Houck trial Day 7: Defense questions K-9 skills, analysis of cell phone, cell tower info

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Wednesday, July 2, 2025 — Brooks Houck’s sister, Rhonda McIlvoy testified Wednesday morning in her older brother’s trial on charges of murder and tampering with physical evidence in the 2015 disappearance of his girlfriend, Crystal Rogers.

McIlvoy testified that she and Rogers together planned most of the family get-togethers at the Houck farm, which she said offered plenty of room and opportunities for the children in the family to play together.

The night Crystal Rogers disappeared, she told jurors she, her husband and children were in Louisville visiting the Louisville Science Center and the huge Louisville Slugger on display nearby, providing investigators with photos of the family’s visit there. She and her family did not return home until after 8 p.m., she testified.

After Rogers disappeared the evening of July 3, 2019, she said she and other family members immediately began to receive threats. She felt so endangered that she and her family moved from their Bardstown home and relocated to North Carolina.

McIvoy said she didn’t escape being blamed for Crystal’s disappearance after the move.

She testified that she received a visit from lead investigator at the time Detective Jon Snow an another deputy, who asked her about a grainy photograph purported to show McIlvoy babysitting Houck’s son, Eli, and the day Crystal disappeared.

McIlvoy also testified that while her mother, Rosemary Houck and Crystal Rogers did not have a close relationship, she never observed them arguing or exchanging harsh words.

She admitted that she and other family members used digital audio recorders to record their testimony to a Nelson County grand jury.

She said she was only trying to protect herself by keeping a record of what she said before the grand jury.

Houck’s defense team played part of a recording of her and Brooks Houck talking before going before the grand jury. McIlvoy can be heard saying that maybe it would be better not to record her statements to the grand jury, with Brooks telling her she needed to use the recorder when she spoke to the grand jury. In the end, she recorded her comments.

CELL PHONE EXPERT TESTIFIES FOR DEFENSE. Wednesday afternoon was spent with University of Louisville computer science professor Adrian Lauf, an expert in cellphone analysis for Houck’s defense team.

Lauf testified that his analysis of the cellphone and cell tower information assembled by the prosecution differed from the opinions of the prosecutor’s witnesses.

He said the information about signals and how the hit the cell towers was a reliable indicator of the approximate direction of the users’ cell phone. In his opinion, the cell data that prosecutors said showed Stephen Lawson on the Bluegrass Parkway to pick up his son, Joseph Lawson showed that Stephen Lawson was on Boston Road — not the parkway.

During cross-examination by Special Prosecutor Shane Young, Lauf was hit by his own statements regarding cell phone data he provided as evidence in an earlier legal case. Lauf repeatedly said the information from his prior legal case could not be applied to the analysis of the phone data in the Houck trial.

SEARCH AND RESCUE DOG EXPERT. Houck’s defense team had search and rescue expert Heath Farthing testify in an attempt to cast doubt on the abilities of Ranger, the K-9 that detected human remains in the trunk of a white Buick formerly owned by Houck’s grandmother, Anna Whitesides.

Farthing testified that since 9/11, certifying search dogs to locate missing people who are alive, and also locate human remains, is a practice that is frowned on.

During 9/11 recovery efforts, dual certified K-9 sometimes became confused regarding if they were searching for living victims or human remains.

He testified that he didn’t think the Ranger had the appropriate skills to detect human remains on the Houck family vehicle.

When pressed by prosecutors, Farthing admitted that despite his personal doubts, it was indeed possible for a dual-certified search dog like Ranger to correctly detect the scent of human remains on the white Buick.

DEFENSE CONCLUDES THURSDAY. Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III said he expect the defense to wrap up its case by the end of the day Thursday.

The trial will resume at 8:30 a.m. Central time with closing arguments prior to the jury beginning its deliberations.

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