The prosecution continued calling witnesses as the trial of Crystal Rogers investigation suspects Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson continued at the Warren County Justice Center Friday morning.
The prosecution called Heather Snellen, who dated Steven Lawson and co-owned a vehicle with him. She testified that Lawson took the vehicle from her in early 2015, and then on July 3, 2015, she spotted the vehicle at the 62 South bar in Bardstown. After using her key fob to confirm the vehicle was hers, she drove the vehicle to her then-husband’s grandparents’ house on Boston Road.
Snellen testified that she cleaned the vehicle out the next day and discovered needles, tourniquets, a bag of wet clothing, and a Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Lawson testified at his trial last month that Joseph Lawson owned a Louisville Slugger which Steven Lawson said he removed from Rogers’s vehicle when he picked Joseph Lawson up on the Bluegrass Parkway.
Snellen testified that she and Lawson resumed dating in 2017, during which time she was a methamphetamine user and Joseph Lawson was her supplier. She testified that while doing laundry at Steven Lawson’s residence one night, she overheard the Lawsons talking about moving a body at the Houck farm, although they did not say whose body. She testified that she did not bring this to the FBI or Kentucky State Police in subsequent interviews because drugs were her “main focus” at this time. She eventually told a grand jury what she overheard. Defense attorneys for Houck questioned Snellen about the pressure she was put under by investigators with the Kentucky State Police, but on redirect Snellen said: “The truth is I overheard them talking about moving a body at the Houck Farm.”
The prosecution called Louisville Metro Police Department Detective Tim O’Daniel as an expert witness to discuss call detail records and location analysis he conducted on Houck and Steven Lawson at the request of the KSP in 2022. O’Daniel testified that on July 3, 2015, Houck’s phone was at the Houck farm from about 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., which contradicts Houck’s statement to police on his whereabouts that day. O’Daniel testified that Houck’s phone was at the farm until 11:57 p.m., after which it was shown at the My Old Kentucky Home Campground before arriving back at Houck’s home right before 12:19 a.m.
The prosecution called Mary Mattingly, who moved in across the street from Houck and Rogers about 10 months prior to the disappearance. She testified that prior to the disappearance Nick and Rosemary Houck were never at the house, but she then started seeing them at the house almost every day. Mattingly testified that one day she saw Nick Houck carry four white bags out of the home and place them in the back of his and Rosemary’s cars, and a few days later she saw Rosemary Houck removing flowers Rogers had planted.
The prosecution will continue their case as the trial resumes Monday morning.
