Crystal Rogers investigation updates: What we know about search for Kentucky mom
Crystal Rogers, a Kentucky mother of five children, has been missing for more than six years. The mystery around her disappearance has garnered national attention, but no one has been charged.
Her family has been outspoken about Rogers, hoping to get answers on who’s responsible. Rogers’ father, Tommy Ballard, was trying to gather information on her disappearance when he was shot and killed by an unknown subject in 2016, according to the FBI.
The investigations into Rogers’ disappearance and Ballard’s death have involved several different law enforcement agencies. Her boyfriend at the time was named a suspect early in the case.
The FBI took over the case in 2020 and has since conducted searches at several properties in Bardstown. New searches of a subdivision with ties to Rogers’ former boyfriend started Aug. 24 and continued for a week.
The focus Wednesday appeared to be concentrated on the front yard and driveway area of a single property where digging was occurring and canopies had been installed. The FBI said on Thursday the search would last “as long as it takes.”
Crystal Rogers’ 2015 disappearance
Rogers was reported missing by her mother, Sherry Ballard, on July 5, 2015, according to the FBI. She hadn’t been seen or heard from since July 3, 2015. The day she was reported missing, her Chevrolet Malibu was abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway with a flat tire. Her keys, phone and purse were inside the car, according to the FBI.
Search efforts have been carried out periodically in the six-plus years since Rogers’ disappearance. She is presumed dead, but her body has never been found.
Current search suspended due to rain
The FBI elected to suspend its ongoing search for evidence in Rogers’ case due to incoming rain from Hurricane Ida. The search stopped later in the day Monday and was expected to resume once conditions were more ideal.
The FBI said Monday it had recovered “multiple items of interest” and those items were being taken to an FBI lab for further analysis.
FBI: ‘Flood of tips’ has helped investigation
On the fifth day of an extensive search of a Bardstown subdivision, the FBI tweeted its thanks to the community for an “extremely generous outpouring of food and, more importantly, a flood of tips that has helped us in our search” for missing mom Crystal Rogers.
The FBI has been searching the Woodlawn Springs subdivision in Bardstown for six days now, as investigators returned again Sunday and continued digging up the front yard of a home in the area.
“We know that there are individuals out there who have specific information about Crystal’s disappearance and want to do the right thing,” the FBI said in a tweet Saturday afternoon. “The FBI is offering up to a $25,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the disappearance of Crystal Rogers.
“We remain dedicated to bringing justice.”
‘Item of interest’ found in FBI’s latest search
The FBI began new searches for evidence in Rogers’ case on Tuesday in the Woodlawn Springs subdivision in Bardstown. Investigators returned to the subdivision on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. FBI officials said they were hoping to find “any evidence” in the case and on Friday the FBI confirmed it had found an “item of interest.”
“This item is being further evaluated, and we will release additional information as it becomes available,” the FBI said in a statement Friday morning.
An FBI spokesman said the agency couldn’t comment further on what the item was yet.
No ‘timeline’ for how long current Bardstown search will take
The FBI said Thursday it doesn’t know how many days it will continue to search the Woodlawn Springs subdivision.
“As our latest search related to the disappearance of Crystal Rogers continues on the third day, FBI Louisville investigators are focused on finding any evidence that will shed light on what happened to Crystal,” the FBI said in a statement Thursday. “While we do not have a timeline in regards to when the search will conclude, we will continue our efforts for as long as it takes.
“We appreciate the community’s support, particularly the residents of the Woodlawn Springs subdivision.”
The FBI also thanked the Nelson County sheriff’s office for its assistance in the investigation.
Their efforts Wednesday were directed primarily at one property on North Howard Street where digging was occurring. A truck carrying dirt and pieces of concrete left from a property along North Howard.
Brooks Houck, who was Rogers’ boyfriend when she disappeared, has ties to the neighborhood. Houck’s rental and development companies built more than a dozen of the homes in the Woodlawn Springs subdivision, according to property records. However, the FBI couldn’t confirm or deny if those homes were the focus this week.
Sherry Ballard said those homes were being built around the same time Rogers disappeared.
Beam also said the individuals whose properties were being searched this week were not suspects in the case, FBI spokesman Timothy Beam said.
Someone in the neighborhood shared a photo of the dig site on Reddit Wednesday.
‘They’re not at this house by accident.’
Ballard said she feels like there’s a reason the FBI has targeted the specific properties they’ve searched this week.
“They’re not at this house by accident; there’s a reason,” she said.
Ballard also said she’s more encouraged than in the past and feels like this search will give her answers about her daughter’s disappearance.
“It feels different to me,” Ballard said.
Investigators once hoped they’d found Rogers’ remains
Officials hoped they had a breakthrough in Rogers’ case in July 2020 when they found possible human remains near the Washington and Nelson county lines. The FBI was called in to help the Nelson County sheriff’s office retrieve the remains and they were examined using the “Combined DNA Index System,” the FBI said.
But the remains weren’t Rogers’, the FBI said. The FBI announced in November that the remains hadn’t been positively identified.
“The FBI and our law enforcement partners understand that many in the community were hopeful that these remains would bring answers to the Crystal Rogers case,” the FBI said in a statement at the time. “This latest development most certainly does not affect the unwavering resolve of the FBI personnel assigned to investigate the disappearance of Crystal Rogers.
“Bringing justice to the community of Bardstown remains a top priority of FBI Louisville.”
Mother’s disappearance became FBI investigation after 5 years
Local authorities had been investigating Rogers’ disappearance up until August 2020. But just a couple of weeks after the human remains were found in Nelson County, the FBI took over. With the assistance of local and state agencies, federal investigators have been leading the case for more than a year.
On the day the FBI officially took the reigns of the investigation, more than 150 law enforcement officers executed search warrants in Bardstown, according to the FBI. In its search, the FBI had targeted several properties owned by or connected to Houck. Houck’s family owns numerous properties in the area. He is also affiliated with rental and development companies that build and rent residences in Bardstown, according to business and property records.
The FBI searched Houck’s home and a farm owned by the Houck family in August 2020. They also searched a home owned by Nick Houck, Brooks’ brother.
No arrests were made, and Houck hasn’t been charged with anything, the FBI said Tuesday.
How boyfriend’s family factors into Crystal Rogers investigation
Brooks Houck was believed to be the last person who saw Rogers before she disappeared in 2015, according to multiple media reports. Less than two months after her disappearance, local authorities searched a farm owned by his family with cadaver dogs, according to WLKY in Louisville.
Houck’s brother, Nick Houck, was fired from the Bardstown Police Department because he allegedly interfered with the investigation when the Nelson County sheriff’s office was handling it, according to officials from the sheriff’s office.
Nick allegedly called Brooks on the phone while Brooks was being questioned by the sheriff’s office, and Nick was aware that his brother was being interviewed at the time.
Nick Houck was served with a search warrant in connection to the case in 2016.
Death of Crystal Rogers’ father is a ‘related case’
The FBI is also investigating Tommy Ballard’s death. Tommy Ballard was shot and killed while hunting with his young grandson on Nov. 19, 2016, according to the FBI. He had been trying to get answers regarding his daughter’s disappearance and created Team Crystal, a group of community members dedicated to finding his daughter, according to the FBI.
Ballard’s death is considered a homicide and the FBI is offering $10,000 for “information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of those responsible.
Sherry Ballard, who was Tommy Ballard’s wife and Rogers’ mother, said she feels “like when they break my daughter’s case, my husband’s is automatically going to follow right after that.”
Suspect in case won custody battle against Rogers’ mom
Brooks Houck and Rogers had a son together. A Nelson Circuit Court judge ruled earlier this year that the child could not visit his grandmother, Ballard.
Brooks Houck argued to the court that allowing his son to see Rogers’ side of the family could cause damage to the father-son relationship because Ballard believes Houck is responsible for Rogers’ disappearance. Judge Stephen Hayden agreed with Houck.
“There is clear and convincing evidence significant hostility exists between the Ballard family and Houck such that it poses a significant risk of emotional harm to” the child, Hayden wrote in his final ruling, which denied Ballard visitation with Rogers’ youngest child. He also wrote that it was “reasonable for Houck to believe denying visits is necessary to protect” his son.
Ballard said Houck “was not mentioned” during any of her previous visits with her grandson, who was 8 years old at the time of Hayden’s ruling. She was happy with the visitation she had with her grandson before a Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling in 2018, which first denied her those visits. Hayden’s ruling followed the court of appeals’ decision.
“I have abided by every rule and have done everything they have asked me to do concerning my (grandson’s) visitation case,” Ballard wrote in a Facebook post. “I have waited ... two long years for this so-called justice system to grant me visitation of my grandson.”
Ballard has raised Rogers’ other children by herself after her husband’s death.
“His brothers and sisters deserve to see him,” Ballard said at a rally after the decision. She has advocated for stronger grandparents’ rights in Kentucky since the ruling was made. “It’s not right.”
Hayden wrote in his ruling that “multiple witnesses for both sides” testified to Houck’s loving relationship with his son. He also wrote that the Ballard family had a “significant” role in the child’s life before Rogers’ disappearance.
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 1:25 PM.