WQXE News

Two juveniles were killed and two juveniles were injured in an early-morning crash in Hardin County Saturday.

According to the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 2:20 a.m. on March 29 deputies responded to a single-vehicle crash involving injuries on the 3,700 block of Saint John Road.

The sheriff’s office says the preliminary investigation indicates that the vehicle was traveling east on Saint John Road when the driver lost control. The vehicle exited the roadway on the left shoulder, rolling multiple times.

A front-seat passenger was ejected from the vehicle and suffered fatal injuries. They were pronounced dead at the scene by the Hardin County Coroner’s Office. The driver was also ejected from the vehicle, sustaining life-threatening injuries. After being transported to Baptist Health Hardin and later the University of Louisville Hospital, Hardin County Sheriff John Ward confirmed they ultimately died due to their injuries. Two juvenile passengers that were in the back seat sustained minor injuries and were transported to Baptist Health Hardin for treatment.

The Hardin County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation of the crash is ongoing.

In a release Sunday afternoon, Hardin County Schools Superintendent Teresa Morgan said: “We have learned that two Central Hardin High School juniors, Tristen Shrouder and Gerald Lyons, have passed away as the result of an automobile accident. They both had the promise of bright futures and both were incredible young men. We all share in the pain and the sense of tragic loss that these families have. Losing anyone is horrific but the loss of two young lives cuts us to our core. I ask the entire Hardin County Schools family and our community to keep Tristen’s family and Gerald’s family in your thoughts and in your hearts. These losses come at a time when our students and staff are away from school because of spring break.”

The HCS Crisis Response Team will have counselors for all students and staff in the Central Hardin Library Monday from 10 a.m. to noon, and a list of professional counseling services is available on the school’s website.

Two of the suspects in the Crystal Rogers investigation are agreeing to the testing of hairs found in Rogers’s vehicle, while the special prosecutor in the case says one suspect is raising objections.

Nelson Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms III issued an agreed order Thursday between the Commonwealth and Joseph Lawson allowing for the testing of two hairs tape-lifted from the vehicle in September of 2016. The order is the same as the one issued Wednesday between the Commonwealth and Brooks Houck except Lawson agreed to submit to a buccal cheek swab in order to provide a DNA sample.

Special Prosecutor Shane Young introduced a motion Wednesday requesting the court order the testing in Steven Lawson’s case as well and order Steven Lawson to also submit a cheek swab for a DNA sample. The motion notes that Steven Lawson’s attorneys have not agreed to testing the hairs.

A copy of a 2016 court order submitted with Young’s motion states that the third hair noted in the agreed orders and the motion, which was tested in 2016, was found in the trunk of a white Buick which belonged to Houck’s grandmother Anna Whitesides. The order states that an official with the Kentucky State Police Laboratory said the third hair “appeared to be similar to the decedent’s hair.”

The prosecution requested to argue the motion on April 3, which is when Lawson is next scheduled to appear in court for a status hearing.

Unemployment in Kentucky in February came in slightly higher than where it was the year prior. 

The Kentucky Center for Statistics says the state unemployment average for February was 5.3 percent. That is an increase from February 2024 when the rate was reported at 4.7 percent, but the rate is unchanged from January.

Kentucky’s unemployment average also came in higher in February than the national unemployment rate, which the U.S. Department of Labor reported at 4.1 percent.

The Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet says the state’s civilian labor force, which includes people currently employed and people actively searching for work, saw an increase of about 5,200 people from January to February, bringing the civilian labor force to about 2,115,000.

The education and labor cabinet says the Construction, Educational and Health Services, Manufacturing, Government, Financial Activities, Information Services, and Professional and Business Services sectors saw gains in February. Decreases were seen in the Mining and Logging, Trade, Transportation, and Utilities, and Leisure and Hospitality sectors.

Visit the Kentucky Center for Statistics website for more about unemployment figures and labor market information.