A man has been arrested in connection with the 2015 disappearance and murder of Crystal Rogers, a Kentucky mother of five, the Louisville FBI office said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Brooks Houck was arrested “without incident” on charges stemming from the investigation, the FBI office said. It’s not clear what charges Houck was arrested on. His indictment remains sealed, and more details will be released when he is arraigned in the Nelson County Circuit Court in early October, the statement said.
The Louisville FBI office and Kentucky State Police said they had worked with “other local and federal law enforcement partners” to “hold accountable those that were responsible” for Rogers’ disappearance.
According to CBS affiliate WLKY, Houck and Rogers are both from Bardstown, Kentucky. Houck was Rogers’ boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, WLKY reported, and is the father of one of her children. WLKY said that Houck was the “only suspect ever named” in Rogers’ disappearance, but this is the first time he has been charged in connection with the crime.
Multiple family members related to Houck have been connected with the case, WKLY reported, including his grandmother and brother. The state of Louisiana said in 2016 that it believed that his grandmother’s car was used to dispose of Rogers’ body, but she refused to testify when called to court, the station reported.
Within the first year of Rogers’ disappearance, Houck’s brother was fired from the Bardstown Police Department for interfering with the investigation, WKLY reported. A friend of Houck also faced dozens of perjury counts early in the investigation, but pleaded guilty to lesser charges, according to WKLY. The FBI, which has been in charge of the investigation since 2020, last year searched the farm where Rogers was last seen alive. The farm belongs to Houck’s family, WKLY said.
This is the second arrest related to Rogers’ case, WLKY reported. Earlier this month, Joseph Lawson, 32, also of Bardstown, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. WLKY reported that the the alleged crimes took place on July 3 or July 4, 2015, when Rogers was last seen. Lawson will also next appear in court in October, WLKY said.
