Prosecutors confident they have sufficient evidence to convict Houck of murder

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 — Opening arguments in the trial of Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson took place this morning at the Warren County Justice Center before Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III.

Houck is facing charges of murder and tampering with evidence, while his co-defedent is charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to tamper with evidence.

Prosecutors told the jury that the conspiracy to murder Crystal Rogers started with one person — Houck’s mother, Rosemary Houck.

Rosemary Houck had asked a family acquaintance named “Danny” if he knew of someone who could make Crystal Rogers “go away.”

PROSECUTION. In their opening statements, prosecutors told the jury of eight men and seven women that even without a body or a murder weapon, they will have enough evidence and eyewitnesses to prove Brooks Houck’s actions led directly to the death of his girlfriend, Crystal Rogers.

DEFENSE. Houck’s defense attorneys said that due in part to the longstanding animosity between the Rogers and Houck families, when Crystal turned up missing, her family pointed to Brooks Houck as the culprit.

“It was pressure, pressure, pressure,” prosecutors said. The constant drumbeat that ‘Brooks did it’ put so much pressure on investigators they began looking at Houck as the solution to a mystery they had been unable to solve.

“Facts were replaced by suspicion,” he said.

PROSECUTION GOES FIRST. Special prosecutor Shane Young began the case by recounting July 3, 2015 — the last day anyone saw Crystal Rogers alive.

One witness said she invited Crystal to join her and her kids on a trip to Mr. Gatti’s. Crystal told her she couldn’t do it that evening because Brooks has a special date planned for the two — a night with all the kids with a babysitter.

Crystal mentioned the special-planned date to friend Anita Greenwell when the two crossed paths at the Bardstown Walmart. Greenwell said Rogers told her she “was really looking forward to it.”

According to prosecutors, that date never happened.

Using snippets of security camera footage from businesses along the way, Detective Jon Snow showed that Houck’s pickup truck traveled out KY 49 to the Houck family farm where it stayed for several hours.

On the same evening, co-defendant Joseph Lawson and his father, Stephen Lawson move Crystal’s car. First it is moved to Thompson Ridge Road in northwestern Nelson County, then — at the insistence of Stephen Lawson — Joseph Lawson moves Crystal’s car until it has a flat tire near the 14 mile marker of the Bluegrass Parkway. Joseph Lawson calls his father, who drives out tot he car’s location and picks up his son.

Prosecutors will continue presenting witnesses and evidence in the trial at 8:30 a.m. Central time Thursday morning, June 26, 2025.

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