LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Recent searches by federal agents of Nelson County properties in connection to the 2015 disappearance of Crystal Rogers did not find much and is not expected to include new evidence in the murder trial, a prosecutor said Friday. 

In a hearing initially focused on whether to separate the trials for Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson and Steve Lawson, prosecutor Shane Young was asked by the judge whether the searches in early September would produce more evidence in the case.

"No, sir, not much," Young told Judge Chares Simms III.

Simms did not make a ruling on whether the three men will be tried together or separately in Warren County next year, taking motions provided by the defense under submission. 

Federal agents began searching two Nelson County properties last month on Whitesides Road, which were both once owned by family members of Houck.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation would not provide the exact location of the search, but it was conducted on properties once owned by Anna Whitesides, Houck's grandmother, and Nick Houck, his brother, as recently as 2018, Nelson County PVA records show.

FBI Crystal Rogers Search

Federal agents search a Nelson County property in connection to the disappearance of Crystal Rogers in 2015. Sept. 5, 2024. (WDRB Photo)

Both properties were in the Houck family dating back to 1900, records show, but have since been sold off.

The search involved more than two dozen vehicles on site surrounding a home and barn on the property.

Simms has ruled that the trials for the murder of Rogers will be held in Warren County, currently scheduled for February. 

Young told the judge he has already started booking hotel rooms, though it is likely Steven Lawson's attorney will request a delay. 

Simms said he wants to make sure "everybody is in a different location," likely referring to families of both sides. 

"I want to keep everybody separated," Simms said.

While there has not yet been a formal request to delay the trial, Steve Lawson recently fired his attorney, Ted Lavitt, and hired new lawyers who have said it will be unlikely they can go through all of the evidence and be ready by February. 

Rogers was last seen with Houck during the Fourth of July weekend in 2015. Her car was left running on the side of Bluegrass Parkway with her phone and purse still inside. She's presumed dead, but her body was never found.

Joseph Lawson, 32, pleaded not guilty in September of last year 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 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.

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