Father of previously indicted suspect is third person charged in disappearance, death of Crystal Rogers

A third person, and the father of a previously indicted suspect, has been charged in the disappearance and presumed death of Crystal Rogers.

Steve E. Lawson, 53, of Chaplin (Nelson Co.), was indicted by a Nelson County Grand Jury on Tuesday on a criminal conspiracy to commit murder charge. Lawson was indicted in May for tampering with physical evidence. That indictment was sealed until this week.

The murder indictment states that Lawson aided “one or more persons in the planning or commission” of murdering a person and then “destroyed, mutilated, concealed, (and/or) removed” evidence.

Lawson was lodged in the Harrison County (IN) Jail on a $500,000 cash bond.

In early September, Lawson’s son, Joseph L. Lawson, 32, of Willisburg, was charged in the case with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.

Rogers, 35, a mother of five, disappeared on July 3, 2015. Her vehicle was found on the Bluegrass Parkway in Nelson County with her personal belongings inside.

Rogers’ boyfriend at the time of her disappearance (and a longtime suspect), Brooks Houck, 41, was arrested in September following his indictment by a Nelson County Grand Jury for murder and tampering with physical evidence.

The indictment states that Houck, the father of one of Rogers’ children, “acting alone or in complicity with another, committed the offense of murder by intentionally or under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life wantonly causing the death of Crystal Rogers.”

Last week, the FBI and Kentucky State Police excavated a property on Thompson Hill Road in Coxs Creek. A search that is believed to be related to Rogers’ disappearance.

By Ken Howlett, News Director

Contact Ken at ke@k105.com