Investigators tight-lipped regarding search of Thompson Hill Road property

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT\

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023 — The Nelson County community is hopeful that searches this week of property on Thompson Hill Road, about two miles west of US31E off Deatsville Road, KY 523, will bring answers regarding at least one of three high-profile unsolved murder cases currently under investigation.

On Monday, Dec. 4, 2023, Thompson Hill Road residents say that FB and KSP law enforcement officers arrived with excavating equipment including a backhoe, and began digging up an area near an abandoned home. Residents said they also dug in several additional locations, including a heavily wood area.

Residents told the media that soil excavated from the site was hauled off in trucks.

The search operations apparently ended on Wednesday without officials identifying what they were searching for, or which investigation the search pertained to.

Shane Young, the Hardin County commonwealth’s attorney who is investigating the deaths of Crystal Rogers, her father Tommy Ballard, and the murder of Bardstown Police Officer Jason Ellis, would only confirm the search was related to one of the three cases.

This was apparently the first time the FBI and investigators searched the Thompson Hill Road location for evidence.

Brooks Houck was arrested and charged with the murder of Crystal Rogers. He remains in the Hardin County Correctional Center on $10 million bond.

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