Nelson County judge selects Warren County as change of venue for Crystal Rogers trial

A Nelson County judge ruled Monday that the trial of Brooks Houck and his two co-defendants will be held in Warren County.

Both the prosecution and defense agreed there’s been too much publicity since Rogers went missing nine years ago to find an unbiased jury in Bardstown.

Nelson County Circuit Judge Charles Simms had been looking outside the Louisville and Lexington media markets at counties "demographically" similar to Nelson before ruling the trial will take place in Warren County.

Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson, and Steve Lawson are scheduled to face a jury on Feb. 10, 2025. It’s still unknown if they’ll be tried together or separately.

Rogers was last seen with Houck, the father of one of her children, during the Fourth of July weekend in 2015. Her car was left running on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway. She's presumed dead, but her body hasn’t been found.

This won’t be the first time Houck has been in a Warren County courtroom. In 2019, a Warren County jury found him not guilty of stealing roofing shingles from a Lowe's store in Nelson County.
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