LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky State Police Lab told prosecutors in 2016 that it had two hairs taken from Crystal Rogers' car after her disappearance. However, they were never tested for a DNA profile.

Finally, about a decade after Rogers disappeared, a judge ordered the hairs be tested by a private laboratory, according to a two-page order Wednesday from Nelson County Judge Charles Simms III.

The order is vague about why the hairs were not tested in 2016, saying only that prosecutors were notified by the KSP lab about the hairs but an order allowing testing of the hairs was never issued.

The state will pay for the testing, given it is a private lab. The KSP lab doesn't charge for testing but has an enormous backlog where results can take months or even years.

Steve Lawson, one of three men charged in the Rogers murder case, has told investigators both he and his son were in Rogers' vehicle after she disappeared in July 2015. He said his son, Joseph Lawson, "drove Crystal's vehicle west on the Bluegrass (Parkway) to, I believe it was Mile Marker 14 or 16, where he had a flat tire."

His former attorney said Steve Lawson picked his son up and also removed a miniature Louisville Slugger bat from the vehicle.

Rogers was last seen with her boyfriend, Brooks Houck, during the Fourth of July weekend in 2015. Her car was left running on the side of Bluegrass Parkway with her purse still inside. She's presumed dead, but her body was never found.

It is unclear if the testing will delay the trials for Houck and the Lawsons.

Steve Lawson is scheduled to stand trial in Warren County in May, with Houck and Joseph Lawson set for June.

Both trials were moved out of Nelson County because of the massive amount of publicity surrounding the case.

The prosecution and defense attorneys in the case declined to comment.

Joseph Lawson pleaded not guilty in September 2023 to criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence in the Rogers case. He is not charged with Rogers' murder, but prosecutors instead charged him with conspiracy, meaning they believe he was involved in some fashion with whomever killed Rogers.

The maximum sentence for the conspiracy charge is 10-20 years in prison.

In addition, the indictment charges Joseph Lawson with complicity to tampering with physical evidence when he "destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed or altered physical evidence." The maximum penalty for that charge is one to five years in prison.

Steve Lawson, according to a Dec. 6, 2023, Nelson County indictment, agreed to "aid one or more persons in the planning or commission" of the death of another and then "destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed" or altered physical evidence on July 3 or July 4, 2015, when Rogers disappeared.

Houck's indictment accused him of "acting alone or in complicity with another" committing the offense of murder of Rogers. He's also charged with tampering when he "destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed or altered" physical evidence, according to the indictment.

This story may be updated.

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