BARDSTOWN, Ky. — The arrest of Brooks Houck in connection to the disappearance of his girlfriend, Bardstown mother Crystal Rogers, has sent shockwaves across the small Kentucky town.
By word of mouth and social media, just about the entire community had heard the news. Houck is currently in Hardin County detention, transferred after initially being booked in Nelson County, on charges of murder and tampering with evidence.
“Just thrilled, thank goodness,” lifelong Bardstown resident Donna Blincoe said. “Finally some justice… get him locked up.”
Like Blincoe, locals didn’t mince words. Many of them have been left anxious for 8 years, waiting for answers and justice for Rogers’ family – including mother Sherry Ballard.
“Everybody was just left in this gray area, and that gray area has color now that Brooks Houck is behind bars,” Katie Marks, who’s lived in Bardstown the majority of her life, said.
Marks, like many living in the quaint town, has watched this case closely for years.
“To be that close to evil was a very sinister feeling,” Marks said.
Former Bardstown mayor and current Nelson County historian Dixie Hibbs describes the moments following Houck’s arrest Wednesday morning when “the telephone was ringing all over town.”
Hibbs says there’s relief knowing Houck is in custody.
RELATED: Who is Brooks Houck, the man arrested in connection to the disappearance of Crystal Rogers?
“Now, is he guilty, is he not? That’ll have to be taken out in court,” Hibbs said.
Hibbs has witnessed a community in agony waiting for answers – and an arrest. Now, they’ve seen two in just over a month.
And she believes this is just the tipping point for more evidence to help solve the other tragic cases connected to Bardstown, as well.
“Something has happened in the last three or four weeks, and this is just the beginning. The information is going to trickle out, and we’re going to try to put it together like a big puzzle,” Hibbs said.
When WHAS11 News learned Houck was being transferred away from Nelson County, there was some thought he may be going to Grayson County’s high security facility.
A high-ranking official in Grayson County told WHAS11 News that part of the reason Houck was ultimately sent to Hardin County’s jail could be that authorities didn’t want Houck and fellow suspect Joseph Lawson together in the same space.
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