BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- Prosecutor Shane Young told a Nelson County judge Thursday that the investigation into the murder of Crystal Rogers is also an investigation into the death of her father, Tommy Ballard.

Brooks Houck was arraigned in Bardstown on Thursday in the first hearing since he was arrested last month and charged with the death of Rogers, his former girlfriend and the mother of his 10-year-old son, who went missing in 2015. 

Less than 18 months after Rogers went missing, Ballard was shot and killed in November 2016 while hunting with his grandson on family property in Nelson County. The case has also long gone unsolved, but Young argued Thursday there is a link between the Houck family and Ballard's death.

As part of a hearing on a motion to lower Houck's $10 million bond, Young told Judge Charles Simms III that, during the state's investigation, a rifle was purchased from Nick Houck, Brook's brother, who was using a fake name. Young said it's the same caliber as the gun used in Ballard's death and so far matches four of the five criteria they were looking at in comparison.

"We are investigating the murder of Tommy Ballard that could potentially be related," Young said during the hearing. "We are waiting for testing to come back on the gun that we believe was used to murder Tommy Ballard."

The FBI has said it's still awaiting test results in its investigation of Ballard's death. Nick Houck was not among the members of the Houck family in the courtroom Thursday. 

Young also said that Houck's family members — including Nick Houck, his mother and sister — secretly recorded grand jury proceedings, which are supposed to be secret, when they were testifying shortly after the murder.  

"The question is why?" Young said, adding that he's never seen anyone do that before. "I think everyone in this courtroom knows why: to make sure everyone's stories is consistent."

Houck's family left the courtroom without commenting on the hearing.

Brooks Houck's attorney, Brian Butler, told the judge an investigation into Nick Houck has nothing to do with the bond in the Crystal Rogers case. 

"I don't know anything about that case," Butler said. "I'm not Nick Houck's attorney. But we don't set bonds on one family member based upon speculation that another family member may have done something wrong."

While Young suggested the prosecution could be ready for trial by next summer, Butler said that a trial next year would be very unlikely, in part given the amount of evidence collected over the last eight years. 

Young, who is the Hardin County Commonwealth's Attorney but is prosecuting the case as a special assistant for the Attorney General's office, told the judge the prosecution has more than a terabyte of evidence, including thousands of documents, videos, audio, pictures and grand jury testimony. 

Simms set the next hearing date for February. Simms said he will take the bond motion issue under submission.

Butler spent much of the hearing arguing for a reduction in the bond, telling the judge he has "never heard of a bond even close to this." 

He requested the bond be set at $500,000 with GPS monitoring if the request is granted and Houck is released on home incarceration.

In a motion filed in Nelson Circuit Court, Butler argued that $10 million is "excessive, punitive, and serves no purpose other than to punish Mr. Houck by keeping him incarcerated while this is pending."

Butler contends that a bail that high is contrary to the constitution and Kentucky legal precedent, arguing bond is not supposed to be used as a punishment but a way to protect people from those deemed dangerous and guarantee defendants show up for court.

He noted that Houck has cooperated with investigators since his former girlfriend disappeared, agreed to interviews with police and submitted to a polygraph examination. The polygraph was deemed inconclusive but "did not show deception" when Houck denied wrongdoing relating to Rogers' disappearance, according to the motion.

Young said some members of the grand jury who indicted Houck for murder wanted the bond to be double the $10 million. And he argued that Houck is a multimillionaire who owns a construction company and 74 rental properties. 

Houck has "vast resources," Young argued. "It is a fair bond." 

During the hearing in which he appeared on video, Houck officially pleaded not guilty. He's being held at the Hardin County jail.

Houck was identified as the primary suspect in the Rogers case days after she went missing July 2015. He now faces charges of murder and tampering with physical evidence.

Houck was indicted by a Nelson County grand jury Sept. 20, and the indictment was unsealed on Sept. 27, with certain portions redacted.

Rogers was last seen on July 3, 2015. The next day, her car was found on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway with her purse, phone and keys still inside. But there was no sign of the mother of five.

After eight years of investigation, Houck is the second person arrested in Rogers' disappearance. Nelson County resident Joseph L. Lawson pleaded not guilty last month to conspiracy to commit murder in Rogers' case.

The Lawson indictment, which does not mention Rogers by name, says the crime was committed in Nelson County on July 3 and/or July 4, 2015, when Lawson "agreed to aid one or more persons in the planning or commission of the crime or an attempt or solicitation to commit the crime when he, and/or, a co-conspirator intentionally caused the death of another." The maximum sentence for the conspiracy charge is 10-20 years in prison.

Attorney Kevin Coleman, who represents Lawson, has declined to discuss specifics of his case.

Over the years, the Houck family farm, the homes of Brooks Houck and his brother, Nick, have been searched multiple times, along with a storage unit belonging to Rogers. In 2021, the driveway of a home built by Houck was ripped up by the FBI. And, most recently, in 2022, the FBI was back at the Houck farm for a five-day search.

Evidence collected during the search was sent to the agency's lab in Quantico, Virginia.

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