Crystal Rogers: FBI conducting new searches in Bardstown

BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WAVE) - Six years after she was last seen, new searches are underway for a missing Bardstown woman.

FBI Louisville says “based on information collected over the last year by the federal investigation into the disappearance of Crystal Rogers, FBI Louisville is now conducting several searches in the Woodlawn Springs subdivision.”

Supervisory Special Agent Tim Beam, the FBI Louisville Chief Division Counsel, said cadaver dogs, drones and ground scanners were being used in the search of three properties. Beam said the agency is not releasing specific addresses of the search locations to protect the privacy of the homeowners, who are not considered suspects.

Sherry Ballard, Rogers’ mother, told WAVE 3 News Rogers’ boyfriend at the time and the only suspect in the case, Brooks Houck, was building homes in the Woodlawn Springs subdivision when she disappeared in 2015.

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“We’re trying to hold up just as best as we can,” Ballard said. “It’s very hard when they’re doing a search like this. I’m very lucky with the community here. I’ve had so many people message and text me this morning. It’s good to know the community is wanting justice just like I am.”

Karen Riggs said her Bardstown community knows all about the Rogers case, but to see investigators set up in their own neighborhood felt surreal.

“Something you don’t think you would ever see in this small community,” Riggs said. “I mean we were voted most beautiful small town in America and then when you see something this devastating happen, it’s just hard to believe.”

Judy Brady lives in the Woodlawn Springs subdivision. She said she woke up to FBI trucks and tents near her block. She said she also woke up thinking of Rogers.

“It’s scary, but I want them to find whoever did this,” Brady said.

Brady and Riggs are both mothers, and said they hope they never feel the pain of missing a child.

“Every holiday, every day of your life, you’re going to be wondering where she is, what happened,” Riggs said. “Did she suffer? There’re so many questions as a mother. I just can’t fathom what that would be like, but it’s something I hope I never have to go through.”

“We just want her body to be found and for justice to be served,” Brady added.

The FBI has not set a timeline on how long the search at Woodlawn Springs will last. Agent Beam told WAVE 3 News they “will be there as long as it takes.”

Rogers was 35 when she was last seen on July 3, 2015, at the home she shared with her boyfriend, Brooks Houck.

Her car was found two days later on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway with a flat tire. Her purse, cellphone and keys were inside the car.

In October 2015, Bardstown police named Houck a suspect in the case, and said Rogers was presumed dead. That same day, Houck’s brother, Nick Houck, was fired from his job as a police officer with Bardstown police.

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