LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A hair found in the trunk of a white Buick belonging to Brooks Houck's grandmother "appeared to be similar to" Crystal Rogers' hair, according to a document from 2016 that was released by prosecutors Thursday. 

Previous court documents have indicated a private investigator found that a white Buick was parked in a peculiar location at the Houck family farm the night Rogers disappeared.

An attorney for Anna Whitesides previously confirmed to WDRB that she owned a white Buick when the mother of five disappeared, but sold it a short time later. 

Whitesides, who has since died, was never charged in connection to Rogers' disappearance.

The hair was sent for testing — and the hair was consumed — but the FBI was unable to develop a DNA profile from it, according to special prosecutor Shane Young. 

Also on Thursday, court documents showed hairs taken from Rogers' car after her disappearance in 2015 were not similar to Rogers’ hair and need to undergo further DNA testing, a prosecutor wrote in a court motion.

The KSP Lab told prosecutors in 2016 that it had two hairs taken from Rogers' car after her disappearance. The hairs were inspected by the lab and it was determined they were "not similar" in characteristics to Rogers' hair, according to court records. 

On Wednesday, Nelson County Judge Charles Simms III ordered the hairs to undergo testing by a private laboratory, at the expense of the prosecution. It is expected to take about a month to complete the testing.

It was listed as an "agreed" order between the parties involved. 

But Young later sent a motion, released to the media Thursday, that the attorney for Steve Lawson, one of the three men charged in the murder of Rogers, has "not agreed to the testing of the hairs."

So the prosecution has requested a hearing on April 3 to ask the judge to continue ahead with the testing.

Young also requested that Steve Lawson provide a cheek swab to compare DNA with the hairs.

An attorney for Steve Lawson did not immediately return a phone message. 

The judge’s 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.

Steve Lawson 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 May 27.

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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