Former officer Houck tells KSP he knows nothing about Crystal Rogers case

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, 7 p.m. — During a July 15, 2015, interview, Kentucky State Police investigators told former Bardstown Police Officer Nick Houck that the trunk of his police cruiser and a blanket found in the trunk both tested positive for bodily fluids — fluids which could include blood, saliva, sweat or urine.

Houck’s police cruiser was taken for evidence on Thursday, July 9, 2015, after a dog “hit” on the cruiser’s quarter panel, indicating the presence of bodily fluids. The vehicle was taken to the KSP forensics lab for testing.

The interview and other information related to the Crystal Rogers investigation became available via an open records request because it was part of the evidence presented in Nick Houck’s administrative hearing that led to his firing by Mayor John Royalty on Friday, Oct. 16, 2015.

Former Bardstown Police Officer Nick Houck, right, is interviewed by Kentucky State Police investigators on July 15, 2015, at the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office.

In a video recording of the interview, the KSP investigators told Houck that the KSP crime lab used luminol — a fluid that glows when it comes in contact with bodily fluids. When the luminol was sprayed in the trunk of Houck’s police cruiser, the trunk area “glowed like Chernobyl,” one of the investigators said.

An alarmed Houck told investigators “There shouldn’t be any bodily fluids in the trunk … I’ve got no explanation for that,” he said. “I don’t know if somebody made that up or what … Who would do this in a city-maintained cruiser?”

Investigators told Houck samples were taken from the cruiser’s trunk liner and elsewhere in his cruiser in order to check for possible DNA evidence. Asked if the tests will find Crystal Rogers’ DNA among the samples, Houck told investigators “I’m 100 percent certain it won’t. You’re dead in the water. No way.”

Houck denied knowledge of his brother having anything to do with Rogers’ disappearance. He told investigators repeatedly that his brother never asked him for advice or talked with him about her.

When he was asked when he learned of Crystal’s disappearance, and what his brother may have told him about her disappearance, Houck said no one had called him that he could remember, and he was unable to say for certain how he find out. He told the investigators his brother didn’t call him to talk about Crystal’s disappearance.

Houck denied calling his brother Brooks at on Friday July 10 as reported by a witness who was with Brooks at the time the call took place. Investigators said the witness told them when the call ended, Brooks called his mom and told her “Nick needs our help.”

Houck also denied eyewitness reports from a neighbor who told investigators they saw Houck remove something from the trunk of his cruiser and place it in another car. “It didn’t happen,” Houck said. “They’re just making stuff up.”

Investigators suggested that Brooks Houck may have found out that another man was having a sexual relationship with Crystal, or perhaps she found out information that had the potential to turn Brooks’ life upside down. Investigators told Houck that his brother then may have confronted Crystal, triggering a chain of events that resulted in her death.

“I think what happened is that it was something he (Brooks) didn’t like,” one of the investigators told Houck. “We all get in the heat of the moment, and shit happens. Shit happens that we can’t take back that we wish we could.”

Investigators suggested that Houck’s trouble remembering details of recent events may be because he is ashamed of his actions and is blocking them out.

Houck told investigators they were wasting time with their line of questioning. “If I could help you in the investigation, I would,” he said.

Despite Houck’s denials, investigators told Houck he had a chance to tell them what he knows about Crystal’s disappearance.

“This is the only opportunity we have to sit here and find out if you are the actual honest person we think you are,” an investigator tells him.

Houck maintains he knows nothing of Rogers’ disappearance, and that neither he nor his brother are involved.

“Man, all I can tell you is that Brooks is a good guy and he didn’t have anything to do with this,” he said.

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