BARDSTOWN, Ky. — After almost nine years, detectives continue to get closer to the truth in the disappearance of Crystal Rogers.
Her former boyfriend, Brooks Houck, is charged with murder in the Bardstown mother's 2015 disappearance, and two other men are charged with conspiracy to commit murder. All three suspects are set to appear in court on Thursday.
In 2020, Rogers' case was taken on by the FBI with Special Prosecutor Shane Young overseeing court proceedings.
For the first time since 2015, Brooks Houck's brother, former Bardstown Police officer Nick Houck, was mentioned in connection to any of the unsolved cases in Bardstown during his brother's arraignment last October.
Young said prosecutors have the rifle they believe killed Rogers' father, Tommy Ballard, who was fatally shot a year after her disappearance. The gun was allegedly purchased from Nick Houck.
But investigators have had their eyes on the Houck brothers since Rogers' was first reported missing.
Although Nick Houck has never been formally charged in either case, he was fired from the Bardstown Police Department shortly after the Rogers' investigation began due to his close involvement with the case.
Here's a look back at the Houck's previous interviews with authorities.
Brooks Houck interrogation
On July 8, 2015, days after Rogers was reported missing, Brooks Houck was interviewed by Nelson County Detective Jon Snow.
When asked what he thought may have happened to his missing girlfriend, Houck had no answer. He said he was "shocked."
Snow asked about a late-night phone call between Houck and Steven Lawson on the night Rogers disappeared. Lawson and his son, Joseph, are the other two men charged in Rogers' death investigation.
Houck continued to answer Snow's questions until he received a phone call from his brother, Nick Houck. During that call, he told Brooks to leave the interrogation room -- which he did, ending the interview.
Nick Houck questioned
Kentucky State Police investigators questioned Nick Houck on July 15, 2015, after his brother's interview.
Nick was asked what he knew about the relationship his brother had with Rogers, but replied that he rarely met her. He was also questioned about the call he made to Brooks during his interview.
Former Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin recalled that although he believes Nick didn't know what happened, and was only looking out for his brother, the call didn't sit right with him.
Nick was fired from the department the same day his brother was named the main suspect in Rogers' disappearance in October 2015.
KSP detectives also asked Nick to take a polygraph test, to which he agreed to do.
Polygraph test results
On July 24, 2015, Nick Houck was back in the interrogation room. Nick failed his polygraph test and an examiner discussed the results with him, pushing for answers.
"When I say you know more than you're telling me, I'm not guessing that," he told Nick.
Specifically, the detective said Nick failed questions regarding Rogers' current location and what happened to her.
At multiple times during the interrogation, Nick interrupts the detective asking for the interview to end.
Brooks Houck also took a polygraph test in the early stages of the investigation.
In Nick's interview with state police, authorities said the results of Brooks' test were "inconclusive." He neither failed nor passed.
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