BARDSTOWN, Ky. — A Nelson County judge has determined the Crystal Rogers murder trial will take place in Warren County. The county seat is Bowling Green.
The trial is expected to start in early Feb. 2025. Lawyers for each of the three defendants, Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson and Steven Lawson, are preparing their arguments. Attorneys agreed to move it from Nelson County to Warren or Christian County in April, arguing years of media attention surrounding the case would make it impossible for any of the men to receive a fair trial.
Houck is accused of murdering Rogers and tampering with evidence surrounding her disappearance. He was Rogers’ boyfriend at the time of her July 2015 disappearance. Steven Lawson and his son, Joseph, are both charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. All three men are scheduled to be tried together, but there is a motion filed to determine whether the cases should be tried separately.
Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five, is presumed dead. Her car was found abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway, and her body has never been found.
A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25.
Connor Smith - Digital Producer
Connor Smith is a digital producer for Spectrum News 1 in Louisville, Kentucky. He joined the team in November 2023 and hails from the Chicago area. In summer 2023, he received his Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern's Medill School in Chicago, where he covered Super Bowl LVII, the Chicago Marathon and other stories around the city.
