FBI searched the family farm of Brooks Houck, once considered the main suspect in the disappearance of Crystal Rogers, for evidence in October 2022. Inset left: Joseph Lawson (YouTube screengrab/WHAS). Inset right: Crystal Rogers, who went missing in 2015 (FBI).
A man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Kentucky woman who disappeared in 2015 and has been presumed dead ever since.
Joseph Lawson, 32, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Crystal Rogers. According to Louisville Fox affiliate WDRB, Lawson’s bond has been set at $500,000 cash.
It’s the first indictment in the case of Rogers’ disappearance. It reportedly says a crime was committed in Nelson County on July 3 and/or July 4, 2015, when Lawson “agreed to aid one or more persons in the planning or commission of the crime or an attempt or solicitation to commit the crime when he, and/or, a co-conspirator intentionally caused the death of another.”
The indictment also charges Lawson with complicity to tampering with physical evidence when he “destroyed, mutilates, concealed, removed or alters physical evidence,” according to the WDRB report.
The indictment does not identify Rogers by name, WDRB reported. The maximum sentence, if convicted, is 10 to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge and one to five years in prison on the destruction of evidence charge.
Local ABC affiliate WHAS reported that Lawson has a criminal history dating back to 2015. Past charges include domestic violence, receiving stolen property, methamphetamine possession, assault, strangulation, facilitation to strangulation, unlawful imprisonment, theft, and burglary.
Read Related Also: Maya Jama slips into Nike Dunks, Michelle Keegan switches into a tracksuit and Vicky Pattison makes a worse for wear exit as they lead the boozy departures from the NTAs
According to the FBI, Rogers was reported missing on July 5, 2015, by her mother, two days after last being seen. The day she was reported missing, Rogers’ car was found abandoned with a flat tire at mile marker 14 on the Bluegrass Parkway in Bardstown, Kentucky, about 45 miles southeast of Louisville, according to federal investigators. Her keys, phone, and purse were still inside the car.
“Rogers is the mother of five children and is not known to go anywhere without her children,” the FBI said at the time of her disappearance.
Brooks Houck, Rogers’ boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, has previously been named a suspect but has not ever been charged. He is the father of Rogers’ youngest child and is believed to be the last person to see her alive, according to WDRB.
More than a year after Rogers disappeared, her father, Tommy Ballard, was shot and killed on family property in Bardstown, the FBI said.
More from Law&Crime: Man who pleaded for safe return of still-missing fiancee and mother of 3 is now arrested for her murder
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
