Prosecution in Crystal Rogers murder trial tells jury Brooks Houck's brother, mother were involved

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WDRB) -- The second day of the Crystal Rogers murder trial began with the prosecution laying the blame for her death not just on defendants Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson but members of the Houck family as well.

Prosecutor Jim Lesousky used much of his opening statement to concentrate on the alleged roles Brooks Houck's mother and brother played in conspiring to help kill Rogers in 2015, despite the fact that neither has been charged.

In the weeks before Rogers vanished on July 3, 2015, Rosemary Houck, Brooks' mother, talked to a man named Danny Singleton, who worked for her son, and asked if he would find someone to "get rid of Crystal," Lesousky said.

Singleton said "with enough money, you can get anything done," Lesousky claimed.

"That was the beginning of the conspiracy to kill Crystal," he told the jury.

Lesousky said Rosemary Houck and Rogers did not get along, and she also told someone Rogers "won't be around anymore" and "we'll raise (their child) up right." Rogers and Brooks Houck had a young boy together.

After Rogers disappeared, police searched the cruiser of Nick Houck, Brooks' brother, when he worked for the Bardstown Police Department.

Lesousky said jurors would hear a recorded conversation with Brooks and Rosemary Houck talking about the search, in which a worried Rosemary Houck asked "What about the blanket?"

"Why would they be concerned about a blanket?" in Nick Houck's vehicle, Lesousky asked the jury. He said Rosemary and Nick Houck are considered co-conspirators but haven't been arrested "at this point."

And Nick Houck, despite being a police officer, had his phone turned off the entire weekend when Rogers vanished, Lesousky said.

Nick Houck was fired from the Bardstown Police Department in October 2015 for interfering with the investigation.

Lesousky also accused several members of the Houck family — including Nick and Rosemary Houck — of recording court proceedings as they gave their testimony before a grand jury. Some of the recordings were found in Nick and Rosemary's home.

"They wanted to make sure everyone toed the line," Lesousky said.

Rosemary Houck has not been in the courtroom for the trial despite showing up at several pre-trial hearings.

As for Brooks Houck, the prosecution said he has no alibi for several hours the day of July 3, 2015, when Rogers disappeared. Lesousky told jurors Brooks Houck called Rogers earlier that day and said they should have a romantic, kid-free evening.

Instead, at about 7 p.m., he said Brooks Houck drove Rogers and their young son to the Houck family farm. They stayed until about midnight, when Brooks Houck's vehicle was seen by surveillance videos heading back to their home.

"She was on that farm and that's where she passed," Lesousky said, adding Brooks Houck put dark window tint on his truck days before Rogers' disappearance. "She wasn't in that truck. She wasn't going home with him."

A couple of days after Rogers was last seen alive, her car was found abandoned — still running — on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway. Her purse and other belongings were inside.

Houck, 43, is charged with complicity to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, and faces up to 25 years to life in prison. Joseph Lawson is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, facing up to 25 years behind bars.

The defense criticized the investigation and poked holes in the alleged involvement of not only the Houck family and Joseph Lawson, but, in a surprising move, of Lawson's dad, Steve, as well.

Steve Lawson, 54, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence on May 30 for his role in Rogers' slaying. He faces a recommended sentence of 17 years when he is sentenced Aug. 6.

In fact, during his trial, Steve Lawson acknowledged he was guilty of tampering with physical evidence for helping his son move Rogers' vehicle after she disappeared. Joseph Lawson drove Rogers' car, and his father picked him up when the vehicle had a flat tire, leaving it on the side of Bluegrass Parkway, he testified.

Before they left, Steve Lawson said 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. At his son's urging, he called Brooks Houck at about midnight and told him the job was done, Steve Lawson said.

Since he was tried separately, Steve Lawson's testimony will not be allowed to be shown to jurors in this trial. The defense is trying to clear the Lawsons of wrongdoing at least in part because they tie Houck to Rogers' disappearance.

Defense attorney Steve Schroering said the Lawsons' alleged movement of the car is the prosecution's "lynchpin" in the Houck case, but evidence will show investigators were wrong and they had no involvement.

Steve Lawson went to get a car taken by his ex-girlfriend that night, which was near where Rogers' vehicle was abandoned, but he was on a different parallel road, Schroering said.

The cell towers on the Bluegrass Parkway, where Rogers' vehicle was found, were the closest towers, he added.

This defense wasn't brought up in Steve Lawson's trial.

"The scientific evidence in this case is overwhelming," Schroering said while showing a map of towers were Steve Lawson's phone had pinged that night.

Schroering told the jury Brooks Houck's home was searched multiple times, along with the Houck farm, some of his business sites and Rogers' car. No evidence was ever found, he said.

"Absolutely no signs of Crystal Rogers' body," he told jurors. "No evidence how she was killed."

Schroering also said the claims made against Houck and his family were not put into proper context by the prosecution.

For example:

Schroering said Singleton, who claims Rosemary Houck asked him about getting rid of Rogers, had been in jail and had his felony amended to a misdemeanor so he could go free after giving police that information.
As for the recorded conversation about the blanket found in Nick Houck's police cruiser, Schroering said the family was under intense scrutiny, and Rosemary Houck was worried anything found on the blanket would give police more reason to suspect them in the case. Schroering said the blanket was Brooks Houck's, but it was tested and no evidence was found.
Schroering told jurors Brooks Houck's windows were tinted not long before Rogers' disappearance because Brooks Houck' and Rogers' son had an eye condition which made him sensitive to light.
Houck didn't say Rogers was definitely playing games on her phone the night she disappeared, but that that's what she typically did before bed, Schroering told jurors.
Nick Houck had turned his phone off that weekend because he was fighting with his girlfriend and that's what he would normally do when the two weren't getting along.

"If you look from a sinister view, you will get a sinister answer," Schroering said.

The defense also pointed out that despite a 10-year investigation, the prosecution has "no sign of Crystal Rogers' body, no murder weapon, no eyewitnesses and no crime scene."

Schroering said the case presented by the prosecution is built on “assumptions, theories and guesses” and reinforced with coerced witness statements.

Attorneys for Joseph Lawson reserved their openings, which means they will likely wait until after the prosecution finishes their case.

The prosecution has acknowledged their case is circumstantial, calling it a "no body homicide," but asked that jurors use commonsense and see how the evidence shows Houck was responsible for the murder of Rogers.

Sketches of Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson's Trial

The prosecution's first witness Wednesday was Kyleigh Fenwick, Rogers' 24-year-old daughter who was was 14 when her mom disappeared.

Fenwick described her mom as her best friend and said they were very close. She added she had a good relationship with Houck as well, who she said even talked about adopting her.

But that all changed, Fenwick testified, when Rogers gave birth to Eli, her son with Houck.

The night of July 4, 2015, Fenwick said she came back home from her grandmother's needing a dress for church. She opened the door to Houck and Rogers' bedroom and asked Houck where her mom was. Fenwick said he told her Rogers was "out with Sabrina," a family member.

The next day, Rogers was reported missing by the family.

Jon Snow, the lead detective for the case when he was with the Nelson County Sheriff's Office, was the last person to testify Wednesday.

He told the jury Houck and Rogers went to the family farm July 3, 2015, from about 7:30-11:30 p.m. and then went home. Brooks Houck told Snow in a July 5, 2015, interview — which was played for the jurors — Rogers stayed up late with their young son after they got home from the farm and she usually played games on her phone before bed.

Around midnight the night of Rogers' disappearance, Lesousky said Brooks Houck had a 13-second phone call with Steve Lawson. Steve and Joseph Lawson "admitted to moving that car for money," Lesousky told the jury.

Snow said Houck told him when he woke up July 4, his son was in bed with him, and Rogers was gone. Snow testified a neighbor told police they noticed Rogers' car was gone at 6:30 a.m. July 4.

Houck never reported Rogers missing, Snow said.

Asked by prosecutor Shane Young if he found anything odd about Houck's initial interview July 5, Snow said "it was a little unusual he didn't report her missing."

Police checked Rogers' car for DNA and hair samples and submitted what they found to the Kentucky State Police lab. Snow said no evidence came back proving who'd been driving the car.

The jury was also shown surveillance video from businesses and houses showing Houck driving to the farm around 7 p.m. the night Rogers went missing and leaving just before midnight.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys alike have previously used these surveillance snapshots to offer a timeline of Houck's actions that night.

Young asked Snow if Houck's story was "pretty consistent" in the July 5 interview, and Snow said it was.

Judge Charles Simms III then sent the jury home for the day, because the next interview Snow did with Houck on July 8, 2015, lasts for about 90 minutes.

Snow's testimony will resume with that video at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.