Brooks Houck's mother used burner phone when Crystal Rogers was killed, state claims

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Newly unsealed court documents claim Brooks Houck's mother didn't use her cellphone between June 16 and Aug. 4, 2015, indicating she was using a different phone around the time Crystal Rogers was murdered.

The new evidence came Tuesday, one week after Houck and Joseph Lawson were found guilty in Crystal Rogers' murder. In the documents, the state filed a motion to make the judge aware it planned to claim Rosemary and Nick Houck — Brooks' Houck's mother and brother — were part of the conspiracy to kill Rogers.

Prosecutor Shane Young claimed throughout the trial the two were "unindicted co-conspirators" but the state's argument in sealed documents went a step further, saying both Houcks were part of the conspiracy to kill Rogers.

One new piece of evidence is Rosemary Houck's cellphone, which didn't come up in the trial. The state argued in the documents her phone, obtained by a search warrant, "shows no activity between June 16, 2015, and August 4, 2015. This would indicate that Rosemary was using a different phone during the period of Crystal's murder and that communications on that phone were never obtained by law enforcement."

The state says Rosemary Houck asked Danny Singleton, who worked for Brooks Houck, if he knew someone who could "get rid of Crystal Rogers." A witness testified to a grand jury that Rosemary Houck "seemed to take pleasure in Crystal's disappearance" and was overheard saying Rogers should have disappeared long before she did and that "now that she is gone, the child would be raised right" — a reference to Eli, the child Rogers shared with Brooks Houck.

"A preponderance of the evidence indicates Rosemary Houck was a participant with Brooks Houck in the conspiracy and that her request to (Danny Singleton) to find someone to kill Crystal Rogers was a statement made in the furtherance of the conspiracy."

The documents, released by Nelson Circuit Court, detail several transcripts of grand jury testimony from Houck, members of his family and Steve Lawson, who was earlier found guilty for his part in the case. Much of the information from those transcripts was covered in the three-week trial in Bowling Green.

Nick Houck is also mentioned in the documents, with the state preparing the judge for the introduction of testimony that he turned off his phone for more than 24 hours before and after Rogers disappeared and didn't come home that night, something his girlfriend said was unusual. The state also said Nick Houck called his brother during a police interview to tell him to stop talking to investigators.

"What can be heard by Brooks repeating the statements that Nick said to him on the phone is that Nick is telling him to get out of the interview," the state claims. "After that, Nick told police in an interview that he called because Brooks was a cooperative guy, and he wanted to make sure Brooks protected himself. In 2023 when he testified in the grand jury, Nick stated that he called Brooks during the interview because he needed help from Brooks moving some larger items."

The state also claimed one of the recorders used by the Houck family unearthed audio of Brooks Houck telling his sister, Rhonda McIlvoy, she needed to take the record into her grand jury interview because Nick would want to hear the testimony."

"Nick's absence and unknown whereabouts on the night of Crystal's murder as well as actions in trying to control the statements of witnesses is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that Nick was part of the conspiracy to murder Crystal Rogers," the state claimed in the documents. "His lack of ability to recall events of that date, even when questioned immediately following the murder, are additional evidence of his participation. As there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate Nick Houck was a co-conspirator in the murder of Crystal Rogers, his actions surrounding that murder are relevant in this case."

This story may be updated.

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