Brooks Houck tells family in jail phone calls he's 'gonna die in here'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Brooks Houck can be heard on newly released phone calls from jail in the days after his conviction talking with family members and coordinating a selloff of his Nelson County property.

Last week, a judge filed a temporary injunction prohibiting Houck from selling any of his property or businesses after transcripts of jail phone calls showed he's tried to shield his assets to avoid payment in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Judge Charles Simms III, who presided over the 10-day trial in which Houck was convicted in the 2015 murder or Crystal Rogers, ordered Houck not to transfer any property until at least after an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Oct. 8.

In a bond hearing before the trial, it was referenced Houck had about $8.5 million is assets, which could be targeted in a civil settlement as a wrongful death civil case is still pending. But a WDRB analysis of property records show that number could actually be much higher.

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed against Houck by four of Rogers' children and her mother, Sherry Ballard, in December 2023. It's been pending since then while the criminal trials took place in Bowling Green.

On July 17, the attorney representing the Ballard family, Gregory Smith, filed a motion in Nelson Circuit Court alleging that, following Houck's July 8 conviction, he made multiple jail phone calls, including one to his girlfriend, Crystal Maupin, saying "We'll try to figure out how we can sell this stuff."

The two discussed selling property and unfinished homes, according to the motion and transcripts of the phone calls.

"You know, because we're on that civil case is what's coming next," Houck told Maupin, according to a jail phone call transcript in court documents. "... You know, so they're going to take everything. They're going to take everything that I've got. So go ahead and try to get what you can for it."

In other calls to his sister, Rhonda McIlvoy, according to the motion, Houck told her "All of it needs to go," speaking of equipment and trailers, among other assets.

"Best thing you can do is just get familiar with all that stuff and see how (her husband, Alex McIlvoy) wants to mark it, that stuff to get sold," Houck said in the audio recording. "I've got one trailer inside that white barn that will sell really, should sell really good. It all needs to go, all of it needs to go. Just try to, I don't know what the best way to, if y'all need to take pictures and put it on the internet, you talk with Alex about that, see how he wants to do it."

In another call, Houck tells family members the names of people they can see to help or who might be interested in buying some of the items he lists off.

"Talk to Terry and see if he's got some investors that want to buy some stuff and if he does wanna try and put some, group some stuff together. But what I was going to say is hey there's a person, Shawn, he's got the ability to buy several things and if somebody's going to get a good deal, I would prefer for it to be him and really what you ought to do is don't run that through Terry. Crystal knows how to get ahold of him, we can deal with him without a realtor and kind of go from there first and foremost OK? ... And Crystal will know what to do, and get some groups together to kind of go from there OK?

"You know all the stuff down there at the barn, that equipment, dump trucks and trailers, that backhoe and that sky track, you know Alex can look all that stuff up on YouTube or on Facebook. You know he'll, he knows how to run the sky track anyway, but he can look that stuff up and see what it's worth. I'd like to go ahead and sell that.

"What I'm trying to do is get ahead for any expenses or stuff that you are going to have or that Eli is going to have. I wanna get all that equipment stuff out there. If Alex needs help, try to get Mark to help him with that. Do you think you can get that done? ... You know and see if Mark knows anyone that wants to buy any of that stuff because that backhoe would probably be the first thing that somebody's gonna want. But see if Mark can help, help get some of that stuff sold. You know all that stuff out there, even those, you know you probably ought to keep that white truck just in case you need a truck, but other than that right there, sell everything that you can out there. It's not going to do us any good. And I told my mom to get in touch with you, that you would know how to get in touch with Shawn and Kelly ... where they have done purchased a few properties from us, I would prefer to get them a good deal over anyone else."

Brooks Houck calls brother, Nick Houck: 'I'm gonna die in here'

Other recordings include calls with the son Houck shares with Rogers, calls with his mother, Rosemary Houck, and sister, as well as a call the day of his conviction with his brother, Nick Houck.

Brooks Houck: "How are ya?"

Nick Houck: "I mean, I guess as to be expected..."

BH: "And I understand that ... of course this is hard to process. I struggle. I can't really even believe what's happening, you know? I felt good going in there, you know? The best that I could given the circumstances and the situation and all but I just can't believe that I misread things like I did, you know? I guess we all did that, you know?"

NH: "Yeah, I don't know what happened. I'm just, it's going to take several days, several weeks to even start to comprehend this."

BH: "Yes, because, listen, the course, the journey that my life has taken has completely turned around today, you understand that? After a jury speaks like they did, you know, that's a permanent decision."

NH: "You're gonna come up with a lot of other things you need done, and we're gonna be there for you, Brooks."

BH: "And there's a good chance that I'm gonna die in here. You understand that?"

NH: "I don't even want to think like that."

BH: "I'm just telling you. I'm just being realistic. Things do not look good."

NH: "You know, I'm happy you're just not on the floor at all. It's gonna take me a long time to even come to terms ... this is like a dream, you know?"

BH: "Well, it's not, you know? It's real."

Prosecutors have said both Rosemary and Nick Houck are "unindicted coconspirators" in the murder of Rogers. Neither have been charged.

Now that Brooks Houck has been convicted, the civil attorney for the Ballard family is arguing that a trial is only necessary to determine how much he should pay in damages. On July 8, a Warren County Circuit Court jury found Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson guilty in the 2015 murder of Crystal Rogers and recommended the maximum prison sentences.

The trial was moved out of Nelson County because of the massive amount of media coverage over the past decade.

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.

His co-defendant, 34-year-old Joseph 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.

Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five from Nelson County, was last seen alive during the Fourth of July weekend in 2015 with her boyfriend, Houck. Days later, her car was found abandoned — still running — on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway. Her purse and other belongings were inside. Despite years of searching, she's never been found.

While there was no physical evidence, such as a body, murder weapon, crime scene or witness, the prosecution hammered Houck's actions in the days before and after Rogers' disappeared.

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.

This story may be updated.

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