LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Editor's note: The above video is of a hearing that happened in October of 2023.
New court documents filed in the Crystal Rogers murder case on Thursday are now piecing together another one of Bardstown’s unsolved mysteries.
A new motion filed by Brooks Houck’s attorneys claim Houck is being subjected to “intense public scorn” after his brother Nick Houck was tied to Tommy Ballard’s murder during a court hearing in October of 2023.
Ballard was killed in 2016, just minutes after arriving on family land for a hunting trip with his grandson. For the previous 16 months, he had led the search for his missing daughter, Crystal Rogers.
According to court documents, "the commonwealth argued in Brooks' bond hearing that his brother Nick Houck was the primary suspect in the alleged murder of Mister Ballard."
That is the first time any attorney or official has called Nick Houck the primary suspect in Ballard’s death.
At the October bond hearing referenced, Prosecutor Shane Young told the judge his team was also investigating Ballard’s death and believed they had the gun used to kill him.
"The firearm that we purchased from Nicholas Houck, who was using a fake name when he sold the rifle," Young said, adding the caliber of the rifle matched the one that killed Tommy. "There are five criteria that we are looking at and so far it matched four out of the five criteria."
That was the first time we heard Nick Houck connected to the Ballard case on the record, but his family wasn’t surprised. After the court hearing his dad, Till Ballard, said it felt "real good" to hear the connection.
"We’ve thought it all along, but after Prosecutor Shane made that statement, we felt a lot better. And I think it won't be too long," he said. "I'm hoping he'll be the next one arrested."
Nick Houck was fired from the Bardstown Police Department, where he worked as an officer, in October of 2015. The announcement came on the same day that his brother was named the main suspect in the disappearance of Crystal Rogers.
The Bardstown Police Chief at the time, Rick McCubbin, said Nick lost his job because he interfered with the investigation. He was also accused of failing a polygraph exam and lying to police.
Nick Houck has not been arrested or charged with any crimes. He has not been labeled a primary suspect by authorities.
The next court date in this case is March 21, when Brooks Houck, Steve Lawson and Joseph Lawson will go in front of a judge.
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