for her and that she needed to get back with her before continuing on with her day. It wasn't until a few hours later in the evening when Kylie texted her again and asked her for a second time if she had heard from Crystal, and that's when

Starting point is 00:09:31 she began to feel like something wasn't quite right. Crystal hadn't responded to her earlier message and apparently wasn't answering her kids' messages either, which made her most of mother worry a lot. So Sherry immediately called Crystal, who didn't answer? So she began calling Crystal's friends and other family members to see if anyone had heard from her or knew where she was. At that point, Sherry was keeping her cool, telling herself that there could be a number of good reasons as to why Crystal wasn't answering. Not to get carried away yet. There could be so many reasons it's a holiday weekend. Who knows what's really going on. It wasn't until Crystal's sister Brooke called Sherry, not knowing anything about Kylie's text that day, and asked if she had heard

Starting point is 00:10:15 from Crystal, because she hadn't heard from her in two whole days. And that is when the panic really set in. This was 100% not a normal thing for Crystal to just do, to ignore everyone, especially to not even be in contact with her kids, of all people. So Sherry, Tommy, and Crystal's brother Casey immediately went down to the sheriff's office to file a missing person's report. But on their way to file Crystal as a missing person, Sherry had actually seen Brooks. So she asked Brooks if he had seen or talked with Crystal, to which he responded, no, he had not. Sherry said that when she told Brooks that she was filing a missing person's report, he said in a very calm and even tone, well, I think that's what you should do.

Starting point is 00:11:02 And then just let Sherry leave, without offering to go with her, or even slightly acting worried as if he was worried, and that nobody had seen or heard from Crystal in days. While they were at the police station, Crystal's ex-husband's son called them and said that he saw a car along Mile Marker 14 on the Blue Grass Parkway that looked very similar to Crystal's red Chevrolet Impala. So the three of them got into the car and rushed to where this car was seen. As soon as they turned the corner and the car was in sight, Casey immediately knew that it was crystals and that something had to be incredibly wrong for nobody to have heard from her and for her car to be on the side of the highway without her inside of it. They knew the severity of what was going on and they called the police

Starting point is 00:11:49 to come and investigate the car so that nothing would be contaminated or ruined. When police arrived at the scene, they noticed a few major things right off the bat. The back passenger tire was low and it had left black marks leading from the parkway to the side of the road. However, both Tommy and Casey noticed that the tire wasn't completely flat or popped. Tommy thought that it was odd that she would have even pulled over on the Highway 4 low tire in general. They also noticed that Crystal's keys were still in the ignition. Her purse was in the passenger seat and her cell phone was in the console. These were all things that Crystal would definitely not have left behind for any reason. If her family and law enforcement hadn't known any better, it looked as if Crystal had pulled over

Starting point is 00:12:36 because of the low tire, gotten out of the car, and then vanished into thin air. None of it was making any sense. Even if Crystal had pulled over because she was worried about the tire, that didn't explain why everything else would be left inside the car, especially her phone, because they figure that she would have called her dad or her brother for some help or some advice about the tire, and it wasn't something that she would have tried to fix herself. It wasn't adding up. There was one more thing that stuck out to Crystal's family that police may not have noticed as being weird initially. Her family said that any time she drove, she had the seat leaned all the way back so that she could drive with her leg propped up on the side of the seat. And when the car was found,

Starting point is 00:13:19 the seat was leaning all the way up in a position that Crystal very rarely ever had it in. So that left them wondering if Crystal possibly wasn't the last person to have been driving her car. Due to Brooke's previous behavior, when Crystal went missing, the Ballard family instantly pointed fingers at Brooks and were not quiet about the fact that they believed that he knew more than he was letting on. Crystal's family found it awfully weird that they had had been the ones to notice that Crystal hadn't been in contact with anyone in two days. Because wouldn't her boyfriend, who she lived with, have noticed something was off here? Crystal's family said that Brooks also began acting like he had something to hide and wouldn't even offer to help in any of the searches for Crystal. Brooks was brought into the Nelson County Sheriff's Office on July 8th and he was questioned. He told investigators that on the night of the 3rd, the couple had gotten home around 1230 a.m.

Starting point is 00:14:15 from his family's house that they had called the farm. He said that that day they hung out with family, they fed the cows, and they had some burn piles to get rid of waste. He even said that Crystal, their son Eli, and himself, went on a walk at the farm that night, even though it was pretty late, and it was a cold and rainy night out. Brooks claimed that when they got home, he went right to sleep, and the last he saw, Crystal was lying next to him, wide awake, playing games on her phone. So you go to bed, she stays up. What's she doing? She's just on her phone playing, I don't know what game, but she normally plays a game.

Starting point is 00:14:52 She's got several of them on there, but I don't know what you. one. Okay. So she's on her phone messing around, and you go to bed. Do you know what time she Eli came to bed or she put him into bed? I don't know. When he woke up the next morning on the fourth, Crystal wasn't in bed and her car wasn't out front. He later said in an exclusive interview with Nancy Grace that he didn't think it was odd that she was gone because sometimes when they got into an argument, she would go and stay at her cousin Sabrina's house for days at a time. Now, this in itself didn't make a whole lot of sense, because he told detectives that they hadn't even gotten into an argument that night. Sabrina was more than willing to do interviews with investigators and told them that in the last three years that Brooks and Crystal had been together,

Starting point is 00:15:40 Crystal had only come to her house two times when the couple had gotten into an argument. She added that the first time that Crystal came, it had only been for an hour, and the second time, it had only been for two hours. yet Brooks was leading investigators to believe that Crystal would be gone for days on end whenever they fought, which was making her disappearance seem almost normal. However, to everyone else, clearly her going to Sabrina's was basically to just take a quick step back from the situation, get some fresh air, before ultimately going home just an hour or two later. So why were the stories so conflicting? Okay, I have a question for you, and we're in the circle of trust, so tell me the truth. When did you realize your day-to-day spending had a real impact on your long-term financial stability? For me, it really hit hard when I was looking at buying our first home. My credit score suddenly just like determined whether I was going to get a great rate or a not-so-great rate. But now, with Chime, you can be smarter about how you build and maintain your credit history without all of the stress. You can build credit history just by making everyday purchases and then paying them off on.

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Starting point is 00:19:07 on orders over $95, and enjoy life in the high country. During Brooke's entire interview, he also showed no emotion or worry for where Crystal was. He painted himself as this amazing person who stayed home with the kids while Crystal and her sister Brooke would just often go out and party. He also got defensive at many times, making excuses for why he didn't remember certain times and dates and whose certain calls in his phone log were from. But what you're not aware, what you're missing. is a lot of times that her and Brooke or sister or some bring a lot of these girls that they do all these they go out and do stuff sometimes they do these

Starting point is 00:19:55 this is going to be embarrassing for me to talk to you about but I'm wanting to get everything cleared up as quickly as I can they do these fantasy parties and all these girls get together they talk about and do whatever and it's not uncommon for them when they go out and party they stay out the better party of the noise if not the whole noise so um and of course i always have the children you know fair

Starting point is 00:20:21 now they don't take the kids to that matter if i got to take care of some of their other children why they're the ones going it's not uncommon for because they know i don't get into all that stuff and they know that uh i'm a man don't get me wrong understand that a white-blooded american male and there's no sense i'm not telling anything different but they they do all these parties and order all this stuff well who gets the kids I'm good enough to get the kids for all this and I'm a good enough person to do that and then when everybody sees a little bit of distress they're going to throw me under the bus you know they need to reexamine all these other action how you know and I can understand the

Starting point is 00:21:00 family wanting to vent and stress and it makes perfect sense to me but these people know me better than what's going on and before this is all over and done with you all are too but it really it bothers me because not only have I been a victim I can't even my mind's not even where it should be because I'm trying to protect Eli from this and I'm trying to he's the most important person that I'm trying to protect I don't care about them dragging my name through the mud right now because I'm looking to keep the main focus in Memphis on bringing her back safely and as quickly as possible. But it really, it really bothers me

Starting point is 00:21:51 what's being done in the method that everybody's pursuing and doing. Because what's going to happen is I don't want their apology. I don't want nothing from them. But then after this is all said and done, they're going to sleep it under the rug. And then it's going, they're just going forget about what they've done to me in the process. Brooks's call log showed that he had received a call around 12 a.m. on the 3rd, when he and Crystal were allegedly on their way home. When investigators had asked who called him, especially at such a late hour, lasting only 13 seconds, he first responded that he wasn't sure who had called him. He told the detectives to simply just call the number back, which they decided to do together. They discovered that the call was from a man

Starting point is 00:22:34 named Steve Lawson, who worked for Brooks. He asked Steve what they had talked about that night at such a late hour to which Steve responded that he was only calling him with a question about a rental property as he owned many rentals around town. Steve said that it was a fairly quick call because Brooks told him that he would have to call Crystal to get the answers to his questions and would get back with him. Now that statement was one of the first things that investigators would clock about his story because according to his own recount of that night, Crystal was in the car next to him on their way home, even though Steve had just told them that Brooke said he'd have to call Crystal for the answer. But hey, I need your help while I got you on the phone here. Do you remember the other night you

Starting point is 00:23:15 called me really, really late? And I forgot what you asked me. Can you, I guess we wasn't on the phone. I might have been tired. I know it was pretty late at night. Can you remember what you asked me or what you were after? I can't remember. I can. I called to ask you for their numbers for her house. Oh, for a rental house? Yes, sir, me. And what did I, I forgot, what did I, what did I tell you? You know me that you would call, what's her name, Katie, or whatever, she handles all that? Crystal.

Starting point is 00:23:49 Crystal, okay, I apologize. Yeah. Hey. She said she handles all that and that you would get back with me all it. All right. Thank you so much now. Hey, if there is anything I can do, you give me a call. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:24:05 Have a good night now. Yes, sir. God, please. Thank you. Okay. So that begs a question in my mind. All right. If she's in the truck next to you when he called,

Starting point is 00:24:25 why would you need to call her about getting numbers for rental? Because being that way that Notton, we're headed to the house, you know, I just wouldn't, uh, she normal was not going to deal with, stuff that late and I mean I don't even look at the phone to see who it was calling me I'm sure I just answered it you know but he said you told him that you need to call her all right why don't you need to call her I mean that's an odd phrase for someone who's sitting next to you in the truck do you understand

Starting point is 00:24:55 you see what I'm saying yeah I see exactly what you're saying but that's what I if that right there is what I told him that right there's what I told him we wasn't on the phone that that long but normally I would just, she handles all that and that's what I'll do. She's not going to want to mess with that kind of stuff that late. I'm sure I probably try to answer the phone really quickly. Um, so that it wouldn't, a lot of times after I get moving, Eli goes to sleep, you know, sometimes he goes sleep in the truck, sometimes he doesn't. So if you want to call him and do you got his number and everything. If you want to call him, you know, you can call him.

Starting point is 00:25:31 Brooks claimed that the next morning, once he woke up to find Crystal gone, he got their son ready and went on about their usual morning, not wanting to call or disturb Crystal if she was at Sabrina's, because apparently he was afraid of making all of the argument and the things worse between them. So after he fed Eli and got him ready for the day, they went back to the farm for a family Fourth of July party. But again, he initially said that there was no argument. So that didn't really add up either. And I don't know about you, but if they did have a I don't know how he could just go and celebrate the holiday knowing things were so tense and not being sure of where she was. Plus, we also know he said they had a Fourth of July party. There were burn piles. And for me, a big red flag that always goes off is any time somebody willingly mentions a burn pile that coincidentally coincides with somebody who has either turned up to be missing or murdered. It's almost as though, in my opinion, they're trying to get ahead of things and ahead of the story as to explain why things were burned. Potential evidence burned away. Potential DNA burned away. What do you think? I mean, a burn pile coupled with the conflicting stories about their arguments, about Crystal being

Starting point is 00:26:43 with him, the math ain't math in here. Something feels off. About a week after Brooks' interrogation on July 18th, Brooks' brother, Nick Halk, was brought in for questioning. Now, Nick was actually an officer for the Bardstown Police Department, and it was very, very clear from the start that Nick didn't want Brooks to do any police interviews and was even heard in Brooks interrogation calling him and basically telling him that detectives were going to try and twist things in their favor and not to talk to them. Investigators had found out prior to this interrogation that on the night of the third, Nick had taken a squad car out to the farm. And police found that to be a bit odd and decided to take the squad car in for further investigation. When detectives did

Starting point is 00:27:28 a luminal test, they found bodily fluid all in the back of the car, as well as on a blanket that was in the trunk of the car. You take that car home with you, it's a take home car, nobody else uses it unless something was to come up. The only other person that's used that car is Tom Blair. It was issued to him first, and then it was passed down to me. But that's, you know, that's been a while back. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:27:51 How long has that been, you think? That's been a couple years. Oh, right. Cardboard box with some extra stuff in it. fire extinguisher, hats, just rain jackets. Hats, rain jackets. I mean, I could sit here and try to tell you every I don't know. I probably would come up with half of them.

Starting point is 00:28:06 When they took your car, when the PD took your car from your house, what was in the trunk then? Well, it's this morning grand jury came up. Just all the stuff I just told you. But there was also, one other thing I can remember that was there was a, I don't know, just a regular blanket for moving. You know, where I moved from 104 Glenview Drive to where I'm at now, I took the blanket that was there.

Starting point is 00:28:28 was there, and I just put it between furniture to keep it marring up the firm, you know, the finish on it, if it went down the road, I said it was going to jingling around. And in the trunk of your cruiser and get furniture in the truck? No, no, I didn't. I, uh-uh, no, what I did. I got the blanket at the farm. I used it, and then I was going to take it back in a few days. I forgot about it. So it's sitting there in the trunk, you know, but no, I used my trailer and truck. Even though they already knew the answer, they asked him that there would be any reason for blood to be in the trunk of his cruiser, to which he, He just adamantly, completely denied multiple times.

Starting point is 00:29:02 He is extremely calm and collected through his entire interrogation, almost as if he had practiced the entire thing. So, I mean, we're going to call it like it is. Is it, do you don't want to remember or can you remember? I can't remember. Okay. Because this is what's happened. You made a phone call.

Starting point is 00:29:20 He was up here within two hours of him leaving here. Both of you all were on the road, on the way to the farm, and the camera shows that. Time and date stamped, phone call, time and date stamped, you're out there. What went on while you're out there at the form? Yeah, if I knew, I tell you, I mean, I wish I could give you a detailed written statement, I don't know. I guess just kind of jump back to the cruiser here for a minute. Do you, is there any reason that there'd be any blood in the truck of your cruiser? No reason at all.

Starting point is 00:29:52 So you don't transport any biological evidence on a regular basis? What was the last scene that you had somebody that was bleeding? How long was it been? Oh, I mean, I'm sure it's maybe a wreck or something like that. That's been a long time ago. Okay. I mean, there's no, I can tell you, there's no blood in front of my cruiser. I can guarantee you that.

Starting point is 00:30:13 Nick told investigators during this interview that he had very rarely spoken to Crystal over the last few years and that he sometimes saw her on the street, but that that was about as far as their interactions went. He claimed that Brooks never complained to him about Crystal in their relationship, and that as far as he knew, they had a pretty solid relationship and didn't argue. To detectives, Nick's entire interrogation was more than suspicious, especially considering what they had found in the trunk of his squad car and his complete denial of it. They felt like he knew more than what he was leading on, so they decided to have him take a polygraph test. He was brought back into the office on July 24th where an FBI polygraph examiner discussed his results with him, which turned out to be less than perfect. I'm talking to you man-to-man as a fellow law enforcement officer.

Starting point is 00:31:04 The time has come for you to think real hard about the rest of your life. This is you. I'm not talking about Brooks or anybody else. Details of who did what when? Can I tell you exactly no, but I can demonstrably point out through forensic evidence already the things that you told us about where you were at various times are demonstrably not true. We can prove in front of a jury today. Things and start to tell, well, whoa, whoa, whoa, well, our self-preservation, we all...

Starting point is 00:31:31 Man, let me just cut you off. I mean, do we need to take this any further? I would like to take it to the truth. That's the whole reason we're here. I mean, man, this, I mean, I, you're talking crazy. Well, I mean, you're talking crazy. Is that your rehearsed response to what was going to happen today? Because it sure sounds like it.

Starting point is 00:31:48 I don't know. It sounds like I'm just telling me. You're talking crazy. You're talking crazy about it. You're talking to me. What's crazy about it? Explain to me. The accusations you're making.

Starting point is 00:31:56 Yeah, I'm saying that you're involved in this. Absolutely not. Well, none. You already told me that. That's why we did the polygraph to find out. Well, now we both told you what now? You told me before you had nothing to do with it, right? Yes.

Starting point is 00:32:09 Well, now we're past that because I've already shown that you did have something to do with it. I don't know what the text. I just showed you. Okay. I just showed it to you. But I'm telling you, I did have... And I'm telling you your life. I mean, I can't make it any...

Starting point is 00:32:20 I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but I'm telling you the truth. That's what I'm doing to you. I'm telling you the truth. Nope, you're not. We're past that. I've already shown you. I've taken the pile of it. Do you have anything else for me? Because, I mean, I'm not going to sit here and we're not going to go back and forth like this. You do whatever you want to do?

Starting point is 00:32:35 I want to cooperate with you. I mean, I'm not here... Tell me what happened. Tell me what you know. I don't know anything. We're past that. You've already shown me that you do. I know nothing.

Starting point is 00:32:46 I'm sorry you... That's not true. It's not me. I just showed you. I don't even show people. I showed you yours. And I even want the extra stuff for you to find out, okay, well, let's try to nail down what you know more about.

Starting point is 00:32:57 Do you know more about this? Who would know? Am I saying that you did it or you know? No, I'm just saying you know more than you. Whether that's a simple conversation with your brother or whether you were physically involved out there, I can't tell you. Either one of those things would explain what I was seeing. My hunch is it's something that your brother told you.

Starting point is 00:33:18 I don't know anything. anything. He has not spoken with me about this. He's my brother. I said that because he probably would know better than to say specific things. So it's a matter than perhaps of what you observed, what you saw, what you saw other people say. I don't know. I wasn't there. All I'm telling you is objectively. That's what we do. You and I do. That badge on there is, is what, to protect the size of what shield is, right? That's what we do. At one point during his polygraph test, he was asked, flat out, point blank, do you know where crystal is? His response was, know, but this turned out to be false. Now I do want to be clear that the accuracy of polygraphs

Starting point is 00:33:54 has always been a very controversial topic, but in my opinion, it seemed a little strange that he specifically failed the question about Crystal. Between busy schedules and summer plans, sometimes all I have is a couple of minutes, and Factor helps me eat smarter with yummy, super tasty, chef-prepared meal. that are dietitian approved and delivered right to my door. And now with more than 65 weekly meals made for how I live and what I like to eat, I've got even more ways to fit in a real meal wherever the day takes me. And here's what I love to.

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Starting point is 00:36:06 Export for more. Book club on Monday. Gym on Tuesday. Date night on Wednesday. Out on the town on Thursday. Good. Quiet night in on Friday. It's good to have a routine. And it's good for your eyes too. Because with regular comprehensive eye exams at Specsavers, you'll know just how healthy they are. Visit Spexavers.cavers.cai to book your next eye exam. I exams provided by independent optometrists. Barnes Town Mayor John Royalty, Police Chief Rick MacGubbin, and city attorney Tim Butler held a press conference where they announced that former Bardstown police officer Nick Halk had been fired due to his failed polygraph test and his interference in the Crystal Rogers case. His interference was cited on July 8th when he called his brother Brooks during his interrogation.

Starting point is 00:37:12 Documents regarding the interference said and I quote, making a call to his brother in such circumstances. is enough to be considered interference in a criminal investigation, given Mr. Hauke's experience and background as a police officer. In common terms, he should have known better. Really, as if you think about it, he injected himself into this. He made that call. He was not necessarily on the radar. But by him making that call, he therefore entered into the entire investigation. That, yes, of course, that was the first and really only forward-moving thing that he did.

Starting point is 00:37:55 The rest of it was more of a passive way. His lack of candor stood out to me as much as anything. And like I said, a lot of what he didn't do as much as what he did do. That was kind of the balance that, you know, I looked at. That, I think, was as bad as doing something. proactive, if you will, the fact that he didn't do what a police officer should do. A few days later, Brooks was officially announced as a suspect in Crystal's disappearance. Not only was he announced as a suspect, but the Nelson County Sheriff's Department

Starting point is 00:38:31 officially said that they believed that Crystal was no longer alive. Months had gone by and Crystal was still missing. The whole community came together volunteering for search party after search party of all of the surrounding areas, bluegrass parkway, the woods, and even the waters nearby. Unfortunately, each search came up empty-handed. And Brooks was the main, and only suspect at this point. And also, coincidentally, he was the one person who was not helping in any of these searches at all. All of Crystal's family, as well as outside forensics teams and investigators, had been continuously searching for clues and possible evidence in this case, all the way up until November 2016. Just a little

Starting point is 00:39:14 over one year after Crystal had disappeared. And then, their entire worlds got turned upside down. On November 19, 2016, Crystal's dad, Tommy, had made plans to go hunting on the family's property, which sits adjacent to the Bluegrass Parkway, where Crystal's car had been found. He and Crystal's 12-year-old son Trenton went towards the back of the farm, and Casey and his son Brandon took the front half of the farm. Casey recalled sitting in his truck with Brandon, listening to the radio, when they heard one single gunshot. At this same time, Sherry received a phone call from Trenton with something she never thought she would hear. Tommy had been shot. It was a single shot to his chest, and he unfortunately died on impact and was gone before Sherry could even arrive. Now, I cannot imagine

Starting point is 00:40:02 the pain that this woman has gone through. It makes my heart ache for the trauma that she has experienced in such a short window of time. She and Tommy were high school sweethearts, and they had been inseparable ever since, creating the lives they lived and a family that they loved altogether. Not only was she grieving the sudden disappearance of her daughter, but now she lost her husband too. In an interview after the fact, Sherry said that she knew in her heart that this was no accident. Tommy had been very public with his search for Crystal. He had taken the investigation into his own hands the entire time, searching for clues, leading search parties, creating maps of possible places that Crystal could be, and also gaining

Starting point is 00:40:43 access to security camera footage across town. He was not stopping until he got answers, and she believed that the person who was involved in Crystal's disappearance knew that. So when police looked into the scene, they found a small opening in the trees where they found that the trees and brush had actually been freshly cut with what looked like a saw. Casey said he had never seen an opening in that area like this ever before. It seemed as if this was meticulously planned. Was it because Tommy was asking too many questions? Was he getting too close to finding out what happened to his daughter, Crystal? Trenton told police that as soon as the two of them got out of the car and turned the corner into the hunting area, Tommy seemed to have been alerted by something he saw. He reached out

Starting point is 00:41:30 a hand to stop Trenton and kind of push his body back behind his own. Tommy then took his rifle off of his shoulder and looked right into the direction of where the opening was, and it was right at that moment that he was shot. Now, I'm just going to say this, guys, in my opinion, as well as his families, Tommy had seen his killer, or had at the very least been alerted that something suspicious was going on. Despite this eyewitness account from someone who had been there and saw everything firsthand, investigators still didn't rule out the possibility of Tommy's death simply being an unfortunate hunting accident. But the Ballard family knew better. Tommy's family told their private investigators that over the course of the past year, Tommy had been keeping

Starting point is 00:42:15 a box full of anything pertaining to Crystal's case. Every tip they had received had been written down, every address, every map of locations that Crystal could have been in, and even every security camera in the area that Crystal had been seen on. Sherry said that if Tommy wasn't out physically looking for Crystal, he was at home on the computer working on his own investigating. Sherry allowed the investigators to take pictures and make copies of everything, hoping that they might be able to comb through what Tommy had already found, and investigators laid out everything in front of them, and organized each of Tommy's notes into subcategories. In Tommy's box was surveillance footage on July 3rd of Crystal in Walmart with her

Starting point is 00:42:56 kids at 4.36 p.m. This footage is very likely just hours before her disappearance, and possibly was the final hours of her life. Tommy's notes also said that a physical witness had seen Crystal bringing the Walmart bags into the house at 5 p.m. that night. Tommy also noticed that in the Walmart footage he obtained, a White Buick kept going back and forth towards Walmart while Crystal was there. Witnesses also came forward and claimed that the White Buick was also seen parked in a strange place at the farm that Brooks family owned on the night that Crystal went missing. And according to court documents, Brooks's grandmother, Anna Whitesides, owned a white bewick. But shortly after Crystal's disappearance, she ended up selling it. So investigators were able to find that car, and they found

Starting point is 00:43:43 that it had been sold to a dealership, which they were able to track down and then search for any possible forensic evidence. When looking into the car, they found a GPS tracker under the front seat. So they immediately began testing the GPS, hoping it would possibly show where the car had been on the night that Crystal disappeared. But unfortunately, they found out that the GPS hadn't been in working condition, since long before Crystal had gone missing. They also found what seemed to be bodily fluids, and they tested them for blood, but it turned out not to be blood. By 2017, no progress had been made in Crystal's disappearance or her father Tommy's death. Interestingly enough, in July of that year, someone had been arrested, but not at all in any ways that anyone was expecting.

Starting point is 00:44:29 A woman, named Crystal Malpin, was seen on security camera footage at Circle K in Bardstown. She was seen getting out of her car and taking down signs regarding Crystal's disappearance. This woman turned out to be Brooks's new girlfriend. Now remember, at that time, Brooks was still the only suspect in her case. So New Girlfriend Crystal was charged with theft for unlawfully taking these, but her bond was posted and she was released the same day. The Ballard family as a whole was just so in awe at the pure audacity that this woman had. Sherry was left upset and very confused.

Starting point is 00:45:05 She wondered why Crystal wouldn't just help them. She also was left wondering why Crystal and Brooks weren't giving the family support if Brooks was as innocent as he claimed. By the end of 2020, the police had completely stepped in to take over Crystal's case. They immediately began serving search warrants, including Brooks's house, Nick's house, and their mother's house, as well as a storage unit in the area. The FBI told the media that they recovered several items of interest in this search. in 2021, the FBI ripped up the driveway of Brooks' home, which had been built the same year that

Starting point is 00:45:41 Crystal had gone missing. Again, in 2022, FBI searched the family farm, where Crystal had allegedly last been seen at. The farm was over 200 acres, but they focused on a smaller portion of it. They brought in cadaver dogs, drones, and excavating equipment. The search on the farm had lasted for five days straight. The FBI released that evidence had been collected, but they did not give any details on what exactly had been found. In August of 2023, a huge break in the case was finally made. For the first time ever, someone had been arrested in regards to Crystal's disappearance. But to the shock of quite literally everyone, and everyone familiar with this case, it wasn't Brooks that was arrested. 32-year-old Joseph Lawson was arrested and charged with

Starting point is 00:46:30 conspiracy to commit murder, as well as a charge for tampering with physical evidence. Joseph's attorney Kevin Coleman confirmed that his client's charges were in relation to the disappearance of Crystal Rogers. Joseph has apparently had a pretty colorful criminal history over the years. He has had charges in the past of burglary, trespassing, assault, and possession of methamphetamine. So this guy is obviously shady, right? But you might be asking yourself or asking me being like, hey, Annie, okay, this guy, yes, obviously is like a walking red flag. But what's his connection to Crystal's case? Well, remember that midnight phone call that Brooks got on the night that Crystal disappeared?

Starting point is 00:47:08 You know, the one that the police then caught him in a lie about later on? Well, that was from Steve Lawson. And as it turns out, Steve is none other than Joseph's father. So now, with Joseph arrested, things really started to fall apart for Brooks, and he was finally arrested. In late September 2023, Brooks was officially arrested and charged with the murder of Crystal, as well as tampering with physical evidence, and then he was given a $10 million bond. Now keep in mind, before Brooks was arrested, he still had custody of he and Crystal's son Eli. And sadly, like we see so often, Brooks prevented Eli from spending any quality time with Crystal's mother, Sherry.

Starting point is 00:47:49 Unfortunately, the Ballards haven't been able to have a close relationship with the son that Brooks and Crystal once shared. When Crystal first went missing, Tommy and Sherry had filed for court-mandated visitation times. They were able to see Eli every other Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. But in 2018, a judge overruled it, claiming that the connection between Brooks and Sherry has boiled over to the point that it is not in the boy's best interest to spend time with his grandmother. Brooks claimed that Eli had begun asking him, what did you do to Mommy? And claimed that he was sullen and uncooperative every time after spending time with Sherry. So obviously when Brooks was arrested, this threw a huge wrench.

Starting point is 00:48:30 in the agreed custody plan. Brooks's mother and Sherry both went to court to fight over the now 11-year-old child. The proceedings were ruled to be confidential and neither side was allowed to comment or share with the media how the judge ruled. But reporters outside of the court saw Sherry leave with a huge smile on her face,

Starting point is 00:48:49 and Brooks' mother looked less than happy. So we obviously don't have confirmation. All we can do is hope that based on their reactions that Sherry was granted custody and can finally begin to repair that relationship with her youngest grandchild, and of course allow him to finally see his other siblings, who had not been allowed to see him since he was only a few years old. Brooks, though, he had bigger problems on his hands, namely the massive $10 million bond that was

Starting point is 00:49:16 keeping him in jail. His arraignment was scheduled for October 5th, where he appeared via video. Brooks' defense team argued that the $10 million bond was extremely harsh and argued that Joseph's had only been $500,000. So they argued. for a $500,000 cash bond as well as GPS monitoring. The prosecution argued that the reason that Joseph's bond was set so much lower was because he has no other possessions other than his truck and that $500,000 is really $10 million to Joseph Lawson. Essentially, they just wanted to set bonds high enough so that neither of them could get out.

Starting point is 00:49:52 During that same arraignment, multiple issues were brought up. The first was that the judge confirmed that he believed that Tommy's death is linked to crystals, and that his office is in the process of investigating it, which is something, honestly, most everyone had already figured, but it had never previously been confirmed by anyone official. Sherry was also seen getting extremely emotional when Tommy was brought up, and it was no doubt filled with a mix of relief and sadness, knowing now that his death is somehow connected to his daughter's death,

Starting point is 00:50:23 all potentially again due to him getting too close to figuring out the truth, and what really happened to his daughter, Christ. So the prosecutor explained that they had purchased a gun from Nick Halk, who is Brooks' brother. Nick was selling this rifle under a fake name, and they bought it. During the hearing, the prosecutor stated that they believed that it's the gun that was used to kill Tommy, and they are investigating Nick's possible role in Tommy's death. After the hearing, Brooks' defense team filed another motion for the judge to lower his bond, and the judge, who goes by Honorable Sims, denied the motion, citing the safety issues at hands for any

Starting point is 00:50:59 witnesses to the case. An indictment hearing was held on December 6th, and during the hearing, it was said that Steve aided one or more persons in the planning or commission of the death of another, and also destroyed, mutilated, concealed, or removed any evidence on July 3rd or July 4th, 2015. It was allegedly Joseph who took Crystal's car and parked it on the side of the highway. He claimed that while Joseph was moving Crystal's car, he got a flat tire at that mile marker where it was left. So Joseph called Steve to come and get him, which he did. He claimed that Steve had no idea why Joseph had that car or what he was doing with it. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me that Steve was the person working for Brooks,

Starting point is 00:51:41 yet his son would be the one mainly in contact with Brooks and doing all of his dirty work. If you're into the kind of stories that we tell here on Serialessly, then you will love truer crime. Host Salicia Stanton brings a powerful personal perspective to every case, digging into not just what happened, but why, how it was handled and who got left behind. The show balances big cases like Jonestown and the Menendez brothers with ones that you've never heard, a talk radio host gunned down in his driveway, a deadly prison riot, a wrongful conviction. There's always a twist and always something deeper. If you're tired of formulaic true crime and want something nuanced,

Starting point is 00:52:24 fresh, and thought-provoking, truer crime delivers. Season 3 of Truer Crime is airing now. Follow Trueer Crime wherever you get your podcast and catch new episodes every week. Then dive into the back catalog to binge even more unforgettable stories. Now before we get into the trial drama of it all, let's hit some pre-trial highlights. First up, Brooks, you know, the ever so charming guy. He asked for a change of venue. And honestly, fair. Everyone in the town had pretty much spent the last decade sigh-eyeing him,

Starting point is 00:53:02 whether it was the grocery store on the street, at the gas station, you name it. So this was a fair ask. And the court ended up saying, you know, fine, you can have your trial in a different area. You can change the venue. So the trial was now going to move to Bowling Green. But it didn't end there. Because then Steve Lawson went full courtroom diva. I am talking the works. During a pre-trial hearing, he literally fired his lawyer right there in court, on the spot, and he asked the judge for a new attorney. I'm trying to knock nobody. My attorney's doing his job for me anymore.

Starting point is 00:53:40 I can't use his, I don't know what you call. His counsel anymore, sir. I'm sorry. I can't use his counsel anymore, sir. Are you saying that you're wanting a different time? Yes, sir. That's exactly what I'm saying, sir. And because Steve had made those statements, the ones about Crystal's car implicating Joseph, lawyers for Brooks and Joseph said that Steve should be tried separately so that it would keep things fair.

Starting point is 00:54:09 So Steve got his own trial, while Brooks and Joseph Lawson just got lumped together. And Steve, he was the first to face the jury in May of 2025. And his defense with this whole thing was basically like, yeah, I helped hide the car, but I didn't know that there was a murder that was involved, which, okay, sure, my guy. On the stand, Steve also admitted that on the night that Crystal disappeared, his son Joseph had called him for a ride. Steve showed up, found Joseph next to Crystal's abandoned car, and then made the decision to help him stage it. He said that he moved the driver's seat forward so that it would look like Crystal had driven the car. Then he took the baseball bat from the car

Starting point is 00:54:48 and drove off and didn't ask any other questions. And according to Steve, Steve, the reason for that is because he thought that the car was stolen. Yet according to the prosecution, it's because he knew that it was evidence in a murder. And remember that infamous phone call to Brooks, the one that Steve claimed was about a rental property? Well, in court, he finally admitted that he had called Brooks to say, quote, the job is done. And that's not the only thing that Steve said about Brooks. The prosecution, they brought receipts, literal jailhouse phone calls that had been recorded. And in these calls, Steve admitted that Brooks, according to him, wanted Crystal gone. One on January 5th, Lawson's mother wanted to know. Brooks Houck didn't ask you to kill her. Lawson responded, he said, I want her gone. I said, what are you talking about? I don't know why you're talking to me.

Starting point is 00:55:45 No more, no less. End of story. They then talked about Roger's car found on Bluegrass Parkway, and Stephen Joseph Lawson's involvement with it. Why in the hell did you take him to get her car? Lawson's mother said. I don't know, Mom. That's the truth. The call ends with her asking Lawson, when you knew she was missing, why didn't you say something? He responds, yeah, I should have said something right then. In a second call, a few days later, with an unknown person, Lawson is asked about Crystal's body. I'm telling you, I don't know, he said. The frustrated call,

Starting point is 00:56:22 says to Lawson, it's premeditated murder. There's no premeditation on my end, Lawson responded. You could have saved that girl's life, and you didn't. Lawson says, I never set nobody up. So prosecutors argued that obviously Steve wasn't clueless about the murder. And in fact, he was actually getting paid to help hide it. Because as it turns out, Brooks promised him future drywall work if he helped him out. Which is so crazy because when you think about it, it means that Steve helped cover this murder of an innocent woman all in exchange for the chance at a construction job. How does that math at all equate? In the end, though, the jury didn't buy his whole, you know, I didn't know. I thought the car was just stolen that whole act, not at all. And on May 30th, 2025, Steve was found

Starting point is 00:57:14 guilty on both counts. And they recommended that he be sentenced to 17 years. So, now let's move on to the main event, Brooks and Joseph, because remember, they were going to trial together. And boy, oh boy, was it worth the wait? Now let me just say this. The prosecution had to build its case almost entirely on circumstantial evidence, because Crystal's body still hadn't been found at this point. And we also don't know what the murder weapon was, right? But they didn't let that stop them, and they still came with some serious evidence. One of the biggest pieces of it was the secret audio recording of Brooks and his mom, Rosemary. Because in this clip, Brooks asks if the police took his brother, Nick's car. And you can barely hear Rosemary say anything, but when you really

Starting point is 00:58:01 listen, she basically says, yeah, they took it. And he's worried about the blanket in the back of it. You don't think that you left anything on that blanket. Do you? And then, without almost missing a single beat, Brooks just responds saying, don't worry about it. Which begs the question, like, Hello, if you're innocent, why would you guys be panicking about what is on a blanket in your trunk? Then there was the testimony from it? Then there was the testimony from Charlie Girdley, one of course. One of Brooks's, former employees, and also, I have to just say, like the MVP of jaw-dropping testimony. Charlie said that on the night of July 3rd, he saw Brooks give Joseph Lawson Crystal's car keys. Then Charlie said that Joseph told him that if it came down to it, he would, quote,

Starting point is 00:59:05 pull her teeth and the hogs would do the rest. Now, if you aren't familiar with like hogs and boars and things like that, they will feed on many of them, not all, maybe all, but the majority of them will literally feed on a human body. And so a lot of people in a lot of twisted, disgusting cases will leave a body out in the woods, the forest, the farmland, wherever it is. I think I just said fuds, but you know what I mean? The woods, the forest, the farmland, wherever it is, and like allow nature to take its course and for the evidence to be destroyed that way. And that's exactly what he was implying here. Pulling the teeth so that they would not be able to match dental records, and then feeding her to the hogs. It's sick.

Starting point is 00:59:48 I mean, it's just such a disgusting, dehumanizing, awful thing to say about another human being. And this was really impactful, so much so that the jury seemed to agree and take what Charlie said very seriously. They even asked to rewatch his testimony before they went into deliberation. He said he'd be saved their head and pull her teeth and the holes would do risk. Okay. This is from the direct examination of Charlie Girdley, a former employee of Brooks Hauk. This was testimony. The jury asked to rewatch. Do you remember any conversation what you had about Joey, about Krista's car that we, can you say it one time? He said he was buried with a skinsker, nobody ever found it.

Starting point is 01:00:35 He even came up to me and said something about Brooks, him to get rid of his old lady, and he wasn't a man for. the job that that was. Now the Lawson family, they had a lot to say too. Heather, Steve's ex-girlfriend, said that she overheard the Lawson's talk about moving a body off of the family farm. And Joseph's grandma Barbara had said that Joseph actually told her that Steve had killed Crystal, which talk about like family bonding at its absolute worst, right? Why would you confide in grandma that there was a murder and get everybody else roped in? It just kind of shows how sick and twisted and deep this whole thing really goes. Now on the tech side, prosecutors used cell phone data to blow holes in everybody's alibis. Brooks had said that Crystal was playing on her phone that night, well past

Starting point is 01:01:22 midnight, except it turns out that her phone died around 9.30 p.m. And it was also manually shut off just before midnight. Then it later turned up in her abandoned car days later. So, you know, nice try at Brooks trying to say she was like playing games or on Farmville or whatever the hell he was saying past midnight, the data will never lie. Then came the white Buick. You know, the car that was owned by Brooks' grandma, the one that was seen near the Walmart and the farm, the night that crystal vanished. Well, sure enough, inside that car, police found hair that was consistent with matching crystals. So with all of this, even without a body or without a murder weapon, or even a confession, all of this circumstantial evidence really was adding up. And it didn't take long for the

Starting point is 01:02:09 jury to deliberate. After just four hours, the jury came back. Brooks was found guilty of murder, principal or accomplice, and also tampering with evidence. Joseph was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and also tampering with evidence. In regard to Commonwealth v. Brooks William Hout, in regard to instruction number four, it says, we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder, principal or accomplice under instruction number four C, and under instruction number five, it says, we the jury find the defendant guilty of tampering with physical evidence under instruction number five. In regard to Joseph Lawson, the verdict form number four says, we the jury find the defendant guilty of conspiracy to commit murder under instruction

Starting point is 01:03:02 number four A, and under verdict number five, we the jury, find the defendant guilty of tampering with physical evidence under instruction number five. So the sentencing phase followed immediately. And if you thought that that first deliberation was short, let me just say, it took the jury literally 20 minutes this time to recommend the sentencing, which also happened to be the maximum possible sentence for both Brooks and Joseph. And that was life in prison for Brooks and 25 years for Joseph. Now, final sentencing is scheduled for August 21st, but I'm sure you know what I'm going to say, right? I say, lock them up, throw away the key, feed them to the hogs, bye-bye. Now here's what's really interesting.

Starting point is 01:03:46 Brooks might not be the only family member in hot water because the former lead detective on the case said after the trial that it is not over. When he was asked if justice was done, he simply replied, quote, no, I feel like we've got a little more to go. You'll see. So does that mean that more arrests might be coming? Maybe for Nick, maybe even for Rosemary? What about Grandma Barbara? You know, not that I'm saying grandma, you know, was involved, but clearly she was told about it. So what else is going to happen? The prosecutor Shane Young mentioned Brooks Houtk's brother and mother as co-conspirators in the case. Young named Nick Halk and Rosemary Hout. They have not been charged. The defense and prosecution also mentioned 2019 taxes filed for COVID

Starting point is 01:04:35 benefits under Crystal's name, but didn't elaborate. Young said people are filing taxes under dead people's names as tax fraud is happening across the nation. I think Rosemary and Nick had something to do with it. And I think that will all come out with him time. Does today give a sense of closure? Some way. I would still wish we would be able to lay her to wrist the way she needs to be.

Starting point is 01:05:02 Do you think that will ever happen? In time, yeah, I do hope that it will happen. As Crystal's daughter reminded everyone, there is still one huge question here. Where is Crystal? What exactly happened to her? I can only hope for her family's sake that somebody finally cracks and tells the truth. I don't care if they're trying to work out a deal. I don't care if they're trying to flip on the other person to make their sentencing less when the official sentencing comes down. I don't care what it is. I just hope that somebody does crack or flip and that the investigators find her remains and that her family finally gets that piece.

Starting point is 01:05:43 However, that being said, if they truly did feed her to the hogs or do something in that vein, it's very possible that her remains will never be found and that we may never have that answer. And let's not forget, there hasn't been justice for Tommy in all of this either. Crystal's dad was likely murdered for pushing to find his own daughter. Where is the justice in that? And the FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for tips in his case. So hopefully that amount of money, too, is enough to make somebody hopefully talk so that the family can get justice for him as well. The Ballard sat through every moment of two high-profile trials in just the last few weeks.

Starting point is 01:06:23 Three convictions followed, but closure did not. What are you guys doing now to maybe get more people to talk? Now that the FBI has done what they've done, it's opened us back up to that, and we're raising our reward as far as that goes. This year, the family more than doubled the reward and now offering $50,000 of their own money. The FBI has also renewed its call for tips, a signal the case is not forgotten. They haven't forgot Tommy Ballard, and they're still working on it. And it was good to see that they offered a reward as well. The recent convictions in Crystal's case brought tears and some sense of relief, but they didn't bring closure.

Starting point is 01:07:05 I feel really good about the conviction on all three of them. That's for sure. But I know we've got a little bit of waiting period to go through that process, and we'll see how that goes and go from there. Ballard says someone out there knows the truth, and now more than ever, the family needs them to speak up. Anybody that has anything, whether, I mean, they may not think it's anything, but if they remember anything about that day or the day before, from somebody parked on the bluegrass parkway, somebody walking on the bluegrass parkway, something they heard, no matter how small it is, you never know what it's going to be a good tip or not a good tip.

Starting point is 01:07:42 And the police, they want those tips. From the farm where Tommy Ballard fell and took his last breath, a memorial still stands along with the family still standing, and searching for Crystal and still waiting for justice. I'm never going to have peace until Crystal's remains are found and an arrest in the murder of my brother. While the family continues to search for Crystal's remains, Ballard believes the three men convicted in the case should and could provide answers. 100%. Yes, I do. I mean, I feel like that all of them should man up and tell what they know. Do I think that's going to happen? Probably not.

Starting point is 01:08:22 As for now, at least three of these scumbags are finally behind bars. But like we heard, there still may be a ways to go. We still need justice for her father. We need full answers. There might be other family members implicated. So while there has been justice in a way for Crystal at this point, which I'm happy about, I'm thrilled about. There is still quite a bit of road to go, in my opinion. So this is the majority of what's going on or what has.

Starting point is 01:08:52 has gone on thus far in the Crystal Rogers case. But if we do end up hearing more updates in the future, such as a body discovery, more details, more arrests, I certainly will keep you guys updated. Thank you so much for tuning in today and hearing Crystal's story, keeping her name alive, keeping her father's name alive, and just pushing forward for accountability, justice, and answers. Until the next one, guys, be nice. Don't kill people. Don't get involved with any wild hogs and just please please please be a good human if you have dirtbagged family or dirtbag family by proxy because of in-laws or whatever it may be just steer clear of them don't let them rope you into things not saying that like they were innocent and all this and got unknowingly roped in

Starting point is 01:09:38 but like just make good decisions okay i'm rambling so i'm going to shut up but thank you guys for tuning in okay bye Thank you.

SERIALously - 309: Evil Lurking on the Farm: His Girlfriend Disappears & EVERYONE is Connected | Crystal Rogers

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