BARDSTOWN, Ky. — For the last eight years, Sherry Ballard has been an outspoken advocate for her family.
WHAS11 Investigative Report Shay McAlister has interviewed Ballard several times about the deaths of her husband Tommy Ballard and daughter Crystal Rogers.
But for the first time, after learning the cases may be connected, Ballard said she had to stay quiet.
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Special Prosecutor Shane Young and detectives didn’t want Sherry doing any interviews and she respected their wishes, that was until the seven-year mark of her husband’s death.
That’s when she decided she couldn’t, and wouldn’t, keep quiet.
LISTEN TO EPISODE FOUR:
Episode four will be available to stream on Spotify and Apple Podcasts on Tuesday, April 16.
Sherry, Are You Ready?
Sherry still lives in the same home she shared with her husband Tommy, a house he built for their family. Although the memories are painful, they’re all she has now.
When prosecutors said they believe they have the gun used to kill her husband, Sherry said it was shocking to hear, but came as no surprise to her.
“I think things are coming together,” she said. “And I think I’m headed in the right direction.”
Former Prosecutor for the Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office Nick Mudd joins McAlister on the podcast to answer some of the lingering questions about the Rogers case as suspects continue to appear in court.
Mudd, who’s worked as both a prosecutor and defense attorney, examines where the case stands so far but questions a surprising lack of evidence.
“I kept thinking, there’s got to be some sort of DNA evidence or even cell phone forensics,” he said. “I don’t have a copy of that discovery, I’m not an attorney on the case, but I’ve not seen any of that come out, which is surprising.”
RELATED: Discovery in Crystal Rogers’ death includes evidence in two other unsolved Bardstown murders
Houck's attorney, Brian Butler, has argued in previous motions that prosecutors lack evidence.
“They can do no more than guess at who killed [Crystal], how she died, why she died, and where she died," Butler added. “[There is] no crime scene, murder weapon, or realistic motive for the alleged crime. Ms. Rogers’ body has never been found.”
According to Mudd, it's extremely difficult to prosecute a homicide without a body or murder weapon.
"You really can't piece together the past," he said. "[It] leaves a lot of questions for a jury, when you're asking someone to send someone to prison for the rest of their life, that leaves a lot of questions for them and can leave a jury very uneasy."
Mudd said he's never worked on a "no body" homicide case or known of any cases like that in Jefferson County or the surrounding communities. He said convictions without that evidence are possible, but rely on "circumstantial evidence."
"I've dealt with some cases that were primarily based on circumstantial evidence as a prosecutor and it's an uphill battle," he said. "It is possible, but its very difficult to go forward on that kind of case."
Episode five of "Back to Bardstown" will be released on the WHAS11 YouTube channel on Monday, April 22. It will be released on Spotify and Apple Podcasts on Tuesday, April 23.
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