Steve Lawson's mother expressed anger with him for his role in Crystal Rogers' murder

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WDRB) -- In damning jail phone calls played Thursday for jurors in the Steve Lawson trial, his mother and another person repeatedly criticized him for his role in the disappearance of Crystal Rogers.

While Lawson said he didn't have anything to do with her 2015 murder and didn't know where her body was, he did admit he knew Brooks Houck — Rogers' boyfriend — had talked about killing her. Lawson also agreed to help move her vehicle, according to the calls played on the third day of testimony.

"Why did you do it?" his mother asked him at one point during the Jan. 5, 2024, jail phone call.

"I don't know, momma," Lawson replied. "That's the truth."

Steve Lawson Trial Sketches

His mother also told Lawson he should have gone to police once he found out Rogers was missing.

"You're right," he said.

Rogers' mother, Sherry Ballard, cried as she listened to Lawson's mother's anger toward her son.

"Somebody has to know what happened to Rogers," Lawson's mother said. Rogers' body was never found, and she is presumed dead.

Lawson, who is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, has already admitted he is guilty of tampering, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He could face a maximum sentence of 20 years on the conspiracy charge.

But he has repeatedly denied any involvement in Rogers' murder.

"There was no premeditation on my end," Lawson said to another person in a Jan. 9, 2024, phone call. "I don't care what anybody says."

The person talking to Rogers said he "could have saved her."

"You knew for eight f****** years," the person said. "You could have saved that girl's life and you didn't even bother."

This was the third day of testimony in Lawson's trial, which was moved to Bowling Green because of the massive publicity over the last ten years in Nelson County.

Brooks Houck and Lawson's son, Joseph, are scheduled to stand trial in Bowling Green next month. Joseph Lawson is facing the same charges as his father. Houck is charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence.

The prosecution rested its case Thursday, and defense attorneys called one witness before the trial ended for the day. Two defense witnesses couldn't be present until Friday morning.

Closing arguments and jury deliberations are expected Friday.

Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five, was last seen alive July 3, 2015, during the Fourth of July weekend. Days later, her car was found abandoned — still running — on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway. Her purse and other belongings were inside.

Defense attorney Darren Wolff has already told the jury that Lawson is guilty of tampering with physical evidence for helping to move Rogers' car after she disappeared.

For the second straight day, jurors heard about a suspect in the case who has not been charged, Brooks Houck's brother, Nick. Under questioning from Wolff, a detective testified that the FBI had information that Nick Houck was involved and the detective interviewed him in 2015.

While Nick Houck denied involvement, Wolff then mentioned Houck took a polygraph test. The prosecution objected, as polygraph results are inadmissible in trials. (Nick Houck failed the polygraph.)

And while Nick Houck has never been charged, prosecutor Shane Young called him an "unindicted co-conspirator" Thursday.

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

After prosecutors rested their case, Wolff asked Nelson Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms III to dismiss the conspiracy charge, saying there was no evidence Lawson was involved in Rogers' murder.

But, Young argued Lawson was aware Brooks Houck wanted his girlfriend killed, having talked about it repeatedly and helped him "plan a ruse" by moving her car to make it seem as if she left on her own.

Simms denied the motion, ruling there was enough evidence for the jury to decide the verdict.

The defense put on one witness Thursday, a forensic DNA expert. The focus was on two hairs found in Rogers' vehicle that were never sent for DNA testing.

Detective Jon Snow, lead investigator on the case for the Nelson County Sheriff's Department, testified Wednesday that 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.

Young said the hairs weren't tested, in part, because they were too long and didn't match any of the suspects' hair.

The expert, Dr. Karl Reich, said it's impossible to say if the hairs had any evidentiary value until they're tested. But the defense said the hairs could have been put in a national database.

"If they were important, they should have been tested," Reich said.

Brooks Houck's brother and mother are suspects in Crystal Rogers' disappearance, prosecutor says

Steve Lawson had minor involvement in Crystal Rogers case, but didn't help in murder, attorney says