Mom of 5 Vanishes After Quiet Night With Boyfriend

The Crystal Rogers case is unlike anything I've ever covered before because it truly affected an entire community. It changed barge town forever. We need everyone's help and everyone in the violent family and in the approach out family to come together to try and figure out where Crystal is at. The fact that they're calling me out on a Sunday tells me that there's something that they have found that's unusual about it. It is quite literally a story years in the making, a missing young mother, and a case the world would wait a decade to see how it ends. I mean as far as I know she's a well-likeable person. I can't think of anybody who would want to harm her. The theory was that the family was somehow involved. It's something that's happened to her. It wasn't good. It wasn't good. It's something he did. I was at home. It was July 4th weekend. I was not on call that day, but the detective that was on call on this way to the Sheriff's Department to assist had a vehicle collision. And so they called me by the time I'm on my way they have discovered that her vehicle is abandoned. Crystal Rogers was a mother of five and over 4th July weekend 2015 suddenly she stopped answering calls. Her daughter was one of the first people who tried getting a hold of her and couldn't. So she contacted Sherry Ballard who was Crystal Rogers' mother, asking if she'd heard from her and Sherry hadn't. And initially Sherry wasn't too concerned, but it was unlike Crystal to not be in constant contact with her children and her family members. The mother of Crystal Rogers then files a missing person. At that point there is really no evidence of any foul play. It's unusual that they would call a detective on a missing person's case. So you you'll most immediately understand that there's something about the case that isn't sitting right with the deputies that are there taking the report. Yesterday afternoon this approximately three o'clock family members came to the Sheriff's Office to report that they believe that Crystal Rogers was missing. Shortly thereafter another family member found Crystal's power near the 14 mile marker on the Bluegrass Parkway. It raised her conscious concern because a tire on the vehicle was flat. The keys are in the ignition. There's a cell phone and a purse in the passenger seat which is very unusual. No woman that I know would leave her keys in her car in her person or seat if she's going to abandon her vehicle on the side of the road. The last person that we know that Crystal was with was her boyfriend or a common law husband. They have a child together. They live here at Barstown and his name is Brooks House and I want everyone to know that he is being completely cooperative with our investigation and this tribe to assist does it any way that he can. Crystal's family was devastated. She was their pride and joy. They care for all their children deeply and with Crystal missing it was like a part of them left and that part could never be healed. It becomes pretty obvious relatively quickly that this is not going to be our typical missing persons but at that point you really don't know what you don't know so you don't know what's important and what's not so it's a really dynamic investigation at this point because you don't know where you're headed next. There's no body there's no weapon there's no blood that's where it all begins just with her missing and really nothing pointing to anyone at that particular time. Crystal was a loving mother of five. She had a huge network of family support in Barstown. She was born and raised in Barstown and she had so much family there who cared so deeply for her. She had made a life for herself in Barstown and so many people say that she was an exceptional mother. It was like she was born to do that. One thing about Crystal is that relationships always seemed difficult for her. She had been married once before and unfortunately that didn't work out and for one reason or the other she could never find that person who truly loved and respected her or who she was. Brooks when he got together with Crystal she already had four children. Brooks's family owns a 200 acre farm in Kentucky and so they have a lot of property. He's obviously very close to his family members. His family family members actually a police officer in that county. Investigators have to retrace Crystal steps over the last few days and with little to go on initially they start looking for leads. The car being on the parkway pointed in the direction of E-town kind of alluding to the fact that she may have been going somewhere. We were tracking down some leads that her mother had told us about and her kiddos had told us about where they had been that weekend and that Friday they said well we went to Wal-Mart so I'm going to send somebody to Wal-Mart to get video of them at Wal-Mart. Who did she have interactions with when she was at Wal-Mart? Did she talk to anybody? Did she appear to have an argument with anyone? I send somebody else to go and try to find her her estranged husband whether she said anything that might be of importance to him. Crystal Rogers family had deep roots in Barstown. Her mother Sherry and father Tommy Ballard were very well known to the community. In order to really understand how this affected the community you really have to go back to understand what Barstown was dealing with at that time. There were already three unsolved murders leading up to Crystal's disappearance but then all the sudden a mother of five disappears. People were scared and every day people were out searching. My focus becomes interviewing the person that lives with her because by the accounts that we have thus far he's the last person to see her. He agrees to come in and and I conduct an interview that Sunday evening with him. I knew who he was because he had filed a run for sheriff at the previous elections. He was the landlord had multiple rental properties. One of the obvious question was she managed the rental properties. Did anybody have a complaint? Anybody threatened her? Initially he kind of implied without as much saying that he thought maybe she had gone somewhere to cool off. That conversation that Brooks Hauke has with investigators on the night of July 5th 2015 clearly struck a nerve with lead detective John Snow. He said essentially that Friday during the day was normal. She dropped two of the children off to their father. She had been to Walmart. He got home before she did. He says that they had been planning all along to go to the farm that evening with Eli. That's their youngest son so he tells us that they leave their house and they make their way toward the farm. He tells me that they left there somewhere between 11 and midnight and they went home. He says when they got home she and Eli stayed up while he went to bed. He said when he got up the next morning she wasn't there. Eli was in the bed with him. Her car wasn't there but he wasn't overly concerned because she had left before when they had been arguing. So naturally I asked him if they had been arguing and he said they had not. This begs the question why would you offer that she would leave when you would argue if you weren't arguing? This then leads to bringing Brooks Hauke in again on July 8th 2015 and this is where things get interesting. I do whatever I can. I don't need an attorney. I haven't asked for an attorney, I'm gonna talk to whoever but this this to me is really starting to get it's starting to get silly. I asked Mr. Hauke to write out a statement about everything that he does that weekend particularly that Friday give me as much detail as you can. If I'm asking you to write a statement about what you did three days ago and there's a very significant event around that day I would expect you to be able to write to to a pretty good degree what you did that day and none of what he wrote down really had anything to do with what we were asking him to write a statement about. It was really more about what he does every day. The neighbors say she got home around 515. You guys lead to go to the farm you get to the farm about 19 minutes after set. When you got to the farm do you know if anybody was there other than your mom? I don't know. We didn't stop with there. We went straight down there that was on there to take the tail. And he said when they got to the farm they saw his mother Rosemary Hauke who lives at the farm. He said they didn't talk to her he tells me that that he and Crystal and Eli go walking around which is kind of odd because it's been raining that night it was pretty wet. So you guys you're taking your walk and you're leaving looking at the video. It looks like it's about five minutes to midnight. - All right. - To me, it seems a little late to be out on the farm with a two and a half year old. - It's still wide open and hip for India. Anybody who's used to sleep and so lighter in the morning, you said you went to bed first. She stays up, what's she doing? - She's just on her phone playing, I don't know what game is she normally plays a game. - Later investigators would put a hole in that story. We would later find out that her phone had been powered off for a while at that point. - His information that he gives to the police about where he was during and after the incident is contradictory. It is not sequential. He is very much all over the place when he explains what he was doing that weekend. - Saturday morning, he went to the farm and had a long year out there. - Yeah, usually on Saturday, I'm not in any kind of a rush. Did you lunch out there? - I don't like lunch there. I know I ain't somewhere out there at a fagin' house that night 'cause he had everybody over there at his house at my mom's brother's house. Did you go home? I think we broke with my mother over there that I went home after that. - And it turns out, according to Brooks, the day after she's missing, he's at some sort of Fourth of July party with his son. One would think that in this crisis situation, he would not be partying with fireworks and hot dogs. He would instead be looking for his girlfriend. - Did you go anywhere else after you left mom's house before you went home? I'm not that I can remember. I'm not asking you to reply every detail you like, bro. And I realized that it wasn't a big deal for her to be going for you, but most people can remember most of the things they did during the day. I don't know if it was her mother. I met her mother to gas station somewhere. One of them days, her mother's Sherry, I pulled in there to, in there to that marquee station. And then Sherry came up there to my window and asked me if I'd seen Crystal, and when you told her what I've seen her don't know where she is, and she just said, okay, she's gonna go to the police station. - Do you think you talked to Sherry the same day they reported her missing? You said she said to tell him, yes, she said, yes. - The day that he is, had you and Crystal ever talked about breaking up? - I mean, obviously we have fought just like any other, any other couple, it has been at times of stress relationship. You're telling you anything other than that. We loved each other very much and that right there's the bottom end of you. - And he admitted that they did have, some strengths in their relationship, but he said that he loved her. That's something that people have pointed out before because he said loved in the past tense. - What I've got to be faced with now is as good a mother's, Crystal's being. Now Eli is in that atmosphere where I've got all the hope in the world, but now I'm a single parent. It appears to me, if something's not done where she's not brought back safely, now one of the very most important people in his life, he's got to grow up without. And I made her answer a bunch of bullies. It's taken a lot of energy and effort away from the other efforts that could be out there trying to help and bring her back here safely. I came in well on the side of the road that looking like a murderer or something like that's wrong. I've been extremely honest with you all. Here I've got a million things going on that I have to get done. And then if it was going to suffer, he is. And it's not right. I'm ready to hire an auctioneer to sell all this stuff so I can be there boring life, Crystal. - And there was the question of, well why would you sell off your things if you think she's coming back? - Somewhat out of the blue, he goes on this tangent about Crystal's family. He's clearly upset, but it seems to be more about the impact this has on him and their young son Eli, than Crystal's disappearance itself. - I wasn't a loss. She'd done this before. And I wouldn't. I wouldn't alone. That's all there is to it. And I've been understanding this family, wanting to vent and stress, but these people know me better than what's going on. And before this is all over and done with you all are too. But it really, it bothers me because not only have I been a victim, my mind's not even where it should be because I'm trying to protect Eli from this. I don't care about them dragging my name through the murdering up because I'm going to keep the main focus and emphasis on bringing her back safely and as quickly as possible. - He didn't seem concerned at all at the fact that he was at the Sheriff's Department talking about the mother of his child being missing. That doesn't make sense. - Couple things that order I want to get into, it's intended to pry into what's going on in Crystal's mind so that I can rule out any possibility of intention to harm himself or things of that nature. Crystal is not that kind of person. I don't believe at all. - I'll be honest with you, I have been all along, we'll continue to be. If I woke up on a Saturday morning and my wife wasn't with me in the bed as is normal, which might not be normal for you, I don't know, but if she were not, probably the first thing I would do would be to call her to find out where she was. - He only had reached out to Crystal a couple of times in those first few days where she was missing. His explanation was not very convincing and so his thought process was that, well, he would rather leave her alone rather than blow it up more. And although that seems like maybe an innocent explanation if somebody isn't answering your calls after a couple of hours and also not there days later, it doesn't explain behavior when your girlfriend is literally missing out of nowhere. - So the phones wouldn't really give us much on the end of they're giving us a picture of their relationship. There would be a few text messages. Certainly it did not appear that they had been fighting that night. For me, the biggest thing that is absent in the phones is the plan to go to the farm. So he says that it was all along the plan to go to the farm. She has been telling people all day that they are going out on a kid-free date night. - Are you familiar with the woman named Christina Holley? - Yes, I know you're talking about that. There are some text messages between her and Crystal on Friday. She tells her that we've got a center for the evening. It's our first time being kid-free for a while so we don't want to, you know, we're kid-free. We're going to enjoy ourselves. - Why would she lie to her? - I don't know, I can't answer that question. - As far as you know, you all did not have plans for a babysitter that night. - No, actually, no. The plan was all along for you guys to go to the farm. - Yes. - She is telling people that this is the first time they've had a date night a long time. She's really excited about it. He says to us that that wasn't true, that she only told them that so that the other children would not be jealous because they were going to spend time with Eli alone. Well, that would make perfect sense, except for she told her best friend that who wouldn't care one way or the other. There's some discrepancies between what law enforcement is learning from Brooks versus what they already know from Crystal's family and friends. He is the only one around right now who's able to tell the story of what happened over the last few days, but with text messages and witness accounts, something's not adding up. So detectives they build a timeline and key to that timeline is cell phone records. One of the things that shows up is, "Ah, it is a phone call around midnight on Saturday morning." I ask him about this and he seems genuinely surprised. - I see a hundred phone logs. I'm not saying it anymore. There appears to be a phone call around midnight. Do you know who that person was that calls him around midnight? Do you remember Tom? No, it came from a phone call. - Yeah, look in my phone, but I don't remember. - I remember getting a phone call the way home. It was a pretty short phone conversation. Kind of unusual to get a 13-second phone conversation at midnight. Even just to say, "I want to get your phone to look at that phone number." All right. - So at the time, all I had was the phone number, so I said, "Who is this phone number?" He said, "I don't know, let's call it." - He just called it. - I was Steve Lawson. - Okay, who is Steve Lawson? - He's the best in my works, world. - Hey Steve. Hey, I've done some things going on next week. I'm going to make sure I will need your help with it. When Steve Lawson picks up the phone, he immediately goes into what seems to be a rehearsed story that he is supposed to say. - I just wanted to hear some of that. Everything is going on in July, brother. I got you a prayers. - I appreciate you saying that. But hey, the other night you called me really, really late. Can you remember what you asked me or what you were after? - I can't remember. - I can't, I call back you for their numbers for our house. - Oh, for the rental house. - Yes, sir. - And what did I tell you? - You told me that you was told, what's your name, tell you what her name was all that. - Crystal. - Crystal, I'll hang out with all the time, yeah. - When Brooks hangs up the phone, I said, "Well, if Crystal's in the truck with you, why didn't you just give the phone to Crystal?" And it gives me a really strange look, like he doesn't know exactly what to say to that. So it's clear that this was not an anticipated question. - If she's in the truck next to you, when he calls, why would you need to call her about getting numbers for rental car? - 'Cause it's been that way that knowledge, she knows it's not gonna deal stuff that way. - I'm sure I'll try to answer the phone really quickly, so that it wouldn't, a one time's after I get moved, and Eli goes to sleep, you know. - Although he had just told me that Eli was wide awake, that is probably the moment when it becomes clear that both Mr. Halk and Mr. Lawson have something to do with Crystal's disappearance. - So now we find out there's more potential players here. Steve Lawson, an associate of Brooks, and not only him, but his son Joey Lawson could be involved. - Steve and Joey Lawson were father and son. They worked for Brooks Halk. Steve Lawson would occasionally help Brooks Halk with some of his construction projects and do other odd jobs. - Both of them had already had a criminal element to their background. It's already in their nature to not give us information. I interviewed Steve and Lawson a couple of times to try to get him to bring in his cell phone 'cause we had a search warrant for it. He would refuse to do that. - You know that anybody that would want her to come into this store, or something, she's a well-likeable person. I can't think of anybody who would want to power her. - The interview takes a turn when Brooks phone starts going off. Now remember at this point in time, he's been at the station for hours. This call is from his brother, Nick Halk, who's a local police officer in that area. - We're still getting video from different places, you know, a lot of my route. - Do I get this? - Sure. (laughing) - You know how I go? - No. - I'm up here. I know that you didn't know. I'm up here in this interview with Detective Smow. - It's my habit to just let people take phone calls during the interview because you never know what they're gonna blow it out. - Here, you tell me that's what I need to do. I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know that. But the way that I look at it is that I'm innocent. I ain't done nothing wrong. Well, you know, I know you've told me that innocent people got jammed up. But if you're telling me to leave, I'll get up and leave. I don't think she's ran off of some other guy. I don't believe that. - So when he gets off the phone, he says something that is very, very interesting and would prove to be very consequential to the case. - He thinks you're a little (beep) is what he thinks. - Have I told you that I'm for you? - Yes, you have. - I said what did I say? My job is to find Crystal, right? - That's right. - Did I not tell you when you come in here and sit down today, that right now you're the main person of the interview, that's right. - You're the last person to see your life, right? There's, and I went through your timeline with you and explained to you that there's gaps in your timeline. If Nick thinks you should go, and you want to take his money, come here. - Now at this point, Nick hadn't even entered into the picture aside from the phone call. But when he says to me, he thinks you're trying to screw us, that's not it, you're trying to screw me. He just put his brother somehow or another involved in this. And so now knowing who his brother is, knowing that he's a city police officer, this case just got way more complicated. - This case is getting more and more complicated by the hour and Brooks Hauk is becoming the prime suspect, but there's still so many unanswered questions. So now detectives have to verify or refute the things that Brooks is saying. And one way to do that is by administering a polygraph test. - Investigators will sometimes use polygraph tests to kind of determine whether somebody is telling them is accurate or misleading or a flat out lie. Brooks's polygraph test here was inconclusive. Sometimes investigators will deem an inconclusive polygraph test as evidence of lying in and of itself or an attempt to manipulate the machine. So an inconclusive test sometimes can betray the person. - Meanwhile, this case is garnering national attention and Brooks Hauk is hounded by the media for an interview, but he only grants one to Nancy Grace. - Mr. Hauk, thank you for being with us. When did you realize Brooks Hauk that she was gone? The very next morning. - So you slept through the whole night and did not realize that she was gone? - That's true. He exhausted my effort with the law enforcement agency to gather all the facts necessary to allow me to have a clean name again. And that's very important to me. - The appearance on Nancy Grace was really interesting. Brooks, up to that point, had largely avoided local media. Almost every news organization was trying to get his side of the story and had been unsuccessful. However, he continued to live his life. He went about barreds town by most accounts, acting like nothing was wrong. - Detectives move on to another member of the Hauk family. Nick Hauk, this is Brooks police officer brother. So investigators need to find out what he knows, particularly, given the odd remark after Nick's sudden call interrupted his interview with Detective Snow. - How much interaction did you have with Crystal over the years? - About 1 to 9. - The one of the last time that you had seen Crystal? - I'm sure sometimes I see her just grabbing her hand out and breathed out, but I don't believe in where I was at. - And so you knew her, he knew her enough to know her cover, to know where her car was. - Yeah, yeah. - We had enlisted the help of the city police to help us gather up video and find potential witnesses. So now we have to rethink that, because this person is potentially involved in this crime, and he's employed at this agency. So we have to be very careful. - When do you find out Crystal was missing? Within a couple days, how did you find that? I don't know if Brooks had mentioned her. I saw her on TV. I mean, this is for all kinds of purposes, your sister and all, and she's missing. I mean, to hear me brother, just not talk to that extent, that he was really concerned that he would pay my brother's police officer. He knows what to do, let me call him and see what's going on. - Yes, it's not like that. I see him on the road and that's about it. I just kind of like point to finger him. If this point doesn't matter what he does, you know, he looks like the bad one, so. - Here's the problem. Days earlier, Nick called Brooks telling him to leave his police interview and now he's saying we're not that close. I'm sure these investigators are confused and rightfully so, they're probably scratching their heads and saying, well, which is it? This conversation with Nick Hauke opens up a whole different can of worms. They want to figure out was he involved and if so, to what extent? - Friday night and third, I think was the last time that anybody said they saw her, right? - What was that at, do you know? - I think it was at one mark. - She goes missing on Friday night, Saturday's four, Sunday's the fifth, yeah. So that's when she gets reported missing. And he never called you for any advice. I wanted to do, he's so busy. We just, we don't hang out much anymore. - Nick is an interesting character because he's both law enforcement and a potential co-conspirator. Police obviously wanted to zero in on whether he was influencing the investigation. - You remember when he was interviewed? - Oh yeah. Do you make a phone call from him when the S.O. was interviewing him? - Yes, I do. What would you call that? - I think he was basically, I mean, Brooks and a really cooperative guy. And you know, obviously at this point, you want to be cooperative but you also want to protect yourself. - Nick was also confronted about his own whereabouts and potential involvement in the case. He, like his brother Brooks, gave inconsistent answers. - So you'll have said, you, you've been out to the farm and then do you all go out there together to work? - Or be, yeah. - One was the last time I get to you and him were out there together. - We were on MD each other out there. Did you go out there together? Did you meet him out there? - No, I didn't. He was just having to be out there. - Do you remember going out to the farm? - The, even the July to hate. - I don't know. - Was that incidentally the same night that you were there was gonna be about the legs? What if the campers would have caught your car, following Brooks? Went club right after that. - What is it right? - Was there time that you all both went out there at the same time for a specific reason? - Not that I repel. - Remember that night? - No, I laughed down. - Well, well, well, you're out there at the farm. - Yeah, if I do that 10 a.m. - You arrived together and you left together. We know that. When he said that he either was or was not in certain locations at certain times, police were able to retrieve surveillance video of Nick being in certain areas like the farm, those types of inconsistencies are problematic for Nick. - We took Nick's police car at the behest of the city police department, and ultimately I would get a search warrant to have it processed. - What do you normally keep in your trunk? I've got a cardboard box back there. There's many forms, there's a PBT fire extinguisher. When the PD took your car from your house, what was in the trunk bed? - All the stuff I just told you, but there was also just a regular blanket for moving. I got the blanket at the farm, I used it, and then I was going to take it back in a few days, I forgot about it. - The one part of the car that we had any interest in, forensically in the beginning was that blanket. - Have you ever heard of a limonol? All right, you know what a limonol is used for? - It's fine blood, okay. - Or other bottle of liquid, bottle of liquid. - Why would your trunk look like a smurf if they sprayed it? - There's a couple spots in the trunk in that blanket, I mean, there's little election roll. - There shouldn't be anybody bottle of liquid in the trunk. I mean, there's only one way bottle of liquid can get into the trunk bed that the body's near. Is there any reason that her DNA is going to come back in your trunk? Oh my, I'm 100% certain it won't. - Ultimately, they said there was no evidence to be recovered from the blanket. Doesn't necessarily mean the blanket wasn't important, doesn't necessarily mean that the blanket wasn't used for something, it just means that now there's no longer any evidentiary value to it. - Did your brother ever probably even say that he'd done something to Christmas? - No, we did not. There is some reason why you all went out to that forum. - She's got a key that's, I mean, there's no way that I would cover this step for him. - Who else would be responsible for this? - I mean, I don't have any names to give, I mean. - What do you think, what do you think happened? - You know, I don't know what happened, but I know books didn't have anything to do with it. - So you never helped him move a body? - I did not, and you're telling me you want to be cooperated. That's why you're here, right? - Yes. - Okay, what about taking a polygraph exam? I've got nothing to hide. - Now, days later, Nick Hauke is given a polygraph, and it sparks even more discussion about his alleged involvement. - Well, Nick, I've had a chance to review your charts on my test, that first test. You did not pass the test, and it's pretty clear to me that you had probably completely approved. And the question you're having a problem with, the third question was about a principal. And in particular, one about what I know where she is right now, at that the time has come for you to think real hard about the rest of your life. It's a result on your test. It's actually an indicator, 100%. - And so at that point that he got really defensive, whereas we saw Brooks Hauke and his interrogation being calm and almost nonchalant, Nick was the exact opposite. - I can diversely point out through forensic evidence already that things he told us about where you were at various times, or the monster, but not true. You can deny it or not, and that's why I told people that they immediately circle the wagons and start telling, "Well, we have self-preservation." We all, - Man, let me dispatch you off. I mean, do we need to take this any further? - I would like to take it to the truth. - I mean, you're talking crazy. The accusations you're making. - Yeah, I'm just like you know it involved in this. - Absolutely not. - I'm talking to someone who's a family member essentially is missing and possibly dead. And you've seen some interviews. - Well, you haven't been completely truthful, I think. - I've been 100% truthful. - Listen to what I'm saying. - You know what I'm saying? I've been 100% truthful. - Oh, yeah, I know what I mean. - Well, because you're telling me I'm lying and I know I'm not, I know the truth. - And if you don't want to believe that your issue, it's not mine. - I showed you. - Dude, I don't give a (beep) much (beep) - Get her say it, okay? - Thank you, dude. - Then why are you getting silent? - Because you're calling me a (beep) - Why are you calling me a (beep) - He was not happy about being questioned by the M. Pretty much kept running around in circles. What we would ultimately get out of that is the polygrapher would tell us that he believed that Nick was involved and that they had dispose of Crystal's body. It was enough for him to no longer have a job at the police department. - We had an administrative hearing concerning the employment status of Officer Nick Alp. The mayor's been considering the evidence earlier today, he issued a final order and that order terminates Officer Half from the bar stand police department. - In a case where you don't have a body and you don't have a murder weapon, you don't even really have a crime scene, I felt like we had a really good circumstantial case than the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Commonwealth attorney would make the determination typically as to whether or not you're going to charge this individual, especially in a case this big. I felt like we had a good enough circumstantial case to prosecute it prior to my retirement. He did not. - They weren't really able to charge Brooks or the Lawsons or any of those people. - There's nobody, there's no DNA evidence anywhere, really. There's no evidence that there really a crime was committed at all. - This case comes to a standstill for months. There's little to no updates, no movement in the investigation, and about a year after Crystal's disappearance, there is an incident that raises a lot of questions. - When Crystal disappeared, no one searched harder than her father, Tommy Ballard. November 19th, 2016 is a day in my career, I will never forget. When we learn that there have been an incident in Bardstown, our hearts sank. Tommy Ballard was going hunting with his grandson. They were just getting out of the truck and all the sudden a gunshot rang out. And that single shot went through Tommy Ballard's chest and killed him. - It is still, as far as I know, it's still a very open case and being actively worked by the detectives and at the Kentucky State Police Post. I think everyone believes that it's connected to Crystal's case. Naturally, there was speculation that Crystal's father's murder could have been connected to her disappearance. Was he maybe onto something? - Through Tommy's efforts to try to find answers in Crystal's case, one of the things that he uncovered was a tip that proved to be really critical. - People would go to the Ballards with information. We got the tip early from Crystal's brother. He says, "Hey, these guys saw this white bug parked in the woods next to the farm the night that she goes missing. We don't really know how it fits into things in the beginning." Tommy puts out a Facebook post, "Hey, we need to know about this white bug so it doesn't become urgent until we find out," kind of by happenstance actually, that it belongs to a family member of the house. What we would later figure out is that Anna White signs who is their grandmother owns a white bug. Shortly after we find out about her owning the white bug, Nick takes her to Louisville and gets rid of the car. And I know the community really wanted us to hurry up and charge someone. Calling someone a suspect is one thing. Accusing someone of homicide is another thing. - Fast forward several years, 2018, 2019, the investigation is still ongoing and Detective John Snow retires. And what comes next is nearly half a decade of silence. There is very little information that is publicly released as the FBI fully takes over. - The FBI did one search in 2021 that took several days. It was in a subdivision in Bardstown. And their focus was a home that was being built by Brooks Hauke. The items they recovered from that property were women's underwear and women's clothing. There was some that was found under the driveway and some that was found under the sidewalk. However, the DNA did not match Crystal Rogers. - Here we are. Years later, the FBI has the case in hand. Brooks Hauke, his brother Nick, the Lawson's. They may be the prime suspects connected to the disappearance of Crystal Rogers, but none of them have faced any charges so far. But then you go to 2020 and investigators with the help of another government agency, they make a discovery that no one saw coming. - Even the IRS came in to conduct searches. If, for example, there were tax fraud issues. The FBI was looking obviously for other things to try to link the Haukes to this crime. And by the time all of these years passed, the investigators have to start looking at a paper trail like that. - The IRS had different resources than the FBI. They had a legal avenue to conduct searches and electronics under the auspice of investigating tax crimes, which leads to finding hidden recording devices. - All of them had been recording interactions with the police. They'd been recording their conversations with each other. They'd been recording conversations with their lawyers. It was just bizarre. (laughter) - You know, they would find those recorders during a search warrant of the farm. They were recordings of Nick in the grand jury, his mother. Rosemary Hauke in the grand jury, some of those random conversations would become pretty important because they revealed information that they probably didn't intend to. And on one of the recordings, Rosemary Hauke says, "To Brooks," she says, "What about the blanket?" And he says, "It's fine." Ultimately, what we would figure out, figure out is the blanket that she's talking about is the blanket in the trunk of Nick's car. The FBI ends up conducting hundreds of new search warrants into interviews, retracing the steps of local law enforcement and creating new paths, but all following the same leads as laid out by Detective John Snow. They gather all the evidence collected by local law enforcement, combing through every inch of it extensively. They pull out all the stops, including using new tech tools. Google at the time had this reverse location technology which showed Brooks wearabouts despite the fact that he seemingly turned off his location services on his phone and also told his family to do the same. They had no idea that Google was still tracking them. Early on, investigators were interested in Steve Lawson, largely because of that 13-second call. They didn't have any crime or wrongdoing they could pin him for. But as time went on, they got more and more curious about why he made that call, and just what his relationship was with Brooks Hauke. And what they would ultimately learn over the years is that Steve Lawson and Joey Lawson had a really hard time keeping their mouths shut. Eventually, investigators would hear from one of Steve Lawson's ex-girlfriends who said she overheard a conversation between Steve and Joey, talking about moving a body. When the FBI got involved, one of the things they revisited were phone records. They looked back into Brooks Hauke's phone records, the records of Steve and Lawson, and the records of Joey Lawson. And what they ended up finding was that Joey Lawson made two calls to Steve Lawson on the night of Crystal's disappearance. And also, this goes back to Steve Lawson. His phone, pinged on towers, near where Crystal's car was abandoned. I'm not sure that we entirely understand their role. I don't know that we ever got the full story as to what they were involved. They were accused of being involved in the conspiracy to murder her, meaning that they did things and agreed to do things in furtherance of that murder. And specifically, they were involved with tampering with physical evidence by moving her vehicle. They were both involved in removing her vehicle from her residence and ending up on the Bluegrass Parkway with it. And you know what's more incriminating? Steve in admitting that he picked up Joseph from the Bluegrass Parkway and moved the driver seat in Crystal's car to make it look like someone shorter had been driving. They're also accused of giving the car a flat tire to stage the scene. People's learned from another witness, a different employee of Brookshawk, that Brooks said he wanted to "get rid of Crystal" and that Joseph Lawson said "that he would pull her teeth and the hogs would do the rest." Now while the evidence doesn't seem like the strongest, admitting to all this implicates Brookshawk and Joey and Stephen Lawson. It isn't until eight years after Crystal's disappearance that anyone is criminally charged in connection with this case and that's because of the efforts of federal agents to remove the Nelson County prosecutor who wouldn't move forward with charges in this case if there was no body. In late 2023 a series of grand juries are empaneled and this is where Steve Lawson testifies about his involvement in Crystal's disappearance. Steve in Lawson, ultimately he would end up subpoenaed to the grand jury where I would confront him about the phone call and he really kind of plays it off and tries to act like he doesn't know what phone call and then he's like oh yeah I remember talking to him about it. Without knowing it he really kind of gives away his involvement in it by trying to be cagey about the nature of the phone call. And then there is a special grand jury that's assembled for the sole purpose of inditing Brookshawk. In early September of that same year Joseph Lawson is arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence. Brookshawk is then indicted for murder and tampering with evidence. He's held on a whopping $10 million bond. Three months later Steve in Lawson is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence but it is important to note that as of this recording neither Nick Hauke nor Rosemary Hauke have been officially charged in connection to this case. You're glad of it but it's also scary because you know now this begins what is either the beginning or the end of this case right. You know that one way or the other this case is going to come to a resolution and it may not be the way that you think that it should which is obviously with the guilty verdict. A case ten years in the making it culminates with three men standing trial in the disappearance and presumed murder of Crystal Rogers. First in May 2025, Stephen Lawson stands trial and is found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence. But then just a month later comes the trial that so many people had been waiting for that of Brookshawk and Joseph Lawson. This is that case. Very soon. A young woman 35 years old with five children disappeared. They didn't go out to a man he'd get together with, like, 12, 15, 12, 8, 7, 9. Brookshawk is moving from the thrombies' house farm to his home and she wasn't in that trial. She wasn't going home with them. We believe the evidence will show from your God-given common sense as she's dead and at the hands of her own mother. As long as this investigation took and has complicated, as this case was, it was very important for the jurors to understand what are the different roles of the players here, Brookshawk, his brother Nick Hawk, and of course Joey and Stephen Lawson. Did you hear any conversation between Joseph Lawson and Steve Lawson as it relates to Crystal Rock? Yes. You heard Steve Lawson and Joey Lawson talking about moving the body at the health farm with a skit skirt. There was a lot of new information that came out during the trial. It was amazing to me to see how much investigators were able to keep close to chest. I think the most heartbreaking was that Crystal went into that evening thinking that she was going to have a kid-free, romantic date night with Brooks. This is a woman who felt like her relationship was failing, and this date night that was promised to her felt like a glimmer of hope. Prosecutors say that it was all part of his plot to lure her to his family farm. The whole time that I lived there, I never seen Rosemary or Nick at the house. And that weed that we, Crystal, went missing, did you see Nick at the defendant's house? Yeah, man, Rosemary, I've seen them there a lot. There was one day that I witnessed the Rosemary's car pulling the driveway after the car pulled in. And they turned the cars around, Nick got in the back of the car, he had two bags, put them in Rosemary's car, and then he went back and got two more. The neighbor who's very nosy, thankfully, tells us that Rosemary and Nick almost never come to Brooks's house because Rosemary did not get along with Crystal. We got information that Rosemary had gone to the house just a couple of days into this thing. And she had pulled up and thrown away some flowers that Crystal had planted. Did you see anything else with Rosemary that week? I can remember one day when I lived across the street seeing Rosemary with the shovel, digging out the flowers and throwing them over in the trash can. You know, the first thing that comes to my mind is, if you think she's coming home, why are you pulling flowers up at her house? You don't think that's going to be upsetting to her? You don't think that's going to further hurt that relationship? She knows, "Degon, good will," Crystal ain't coming back. How does she know? So do you remember the weekend of July 4th? Yes, sir. Do you remember any conversation with you had about Joey about Crystal's car that week? I think the city was buried with a sense of nobody and we found it. Now, this is when that white Buick that's owned by the grandmother of Brooks and Nick Hauke, that comes back into the picture, why? Because it is believed that that could have been used to transport Crystal's remains. Now, were you aware of anything collected out of the beer? I am. Was there a hair locating on the beer? Yes, there was. There was a head hair with Caucasian carriage ristics in item 26. That would be the hair that was located in the beer. Microscopically, compared with the head hair standard collected from Crystal Rogers' hair brush, and determined to be in similar in color and limited microscopic carriage ristics, was different from the head hair standard in item 63, which was the end of white sense. Now, after the seizure of the vehicle and after it was processed, did you arrange for a cadaver dog? Yes, sir. A detective by the name of Jamie Brooks would be working off duty in Louisville and accidentally meet a guy who has a cadaver dog. This man would agree to come and take the cadaver dog and run. running around the white Buick, and the cadaver dog indicates on the trunk of the white Buick. We find a couple of hairs in it. They don't produce any real DNA, but we're able to use those during the trial to kind of build that case. - I was presented with a relatively small parking lot. He had a lot of the parking lot and asked me to search that area. Ranger cleared the area of any live victims. Ranger gave his train final response at the right rear corner of that Buick, La Sabre, sitting very close to that Buick, La Sabre, and telling me that that's where he had the strongest scent of human remains. - Not only did the evidence stack up against Brooks Halk forensically, but court documents suggest there was a motive here that he to allegedly had an affair just a month before Crystal disappeared. But the defense, they focus on discrediting the state's witnesses, criticizing the police investigation and saying that law enforcement focused so narrowly on Brooks Halk that they may have ignored other leads. - We certainly bring the Minister of Assessing to one and quit at the point. And that is, this is absolutely heartbreaking case. From the early hours of this investigation, Brooks Halk became the sole of this, with this pressure eventually caused the facts and truths that we look for in just a system to be replaced with suspicions, assumptions, guesses and theories. And it caused, ultimately, in this case, these two men, Brooks Halk and Joey Lawson to sit here before you today, charged with horrific crimes that they did not commit. - We're all assuming that she was deceased, but there was no evidence of any kind of any cause or mechanism of her death. - Circumstantial case like that. Still don't have a body, still don't have any other real hard evidence that anyone was even killed, let alone. Who did it? - There was testimony earlier that the dog involved in this case was cross-trained. Could you please explain to the jury what that means? - The cross-trained dog, for this instance, is a dog was trained for a life sentence on human life humans as well as human remains detection. - Do you personally recommend cross-training or cross-certification of canals? - No, sir, I do not. - In this case, we hired you to look at police searches and laboratory reports, correct? - That's correct. Did they find, based on your review of the evidence that was collected or is any of Joey Lawson's fingerprints found in the car? - Not that I could find, no. - Was there any DNA of Joey Lawson found in this car? - Not that I could determine, no. What about Steve Lawson? - The same? - The same, yes. - There was one pair on the driver's seat that could have been tested for DNA and one on the driver's side floorboard, is that correct? - Correct. - Were those tested? - They weren't up. - Should they have tested those? - Yes, they should have done. - Was there any DNA of Crystal Rogers in formerly animal-like sides like you? There was not. - The defense team, they tried to say that Joey and Steve Lawson were never on the Bluegrass Parkway. They said that the cell phone records that they had actually showed that they could have been on a road that ran parallel with the Bluegrass Parkway. Following 10 days of testimony and more than 50 witnesses, clearly, the jury has their work cut out for them. - Early on, I got a pretty good feeling about it. You don't know what 12 individual people are going to do when they get behind closed doors and start talking. But I was very confident in the case that Mr. Young and his team laid out. - Ladies and gentlemen, the jury it's not understandable to say that they catered if you all have reached their target. - But it took less than four hours for the 12 member jury to come back with their decision. - In regard to Commonwealth versus Brooks William Howe, we the jury find the defending guilty of murder. We the jury find the defending guilty of tampering with physical evidence. In regard to Joseph Lawson, we the jury find the defending guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. - The case is clearly a circumstantial case. There was no body found or recovered. There was no witness to the actual event. But that being said, the evidence against Brooks, including the motive for him to kill Crystal, the fact that he was already having an affair, the fact that Crystal was looking to leave. All of the things that always make the boyfriend or the husband the prime suspect, all of those ingredients were there with Brooks. - If you saw the news footage of it, I cried like a baby. I don't even know how to describe it. It was very emotional. When you get that result at the end of it, especially in a case when you, quite frankly, had your doubts as to whether it would ever go to trial, you know, it's just, it's almost too much to bear, really. - So at this time, it's the sentence of the court in regard to Mr. Lawson's case that he be confined in a penal institution. There and to remain for a period of 20 years, it's a further order of this court that he be sentenced to five years for complicity to tampering with physical evidence or a total sentence of 25 years. In regard to Mr. House's case, it's the sentence of the court that he be confined in a penal institution. There and to remain for a period of life and five years for complicity to tampering with physical evidence with those sentences running concurrently for life. - You never cared about anybody but yourself. You say you love Eli so much, but if you really loved him, you wouldn't have murdered his mother. She was amazing mother. My mom didn't deserve any of this. When you thought you had planned the perfect murder, I guess you're not as smart as you think you are. For 10 years, I have suffered the pain of losing my daughter. Never once had I seen you shed one tear. - This case is one that changed Barts town forever and the community became incredibly invested in it. And I think a lot of that had to do with Sherry and Tommy Ballard. Everyone could look at them and see themselves. As a parent, a sister, a brother, a loved one, and they felt their pain. - I pray that one day you will grow apart and have the decency to tell me where my daughter is. And now you will spend the rest of your miserable life in prison or you belong. - Brooks Hauk is sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He's already appealing his sentence. Meanwhile, Joseph Lawson was given 25 years in prison and Stephen Lawson will spend 17 years behind bars. But the most heartbreaking part, the most tragic part of this story is that Crystal's family may never get full closure. Crystal's body has still not been found. And that remains the biggest mystery in this whole case. - This is a case that had gone on for more than 10 years by the time that it got into a courtroom. And I think there are a lot of people in the community who worried that day would never come. Although there is some relief from the conviction in sentencing of Brooks Hauk, Joseph Lawson, and Stephen Lawson, a lot of people would like to see investigators take this case further. The prosecution, during the trial, referred to Nick Hauk and Rosemary Hauk as unindicted co-conspirators. A lot of people wonder what's next. And then there's also the question of, what about Tommy Ballard? What happened to him? Will anyone ever be charged with his murder? - I think the community as a whole is healing from it since the convictions. I think there's still a lot of unanswered questions which may or may not ever get answered. And that's hard to face, that we may never know. (gentle music)