BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WDRB) -- On the second day of Steve Lawson's trial in the 2015 murder of Crystal Rogers, perhaps the most surprising moment had nothing to do with Lawson.
After defense attorneys criticized the investigation into Lawson, saying other suspects were ignored, special prosecutor Shane Young loudly informed the jury there are two other suspects: the mother and brother of Rogers' former boyfriend, Brooks Houck.
"We believe them to be involved," Young said of Rosemary and Nick Houck. Neither have been charged. Nick Houck is still under investigation.
Brooks Houck and Steve Lawson's son, Joseph, are scheduled to stand trial next month: Houck on complicity to murder and tampering with physical evidence and Joseph Lawson on conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Nick Houck was fired from the Bardstown Police Department in October 2015 for interfering with the investigation.
As day 2 of the Steve Lawson trial concludes, WDRB's Valerie Chinn and Jason Riley reveal what happened behind closed doors.
And Young told a judge in October 2023 that Nick Houck used a fake name to sell a gun to investigators that may have been used to kill Tommy Ballard, Rogers' father.
Rosemary Houck was previously accused by Young of secretly recording grand jury testimony, but charges weren't filed because the statute of limitations passed.
Steve Lawson's trial, moved from Nelson County to Bowling Green because of a massive amount of pre-trial publicity, moved quickly again Wednesday with the prosecution calling eight witnesses. The jury could begin deliberations by Friday.
An attorney for Lawson, Darren Wolff, has already told the jury that he is guilty of tampering with physical evidence for helping to move Rogers' car after she disappeared. But he has denied Lawson had any involvement in her murder. A conviction for tampering carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Wednesday, jurors heard Lawson's version of what happened through 2023 grand jury testimony. He testified three times that year: in May, June and September.
After initially denying any involvement in May, he spoke with the grand jury again in June and said a phone call he made after midnight the night Rogers disappeared was to tell Houck that Rogers car had been moved.
"The job is done," he told the grand jury he said to Houck.
Again in September, Lawson spoke to the grand jury and went into more detail, saying he had a conversation at some point before Rogers' disappearance with Houck during which Houck said he wanted his wife gone.
"To me, that means he wanted her deceased," he told the grand jury.
Steve Lawson told the grand jury he told Houck he was looking at the wrong person, meaning he didn't want to be involved. Lawson recommended Charlie Girdley, who also testified Wednesday as to the details of that conversation. Girdley "giggled" at his potential involvement, Steve Lawson told the grand jury.
On July 3, the day Rogers disappeared, Steve Lawson said he and his son, Joseph, picked up Rogers' car, according to audio of the grand jury testimony.
He said Joseph Lawson eventually drove it down the Bluegrass Parkway, where he was forced to abandon it with a flat tire.
Steve Lawson told the grand jury he came to pick his son up along the side of the road. But before they left, he reached into Rogers' car and moved the driver's seat forward — because Rogers was short — and removed a miniature Louisville Slugger bat his son carried around regularly.
Steve Lawson said he did all this for Houck because he "promised me work."
Several witnesses described Steve Lawson's comments and behavior around the time Rogers disappeared in early July 2015.
One of those witnesses was Elizabeth Chesser, who had a child with Joseph Lawson and whose mother was with Steve Lawson in 2017.
She testified she was living with her mother and Lawson when he told her he left his wife, Tammy, "because she knew he had committed murder and was going to tell on him." Tammy Lawson is deceased.
The defense pressed Chesser about previous drug use, her memory of 2017 and whether she'd spoken to prosecutors about her testimony prior to trial.
"That's nothing you forget," she replied.
Chesser said Joseph Lawson told her she'd "be next" if she said anything.
She told the jury she's testifying for Sherry Ballard, Rogers' mother. And she said she spoke with Ballard during a break in the trial, which prompted an objection from the defense.
After a discussion at the bench, Chesser was asked about the conversation and said Ballard thanked her for coming forward.
"I pray that this brings you peace but I doubt it will," Chesser said she told Ballard.
Chesser was later told by the judge not to talk to any family members.
Jurors, who are allowed to ask questions of witnesses, had several for Chesser, though the judge told them some were not allowed. The jury asked Chesser for the exact phrasing of what Lawson told her.
"She knew I had committed murder and was going to tell on me so I was leaving her," Chesser recalled.
The prosecution also called former employees of Houck, who had worked with Steve Lawson around the time Rogers disappeared.
Stacie Cranmer, who worked for Houck in 2015, told the jury she saw Houck and Steve Lawson driving around and later asked Steve Lawson what they were doing.
"'I got to take care of something,'" Cranmer said he told her. "'I got to take care of this girl. She has five kids and she's not doing real good.'"
Cranmer asked if that meant he was helping get her in rehab.
"No, I wish that was the case," Cranmer recalled Lawson saying.
Cranmer gave a similar statement in 2015 to police in Nelson County, but mentioned that Lawson said Rogers was on meth.
On cross-examination, Wolff asked her why it took her four months to come forward. She said she was scared by all the rumors at first, but eventually went in and gave her statement in October 2015.
"I hope someone would do it for me," Cranmer said. "I'm a mother of four."
At that point, after being asked about talking to prosecutors and watching documentaries about the disappearance, she became defensive.
"They have something to do with it — all of them," Cranmer said of Houck and the Lawsons.
The subject of Rogers' drug use came up Wednesday morning as well, and Wolff asked Cranmer if she had any idea if Rogers was on meth. Cranmer said she didn't think so and believed that meth "was an excuse to take care of this girl."
Melissa Dover, a crime and intelligence analyst with the Elizabethtown Police Department, took the stand to detail a slew of calls and text messages between the suspects in the hours and days after Rogers disappeared.
Dover said they recovered a deleted call from July 8 from Houck to Steve Lawson. She said there were numerous calls on the night Rogers disappeared between Joseph Lawson, Steve Lawson and Steve Lawson's former wife, Tammy. The calls began late July 3 and continued into the morning of July 4.
She read one text message exchange from July 17, 2015, about two weeks after Rogers disappeared:
Steve Lawson: "We'll talk but not over the phone. No text. A surprise is coming."
Joseph Lawson: "OK."
The defense repeatedly questioned the quality of the investigation, noting that hair found in Rogers' car was never tested for DNA.
Snow said tape lifts of the hair were collected and sent to Kentucky State Police for further analysis, but they opted not to go through with the testing because it would have destroyed the hair.
The defense said Rogers' vehicle was given back to her family in August 2015, just two months after it was found.
In 2017, the Oxygen Network hired someone to process the vehicle and found numerous items in the car, including a hairbrush belonging to Rogers.
Snow said on the stand Wednesday he was "unaware" of that. The defense then asked if someone else could have used that brush, including a possible suspect. Snow replied "it's possible."
"I didn't have that piece of evidence," he said.
The prosecution has three more witnesses and is expected to rest its case Thursday by lunch.
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