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The first of three defendants to face trial in connection with the 2015 disappearance and presumed murder of Crystal Rogers has been convicted.
On Friday, May 30, 2025, a jury in a Bowling Green, Kentucky courtroom found Steven Lawson, 54, guilty of criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, according to Louisville’s The Courier-Journal. Lawson was the first of three to stand trial since the 35-year-old mother of five disappeared over the Fourth of July weekend from Bardstown, about 40 miles south of Louisville.
Steven Lawson’s son, Joseph Lawson, faces the same charges, while Rogers’ live-in boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, Brooks Houck, pleaded not guilty to the more serious charge of murder, among others. Their trials are slated to begin June 24, 2025.
Crystal Rogers is still missing
The three men are being charged in a no-body case in that Crystal Rogers’ whereabouts remain unknown.
Still, loved ones remain hopeful, including a daughter who was only 11 when her mother disappeared, according to the Courier.
“I still think we’ll find her, but maybe not the way we want to,” Tori Rogers told the court. “It’s harder every day.”
Rogers disappeared on July 3, 2015, though her red Chevrolet Impala was found abandoned and still running along Bluegrass Parkway days later, as widely reported by Oxygen. Her personal effects, including Rogers’ purse, phone, and keys, were still inside.
Brooks Houck reported being the last one to see her alive at their Bardstown residence, which the couple shared with their youngest child and Rogers’ four other children.
The woman’s disappearance was the subject of the Oxygen original series, The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers, available to watch now on Peacock.
What was Steven Lawson accused of?
Steven Lawson confessed to driving to Rogers’ disabled vehicle on the night of her disappearance to pick up his son, Joseph Lawson, but only after the son allegedly called to say he “broke down,” according to The Louisville Courier. He believed his son had stolen the car and agreed to pull the driver’s seat up to make it appear as though Rogers was driving, thus protecting his son.
The older Lawson maintained that he was unaware of a plot to make Rogers disappear, despite having heard Houck say in the past that he wanted Rogers “gone.”
During the four-day trial, prosecutors pointed to a phone call made shortly after midnight on July 4, 2015, between Steven Lawson and Houck, as reported by the Courier. The subject of the conversation had changed several times with Lawson’s retellings, ranging from inquiries about rental properties to confirming that he had helped his son move the vehicle.
Steven Lawson initially told authorities he was at home at the time of Rogers’ disappearance, though cell phone data — a focal point in the trial — had been traced back to Bluegrass Parkway, according to ABC Louisville affiliate WHAS-TV.
Experts took the stand and testified to several deleted calls from the defendant’s phone on the night in question.
The phone pinged over several hours between July 3 and July 4 around a rural Thompson Hill Road property, according to WHAS-TV. However, despite painstaking searches, Crystal Rogers has never been found.
The defense questions if Crystal Rogers was murdered
Defense attorney Darren Wolff challenged the prosecution by noting, “We don’t even know if there was a murder. Take mercy and pity on him,” according to Louisville’s Fox affiliate WDRB.
Special prosecutor Shane Young, who sought a maximum 25-year sentence, advised the jury otherwise.
“He stuck a knife in them [the family of Crystal Rogers] and twisted it over and over,” Young told the court, per WDRB. “Don’t have pity on him. Don’t take mercy on him. Give him every freaking thing he deserves. He took those kids’ mother from them.”
During closing arguments on Friday, prosecutor Jim Lesousky said Steven Lawson “put himself in the middle of … an evil conspiracy,” WDRB reported.
“I was just moving a vehicle,” Steven Lawson said in his own defense. “That’s what I was told.”
The jury recommended a 17-year prison sentence, though a judge will formally hand down a sentence on August 6, 2025.
About The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers
The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers delved into the details surrounding the case, which only further complicated the mystery. One year after Rogers vanished, her father, Tommy Ballard, died of a gunshot wound to the chest while hunting on his Bardstown property.
Sherry Ballard, Tommy Ballard’s wife and Crystal Rogers’ mother, told WHAS-TV she believed someone killed him for getting too close to the truth amid his ongoing search for their daughter.
Although no one has been charged in Tommy Ballard’s death, prosecutor Young stated the murder weapon was purchased by Houck’s brother, former Bardstown police officer Nicholas Houck, and sold under an alias.
The brother was let go from the department in 2015 after accusations that he interfered with the investigation and a failed polygraph test.
Former Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin said “firing his ass” was “one of the best” decisions he’d made during his 35-year career, according to the ABC affiliate.
Learn more by watching The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers on Oxygen and Peacock.
