BARDSTOWN, Ky. — Forty-five miles south of Louisville, Bardstown is nestled among Kentucky's rolling hills, between the bourbon distilleries and beside the Bluegrass Parkway.
The tiny town takes you back in time.
“I mean Bardstown was...a Norman Rockwell painting." local Richard Cauldwell said. "It was a very idealic."
Most celebrated for its signature spirit, the town is considered the bourbon capitol of the world.
“I like to say Bardstown is a typical Kentucky town, but it truly isn't," historian Dixie Hibbs said. "It's very special."
With an emphasis on agriculture and tourism, those who live in Bardstown are proud of their home, but beyond the bourbon and beauty, there are secrets and tragic stories.
"We're like a fractured bone that we've never put a cast on," Hibbs said. "It's still there. It still hurts."
Bardstown's first major fracture in recent history happened in 2013 when police officer Jason Ellis was ambushed on his way home from work.
The next chapter was written only one year later when Kathy Netherland and her teenage daughter Samantha were attacked and killed inside their Bardstown home.
“They weren't bad people, there was nothing about their public personas to suggest that," Cauldwell said, "and the fact that they...died so gruesomely."
By April 2014, there were three deaths with no answers—but the story did not stop. In July of 2015, missing mother Crystal Rogers went missing.
While her case is still a missing persons case, Nelson County Sheriff Ramon Pineiroa said he does not believe Rogers is alive. And just over a year after her death, Rogers' father Tommy Ballard was shot and killed.
"I don't want no priest to preach forgiveness to me," Ballard's father, Till, said. "Talking about hell..we going through hell. Period."
Jason Ellis. Kathy and Samantha Netherland. Crystal Rogers. Tommy Ballard. Know their names and learn their stories. All of these cases are UNSOLVED.
Watch "Bardstown | UNSOLVED" all week on WHAS11 at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.
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