BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) – Tommy Ballard was shot and killed on Nov. 19, 2016. For years, his death was a mystery.
But on the seventh anniversary of his death, we know that Nick Houck, a former Bardstown Police officer, is being investigated for his murder.
“Tommy was my strength, you know. He was just here for all of us,” said his wife Sherry Ballard as she recalled the day he was killed.
For Sherry Ballard, her world was turned upside down in an instant with a phone call.
“It's one phone call you never want to get in your life,” she said.
This call came from her 10-year-old grandson.
“He was crying. I couldn't understand him hardly and I remember him telling me Tommy had been shot,” she said.
The two were about to start hunting on family property early that morning when he was murdered. Sherry Ballad said knew right away his death had to be connected to the disappearance of their daughter, Crystal Rogers.
“Immediately when I got the phone call. As soon as Trenton got me on the phone, that's my first thought,” she said.
Tommy Ballard relentlessly searched for Crystal, even building his own investigation.
“He told the grandkids ... 'I will bring your mom home.' And I think he would have done that,” Sherry Ballard said.
Tommy Ballard was killed a year-and-a-half after Crystal went missing.
Eight years after being named the main suspect in her disappearance, her then-boyfriend, Brooks Houck, was charged with her murder. He's being held on a $10 million cash bond.
During Brooks Houck’s first court hearing in October, special prosecutor Shane Young revealed his brother, Nick Houck, is being investigated for the murder of Tommy Ballard.
It came as a shock to family.
“But I've always thought Nick Houck did this to my husband. From the minute I got that phone call,” Sherry Ballard said.
While she said her prayers for justice for Crystal and Tommy are starting to be answered, her heart still aches. The past seven years without her husband have felt like an eternity.
“But I would never want him to live through what I've lived through, so that gets me through that part of it,” Sherry Ballard said.
Related Stories:
- Prosecutors object to request by Brooks Houck's attorneys to remove judge for alleged bias
- Ky. Supreme Court says judge in Brooks Houck case should make initial ruling on disqualification motion
- Brooks Houck's attorneys ask for judge's disqualification, citing years of bias, contempt
- Attorneys for Brooks Houck ask Kentucky Court of Appeals to review bond ruling
- Brooks Houck's bond will remain at $10 million, Nelson County judge rules
- Looking back at Nick Houck's failed lie detector test in Crystal Rogers' case
- Brooks Houck's family is accused of secretly recording grand jury proceedings. Here's why they won't be charged for it.
- Prosecutor says state investigation into Brooks Houck connects his family to murder of Crystal Rogers' father
- Attorney for Brooks Houck requests $10 million bond be lowered to $500,000, GPS monitoring
- Brooks Houck charged in murder of former girlfriend Crystal Rogers, bond set at $10 million
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