Tommy Ballard's brother still '100% certain' Houck family was involved in his 2016 murder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- He led an unyielding search for his missing daughter for more than a year until he became a murder victim himself.

Tommy Ballard spent the last 18 months of his life searching for his daughter, Crystal Rogers, a mother of five who disappeared in July 2015 from Bardstown, Kentucky.

But just 18 months after her disappearance, Ballard was shot and killed in November 2016 while hunting with his grandson on family property in Nelson County.

To this day, Rogers, 35, hasn't been found. And as the search for her continues so does the search for answers in her father's death.

But the three recent convictions in the Rogers murder case brought renewed hope and a reignited push for justice in the Ballard case.

Investigators believe the single gunshot that killed Ballard came from a wooded area near the Bluegrass Parkway, the same road Rogers' vehicle was found abandoned, still running, with her purse and other belongings still inside in the days after her disappearance.

"One hundred percent not an accident, but 100% my brother was murdered," Mike Ballard said Wednesday, standing just feet from where his brother was shot and killed on their family farm.

Nearly nine years since his death, there have been no arrests in the Ballard case. When asked if he thought his brother was getting too close to answers in Rogers' disappearance, Mike Ballard said "absolutely."

"He lived it. Dreamed it. He never stopped searching, and I think they knew it," he said, adding that his brother suspected he was being watched. "I believe he had told his wife the week before that he felt like he was being followed by somebody."

After Rogers disappeared in 2015, Tommy Ballard made it his mission to find her. But one year later, that mission ended abruptly when he was shot and killed.

Although the FBI has since ruled his death a homicide, police initially called it a hunting accident — something the Ballard family didn't buy from the beginning.

"We never thought for one second that it was a hunting accident. We were 100% certain that it was a homicide," Mike Ballard said. "That's just the way we felt. We still feel that way. Never thought it was any hunting accident."

The Ballards are also very direct about who they believe is responsible for Tommy Ballard's death.

"There's no doubt in my mind the Houck family is responsible," Mike Ballard said. "Nothing has ever changed my mind about that."

Brooks Houck, 43, was Rogers' boyfriend at the time of her 2015 disappearance and the father of her youngest child. He quickly became the main suspect in her disappearance, but wasn't indicted in the case until September 2023. Prosecutors alleged he conspired to kill Rogers, then worked closely with others to cover it up.

The Ballard family has long said they believed Houck was involved. Last week, he was found guilty by a jury in Warren County of murder (principal or accomplice to the crime) and complicity tampering with physical evidence. The jury recommended the maximum sentence for him, life in prison plus five years.

While no one has been indicted or convicted in Tommy Ballard's murder, the arrests and convictions in the Rogers case unveiled more details in the Ballard investigation and who investigators are looking into.

During a court hearing on a motion to lower Houck's $10 million bond the month after his arrest, prosecutor Shane Young told a Nelson County judge the investigation into Rogers' murder is also an investigation into Tommy Ballard's death.

Young told the judge that, during the state's investigation, a rifle was purchased from Nick Houck, Brooks Houck's brother, who was using a fake name. Young said it's the same caliber as the gun used in Tommy Ballard's death and, as of October 2023, matched four of the five criteria they were looking at in comparison.

"There's no doubt in my mind the family is responsible, 100%," Mike Ballard said. "I don't believe anything different."

Investigators are waiting on testing to come back from that rifle, which they said was purchased by undercover investigators.

For weeks, the Ballards sat through every moment of two high-profile murder trials in the Rogers case — Brooks Houck and his alleged co-conspirator Joseph Lawson, and Joseph Lawson's father, Steve Lawson. While all three were convicted, the family still doesn't have closure.

While they continue waiting, the Ballards are shifting their focus to finding answers in Tommy Ballard's death.

Tommy Ballard reward offered sign.jpg — In 2025, the Ballard family more than doubled their reward for information in Tommy Ballard's murder to $50,000 of their own money. The FBI has also renewed its call for tips, a signal the case is not forgotten. *(WDRB photo/July 17, 2025)*

"So now that the FBI has done what they've done, it's opened us back up to that and we're raising our reward as far as that goes," Mike Ballard said.

This year, the Ballards more than doubled the reward for information to $50,000 of their own money. The FBI has also renewed its call for tips, a signal the case is not forgotten.

"It felt good seeing that," Mike Ballard said. "They're still on it, and we're still on it too."

The recent convictions in Rogers' disappearance brought tears and some sense of relief but they didn't bring the closure the family has been looking for.

"I feel really good about the conviction on all three of them, that's for sure," Mike Ballard said. "But I know we've got a little bit of a waiting period to go through that process, and we'll see how that goes and go from there."

Mike Ballard said someone out there knows the truth and now, more than ever, the family needs them to speak up.

"Even if it seems small, something you saw, something you heard ... just come forward," he said. "You never know what could be the piece that breaks it wide open."

From the farm where Tommy Ballard fell and took his last breath, a memorial still stands along with a family still standing and searching for Rogers as well as answers about Tommy Ballard's death.

"I'm never going to have peace until Crystal's remains are found, and there's an arrest in Tommy's case," Mike Ballard said.

While the family continues searching for Rogers, Mike Ballard said he believes the three men convicted in the case could, and should, provide answers.

"One hundred percent, yes, I do," he said. "I mean I feel like that all of them should man up and tell what they know. Do I think that's going to happen? Probably not."

Anyone with information about the Ballard case is asked to call the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or contact your local FBI office.

Guilty verdicts in Crystal Rogers murder trial prompt emotional homecoming in Bardstown

Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson found guilty of all charges in Crystal Rogers' murder

Court documents reveal new details about rifle that may have been used to kill Tommy Ballard

Prosecutor says state investigation into Brooks Houck connects his family to murder of Crystal Rogers' father