BARDSTOWN, Ky. (Scripps News Lexington) — Another person has been charged in connection with the 2015 disappearance of Crystal Rogers.
53-year-old Steven Lawson has been indicted by a grand jury with criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. He’s currently incarcerated in Harrison County, Indiana.
Steven Lawson was indicted by a grand jury on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. (Harrison County, IN Sheriff’s Dept. via Scripps News Lexington)
Rogers was reported missing on July 5, 2015. She was last seen at her then-boyfriend, Brooks Houck‘s, home. In September 2023, Houck was charged with murder in Rogers’ case.
32-year-old Joseph L. Lawson, son of Steven Lawson, was also arrested in September and charged with criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Despite there now being charges in connection with Rogers’ disappearance, her body has never been found.
FILE – Crystal Rogers (NamUs)
The arrest comes days after authorities with multiple law enforcement agencies searched part of an area in Nelson County. At the time, special prosecutor Shane Young confirmed to Scripps News Lexington that it was in connection to one of three unsolved death investigations in Bardstown.
Along with Rogers, Young has been assigned the death investigations of Tommy Ballard and Jason Ellis.
16 months after Rogers vanished, her father, Tommy Ballard, was shot and killed by an unknown gunman while hunting on his own property.
In May 2013, Bardstown police officer Jason Ellis was killed in a surprise attack on his way home from work. A decade later, no arrest has been made in connection with his murder.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Lexington, an E.W. Scripps Company.
