Deadly UPS plane crash, murder convictions in Crystal Rogers' case top WDRB News stories of 2025

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- This past year, WDRB News reported on the biggest stories and events across Kentucky and southern Indiana.

Here are the top 5 WDRB News stories of 2025:

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

Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson were found guilty on Tuesday, July 8, in the 2015 murder of Crystal Rogers.

Houck was convicted guilty of murder (principal or accomplice to the crime) and complicity of tampering with physical evidence. He was sentenced to life in prison.

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. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

His father, Steve Lawson, was convicted of the same charges and sentenced to 17 years in prison in May.

The 10-day trial, which began June 24, included more than 50 witnesses, testimony about cellphone data, experts on policing, surveillance videos and recorded interrogations, among other evidence.

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.

Louisville mother abducted with children shares harrowing bank robbery survival story

On Aug. 8, a Louisville woman was abducted from her home near The Oxmoor Center, along with her two children, before being forced to withdraw $20,000 from a local bank at knifepoint.

The suspect, Armond Langford, 32, was arrested later that day and faces multiple charges including robbery, kidnapping, and assault.

Jennifer Strong was making breakfast for her children when she heard her back door open twice. A man, later identified as Langford, entered her home armed with a knife.

Langford ordered Strong, her 11-year-old son, and her 7-year-old son into a car. Strong sat in the driver’s seat with her older son beside her, and Langford sat in the back with her younger son.

With a knife pressed to Strong’s throat, Langford demanded she drive to the PNC Bank on Shelbyville Road near Oxmoor Center.

When they got to the bank, Strong said Langford threatened the teller and demanded $20,000. The bank tellers spread the money on the ground. Langford grabbed the cash and fled but was arrested by police a few hours later.

Langford's next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 6 for a pretrial conference.

2 Louisville mothers shot and killed a day apart

Redaja Williams, 24, on Aug. 13 was shot multiple times and killed as she was walking her daughter to a bus stop in Louisville's Russell neighborhood.

Louisville Metro Police Chief Paul Humphrey said the shooting was targeted and happened about 8 a.m. at 10th and Chestnut streets, which is near the Chestnut Street Family YMCA, Coleridge-Taylor Montessori Elementary School, Central High School and several bus stops.

At the time, police said they were looking for a murder suspect that was described as a young Black male wearing a red hoodie sweatshirt and black sweatpants.

Louisville police said there were "several" children at the bus stop who witnessed what happened. There have been no arrests made in the death of Williams at this time.

Just a day later, Jermia Offutt, 28, was shot in the 4100 block of West Broadway and taken to UofL Hospital where she and her unborn son died. She was also a mother of three.

According to police, Offutt was a bystander and with her boyfriend in a parking lot at the time of the shooting.

Deonize Lee Jr. was arrested in October on charges of murdering four people in two years, including the death of Offutt.

UPS plane crashes while taking off from Louisville's airport, killing 14 people, injuring 23 others

Fourteen people, including three pilots, died and 23 others were injured after UPS Flight 2976 crashed trying to take off from Louisville's Airport.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11, built in 1991, went down around 5:15 p.m. Nov. 4 after its left wing caught fire. The plane was fully loaded with fuel for the nine-hour flight to Honolulu from UPS Worldport at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.

NTSB Preliminary report | Victims identified | What's next

The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report said the plane's left engine caught fire and detached during takeoff. In that report the agency's investigation revealed the part that secured the engine showed "fatigue cracks."

Investigators say the UPS plane got only 30 feet into the air before it crashed and burst into flames, hitting several businesses just south of the airport.

Several lawsuits against UPS, General Electric and Boeing are all pending and more than a month later cleanup continues and many businesses remain closed.

Eleven of the lives lost were customers and workers at Grade A Auto Parts.

The identifies of the 14 victims:

Capt. Dana Diamond, 62
Capt. Richard Wartenberg, 57
First Officer Lee Truitt, 45
Angela Anderson, 45
Carlos Fernandez, 52
Louisnes Fedon, 47
Kimberly Asa, 3 (granddaughter of Louisnes Fedon)
Trinadette "Trina" Chavez, 37
Tony Crain, 65
John Loucks, 52
John Spray Jr., 45
Matthew Sweets, 37
Ella Petty Whorton, 31
Megan Washburn, 35

All 1,600 Kentucky battery plant employees laid off as Ford pivots away from EV business

BlueOval SK announced on Dec. 15 it will lay off all 1,600 workers at its battery manufacturing facility in Glendale as Ford continues to scale back its electric vehicle strategy.

The Glendale plant is part of BlueOval SK, a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and South Korea–based battery maker SK On.

The project was announced in 2021 as a cornerstone of Kentucky's push into EV manufacturing, backed by billions of dollars in private investment and hundreds of millions in state incentives.

In a recorded message to employees, BlueOval SK CEO Michael Adams confirmed the layoffs, saying the company is eliminating all Kentucky-based positions as it shifts away from EV battery production.

Ford said it plans to retool the Glendale facility and eventually hire 2,100 workers, though the company has not provided a timeline for when those jobs would become available or whether current employees would be prioritized.

Ford said it will take a $19.5 billion hit to profits as it pulls back from its EV business, citing slower-than-expected consumer demand and higher production costs.