Reports: 3rd suspect arrested in Crystal Rogers’ disappearance, charged in murder conspiracy
A man facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder and evidence tampering is the third suspect to be arrested in connection to the death of Crystal Rogers, the Bardstown mother whose disappearance eight years ago made national headlines, according to multiple media reports, including WHAS11 in Louisville.
Steven Eugene Lawson, of Chaplin, has been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. Lawson joins Joseph Lawson and Brooks Houck as the three suspects connected to Rogers’ death. Houck was the boyfriend of Rogers when she went missing and is the father to one of her children.
It’s unclear if Steven and Joseph Lawson are related. WDRB reported Friday that Steven Lawson talked to Brooks Houck over the phone the night after Rogers’ disappearance.
Court records indicate Steven Lawson, 53, has been detained in Indiana and will make his first court appearance in Nelson County on Dec. 21. Shane Young, the special prosecutor appointed over the Crystal Rogers case, is the prosecutor for Lawson’s court case. He’s also prosecuting Houck and Joseph Lawson.
Court documents were unsealed in Steven Lawson’s case Friday. His indictment says that on July 3 or July 4, 2015, Lawson “agreed to aid one or more persons in the planning or commission of the crime or an attempt or solicitation to commit the crime, when he, and/or a co-conspirator, intentionally caused the death of another.”
The indictment charging him with evidence tampering said that he destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed or altered physical evidence which he believed was about to be produced or used in an official proceeding with intent to reduce its ability to be used in that proceeding.
The criminal allegations surrounding Rogers’ disappearance were the subject of national news reports for several years. She went missing the weekend of the 4th of July in 2015. After her family reported her missing, investigators found her car abandoned in Nelson County with some of her personal belongings still inside.
Rogers’ parents, Sherry and Tommy Ballard, were fierce advocates for finding out what happened to her and arresting those involved in her disappearance. They publicly accused Houck of being responsible. Houck was named a suspect in the case early by investigators, but wasn’t arrested until this year.
More than a year after Rogers disappeared, Tommy Ballard was shot in the chest and killed while preparing to go hunting with his grandson, according to the FBI.
The FBI is investigating the deaths of both Rogers and Ballard. Several searches were conducted in Bardstown over the last couple years, though no arrests were made until this year. Joseph Lawson was arrested in August, followed by the arrest of Brooks Houck in September. FBI officials declined to comment and referred any questions to Young, the prosecutor, who wasn’t immediately available Friday.
