True crime: 6 of the most notorious murder cases in Kentucky history
Ann Gotlib. Crystal Rogers. Trent DiGiuro.
Theirs are just a few Kentucky cases that have been the topics of true crime podcasts and television shows for years. Thousands of people across the country have been left wondering if they'll ever know the whole story or whether those responsible will ever be held accountable — or in some cases, how the perpetrators managed to walk free.
Some of Kentucky's most notorious crimes have made national headlines and even made a lasting impact, resulting in new laws meant to help future victims.
Here are some of the most notorious criminal cases in Kentucky:
Ann Gotlib
The case of Ann Gotlib is one of Kentucky's biggest mysteries.
Ann was just 12 years old when she disappeared in 1983 from Bashford Manor Mall, her bicycle was found leaning against a wall of the Bacon’s department store. She was presumably abducted, but her body was never found and nobody was charged with her murder, The Courier Journal previously reported.
Throughout the years, there has been speculation as to the reason behind her disappearance, including that she could have ran away. Several strong suspects were named in the case, but none were ever charged.
To date, her case remains unsolved, but her disappearance has made a national impact. In 1984, the case helped convince congressional lawmakers to pass the Missing Children's Assistance Act, which broadened the level of assistance the FBI can give in the case of a missing child.
Crystal Rogers
The Crystal Rogers case is more recent, but still notorious within the state.
Rogers, 35, went missing in 2015 from Bardstown. The mother of five children, the FBI said she was not known to go anywhere without them.
Her car was found abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway with her keys, phone and purse inside.
Brooks Houck, 42, who was her boyfriend and is the father of the youngest child, was named "the sole suspect in her disappearance" in October 2015, according to the Nelson County Gazette.
Years later, the first person arrested in connection to the case was Joseph Lawson, who faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, according to court records. He has pleaded not guilty. His father was also arrested later in connection to the case and has denied the charges.
The FBI, which took over the investigation in 2020, announced Houck's arrest a few weeks later. He has since also pleaded not guilty.
Their trials are scheduled for next year, nearly a decade after Rogers was reported missing.
More: Crystal Rogers update: Brooks Houck, Lawsons murder trial to move from Nelson County
Donald Harvey
In this case, the perpetrator is more notorious than his victims.
Donald Harvey, who died in 2017 after being attacked in his prison cell, was known as the "Angel of Death."
In 1987, Harvey pleaded guilty to killing 37 people mainly while working as a nurse’s aide at hospitals in Cincinnati and London, Kentucky. He also took responsibility for deaths of 18 other people while he was working at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Cincinnati, the Associated Press reported.
Mel Ignatow
Mel Ignatow, who died in 2008, served time in prison in connection to the 1988 murder of his girlfriend Brenda Sue Schaeffer, even though he was never found guilty of the murder itself, according to Murderpedia.
After Ignatow's trial, images tying him to the crime were discovered, but because of double jeopardy — a legal term meaning a person cannot be prosecuted twice for the same crime — he could not be tried again for the murder.
His time in prison was served due to perjury committed during his grand jury testimony.
Trent DiGiuro
Oldham County native and University of Kentucky football player Trent DiGiuro was found shot on July 17, 1994, on the front porch of his house in Lexington, The Courier Journal previously reported.
A woman named Aimee Lloyd came forward in 2000 and said her ex-boyfriend, Shane Ragland, was responsible for his death.
At the time, prosecutors argued that Ragland committed the crime because he believed that DiGiuro was the reason he was denied admission to a UK fraternity.
Ragland was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of DiGiuro, but the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2005 when it was discovered that an FBI bullet analyst lied during a pretrial conference.
Ragland was set free in 2007 after pleading guilty to amended charges of manslaughter. He was also ordered to pay DiGiuro’s family $63.4 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit.
Victor D. Taylor and George E. Wade
Victor D. Taylor is currently on death row for the 1984 kidnapping and murder of two Trinity High School students, Scott Christopher Nelson and Richard David Stephenson, who got lost on their way to a football game, according to records from the Kentucky Department of Corrections.
According to the website, Nelson and Stephenson were taken to a vacant lot, robbed and shot to death.
George Ellis Wade, the co-defendant in the case, was ordered to serve life in prison, The Courier Journal previously reported.
More: Death-row inmate Victor Taylor's conviction upheld in 1984 murder of Trinity High students
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: True crime cases: 6 notorious murder cases in Kentucky
