LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Hundreds of pages of documents, pictures, text messages, cellphone records and other evidence collected in the Crystal Rogers murders case were made public Tuesday afternoon.
The evidence includes pictures inside and outside Rogers' car, which was found abandoned along the Bluegrass Parkway the night she disappeared on July 3, 2015, with her purse, phone and keys were left inside.
Also included is the statement Brooks Houck gave to police as to his whereabouts the day Rogers, his girlfriend, disappeared. The statement was perhaps the most damning evidence against Houck, who was found guilty of murder (principal or accomplice to the crime) and complicity tampering with physical evidence.
Houck claimed he went to the family farm for a little while but spent most of the day visiting businesses and working. During the trial, however, the owners of some of those businesses said they didn't see Houck, and one even said the office was closed.
And a detective testified Houck was actually at his family's farm from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 3, 2015, according to his analysis based on GPS, WiFi and cellular data stored in Google location records.
Houck's defense team didn't challenge this evidence. A surveillance video presented to jurors earlier in the trial also showed Houck's truck heading to his family farm during the day July 3.
Houck acknowledged he was with Rogers from about 7 p.m. until midnight on July 3, 2015, at the family farm. She was never seen again. He took her to his family's farm that rainy night on what was supposed to be a special date, according to her friends.
In his statement released Tuesday, Houck said he, Rogers and their toddler son, Eli, walked around the farm, fed the cows and lit a fire to warm up.
"We enjoy walking and Eli loves to be outside," Houck wrote. "Out there it is country not city where we live and work everyday. We go out there to get away."
After Rogers disappeared, police searched the cruiser of Nick Houck when he worked for the Bardstown Police Department. A blanket was found in the trunk, and audio accidentally recorded by Brooks Houck of him and Rosemary Houck talking about the search showed she was worried, asking Houck, "What about the blanket?"
Among the documents released Tuesday is a lab report showing no blood was found on the blanket or carpet inside the vehicle.
Other DNA results were included in the documents from women's underwear that contained hairs found under the driveway of a Bardstown house built by Brooks Houck's construction company. That property was the site of a search in August 2021.
The hair was excluded as coming from Rogers.
Last month, a Warren County jury found Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson guilty in the 2015 murder of Crystal Rogers and recommended the maximum prison sentences.
The jury of six men and six women found Houck, 43, guilty of murder (principal or accomplice to the crime) and complicity tampering with physical evidence.
Lawson, who was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, was found guilty on both charges as well. His father, Steve Lawson, was convicted of the same charges and sentenced to 17 years in prison in May.
The jury recommended maximum sentences for both men: life in prison plus five years for Houck and 25 years for Lawson. Both would have to serve 85% of their sentence before being eligible for parole.
A final sentencing hearing will be held Aug. 21.
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