Judge in Crystal Rogers case rules new evidence should not be tested
The Kentucky judge presiding over murder cases related to the disappearance of Crystal Rogers has ruled that new evidence recently made public should not undergo testing, and the trial for one of the suspects should go on as scheduled, according to court documents.
The new evidence was two strands of hair found inside Rogers’ vehicle in 2016. The evidence was made public in March after prosecutors filed a motion to have the hairs tested for a DNA profile.
However, the prosecutors later withdrew the motion after determining the hairs did not belong to any of the suspects — Brooks Houck, Steven Lawson and Joseph Lawson.
Houck, Rogers’ former boyfriend, was indicted in 2023 on charges of murder and evidence tampering, while Steven and Joseph Lawson, a father and son, were indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit murder and complicity to tampering with physical evidence.
Rogers, a 35-year-old mother from Bardstown, went missing in July 2015. Her body has never been found, but she is presumed dead.
Steven Lawson requested that the hairs be tested anyway, but Nelson County Circuit Judge Charles Simms III ruled that determining who the hairs belonged to wouldn’t make a difference in the case and denied Steven Lawson’s request.
“Even if DNA testing successfully revealed who the hairs belonged to, this information would not exclude Lawson’s alleged involvement herein,” Simms wrote in his ruling as a reason for not delaying his trial.
According to court documents, Kentucky State Police have had the hair evidence since 2016 — years before any suspects were charged. The hairs were sent to the FBI for testing back in 2016, but a court never ordered that testing be allowed.
Jack Reid, the trace section supervisor at the Kentucky State Police Central Laboratory, gave testimony at a Monday hearing and said the hairs were 7.25 and 11.88 inches long, which ruled out their belonging to Steven Lawson or any of the suspects, according to court documents.
Lawson argued that one of the hairs could belong to Nick Houck, brother to Brooks Houck, who was previously linked to the death of Tommy Ballard — Crystal Rogers’ father, who was shot by an unknown assailant in November 2016 while preparing for a hunting trip.
Reid’s report said a hair sample from Nick Houck measured 1.88 inches and determined the strands weren’t a match, according to court documents.
No one has been charged in Ballard’s death.
Steven Lawson also argued that any evidence found is relevant in the case, but the court ultimately did not want to delay his trial. Simms said it’s unlikely that hairs could prove anything related to Rogers’ disappearance, since hairs are routinely shed.
A judge has already ruled Steven Lawson will have a separate trial from his son and Houck.
Steven Lawson’s trial is scheduled for May 27.
Joseph Lawson and Brooks Houck’s trial is scheduled for June 24.
