The Misery Machine - FBI Makes Discovery in the Crystal Rogers Case? (UPDATE)

Starting point is 00:00:00 This week, there's been some breaking news in the six-year-old disappearance of Crystal Rogers of Kentucky. On Tuesday, August 24th, federal agents reportedly were using cadaver dogs to search the Woodland Springs subdivision of Bardstown, which is about 40 miles south of Louisville, and we're using a jackhammer on the driveway of a home. By Wednesday afternoon, the driveway was reportedly dug up as agents appeared to be zeroed in on the location. Large chunks of the driveway were hauled out of the neighborhood on the back of a construction truck. So you might be asking yourself, who is Crystal Rogers? So Crystal Maria Rogers is a woman from Bardsdown, Kentucky who went missing on July 3, 2015. At the time of her disappearance, the 35-year-old mother of five, was living with her boyfriend, Brooks Hout,

Starting point is 00:00:47 and their two-year-old son and her other children, although some sources state that he was her ex-boyfriend and that she was only staying in the night. So Hauk was the last person to see her, stating that she was on her phone playing games, at their home when he went to bed. She was gone the next morning when he woke up and her car was not in the driveway. Her family began to worry after multiple attempts to contact her that day failed.

Starting point is 00:01:10 Two days later on July 5th, Crystal's red 2007 Chevrolet Impala was found parked with a flat tire by mile marker 14 of the Bluegrass Parkway. The keys were still in the ignition and her purse and cell phone were also found inside. She was officially reported missing by her mother, Sherry Ballard, on the same day.

Starting point is 00:01:30 According to the FBI, Crystal was not known to go anywhere without her kids. The Ballard family was very vocal about their suspicion of Brooks Hauk, having some sort of involvement in Crystal's disappearance early in the case. In an interview, Crystal's sister said, quote, Brooks has not offered once to search or help or do anything for the family, end quote. On July 8th, Hauk was brought in by the Nelson County Sheriff's Office for questioning. Nick Hout, Brooks' brother, and a Bardstown police officer, called mid-interview and told him not to speak with police. The next day, Nick was called to testify in front of a grand jury, which led police to suspect that it was also involved in the disappearance.

Starting point is 00:02:12 It is at this time that Nick stopped cooperating with the sheriff's office. However, he agreed to a polygraph test after being interviewed by Kentucky State Police. Nick finally took a polygraph test on July 20th after being contacted by the FBI. the examiner expressed grave concerns about the results with the Bardstown Police Chief. On October 16, 2015, Nick was fired from the Bardstown Police Department, and Brooks was officially named a suspect in the case. A White Buick became an important piece of evidence when a private investigator found that one was parked at the Houtk farm the night Rogers disappeared.

Starting point is 00:02:47 The Houtk brothers' grandmother, Anna White Sides, owned a White Buick but sold it several weeks after Rogers went missing. Authorities issued a subpoena for the 82-year-old to testify in front of a grand jury. The subpoena stated that the car may have been used to dispose of a body, cleaned, and then sold to prevent evidence from being discovered. White Sides refused to testify in front of the grand jury. Attorney Jason Floyd said her statement to police and the car buyer's information was enough. A judge later ruled to keep all future proceedings involving White Sides confidential.

Starting point is 00:03:20 In August of 2016, police searched the residences of law. White Sides and Nick Hout for DNA. Despite multiple search efforts and $100,000 reward being offered for any information, Crystal Rogers remains missing. Ramon Pineroa, the new Nelson County Sheriff appointed in 2019, has stated his commitment to solving the case. In an interview, he said the agency has a good idea of what happened to Crystal, and his mission is to find enough facts and evidence to make an arrest. It should be noted that Hauke owns properties in the Woodland Springs subdivision that the FBI descended on this week. According to Crystal's mother, Sherry Ballard, quote, I don't think they would just randomly pick a driveway unless they had a good reason to do that.

Starting point is 00:04:05 When my daughter went missing, Brooks was building in that neighborhood, end quote. In another tragic turn of events, Crystal Rogers' father, Tommy Ballard, went hunting on his private property on the morning of November 19, 2016. with his 12-year-old grandson, who was Crystal's eldest son. As soon as he exited his truck, the 54-year-old noticed something moving in the tree line by the Bluegrass Parkway. He peered into his scope, and his grandson claims that Tommy was shot and killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Starting point is 00:04:40 Police ruled out a possible suicide as Tommy's gun was never fired. So to be clear here, he was out hunting, looked down his scope, and somebody else shot him? Yeah, it's extremely suspicious with everything else that's going on. Wow. He just saw movement in the tree line and someone shot him. So according to Crystal's daughter, and I quote, My mom is a very special woman. The memory that will forever be in my heart is going to DQ, Dairy Queen,

Starting point is 00:05:07 and buying my mama lunch. We would always get the chicken strip basket with the toast and gravy to go with it. Going over to Mama Martins and playing phase 10 in aggravation over and over while eating snacks. Since my mom's been missing, life has been really hard. I always wonder what my life would be like if she and my papa were still here. End quote. Crystal Rogers has blonde hair, blue eyes, stands 5 foot 9 inches tall, and at the time that she was last seen, weighed about 155 pounds.

Starting point is 00:05:38 Crystal has tattoos on the center of her back, lower back, ankle, and left foot. If you have information related to the disappearance of Crystal Rogers, please call the FBI tip line at 1-800 call FBI or visit www.crystal Rogers Task Force.com As this case is still developing, we'll be monitoring it closely for updates that we'll share with you as they come out because apparently the police don't even know what's going on.

Starting point is 00:06:06 The FBI hasn't shared any information with them. Yeah, they wouldn't let dozens of people into the subdivision. I believe, yeah, Sheriff Pinaroa went over to the subdivision to see if he could kind of find what was going on and help direct traffic, but they're not giving a whole lot of information about what's going on at all. So hopefully we'll get some good information regarding this case within the next week or so. Yeah. That's the hope anyways.

Starting point is 00:06:32 I read about this case not too long ago. It's been consistently coming up in Kentucky media, and I'd really love to see it get solved. Absolutely. It's pretty new to me. I hadn't heard about it until in one of the groups I'm in on Facebook posted it the other day. so I'm hoping they have some resolution for her family pretty soon. So this was a midweek update to signal boost this case, get some information out there. Hopefully we can use this platform to possibly bring more attention to this case

Starting point is 00:07:02 and any needed information can be directed towards the police or the FBI. So we'll have that information in the description and the show notes. If you appreciate this, if you want to see us signal boost more cases like this, be able to do midweek cases as soon as they're breaking. Please hit like and subscribe so that way we're able to get cases like these out to a wire audience. That way we can give back with our platform with missing persons cases like this. It's hard especially since we cover a lot of child cases that's not very popular in the

Starting point is 00:07:33 YouTube algorithm, but we want to be able to get this in front of as many people as possible. So that way, that small chance that somebody comes forward with a tip that does solve the case. For those that want to go that extra step in supporting us, patreon.com slash the misery machine. But with that out of the way, we will talk to you again at our regularly scheduled time on Monday. So until next week, we love you. We love you.

Starting point is 00:07:56 Bye.

The Misery Machine - FBI Makes Discovery in the Crystal Rogers Case? (UPDATE)

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