BARDSTOWN, Ky. — Draped in holiday decorations, the heart of downtown Bardstown, Ky. was shining bright Friday. As was the long-held hope of its residents — coping with a disappearance that’s gone unsolved for more than eight years but finally seeing results.
Adding to the whirlwind few months it's been in the Crystal Rogers case, police said they can now tie a third person to her July 2015 disappearance.
Steven Lawson has been indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, according to court documents.
The charges stem from an incident over the Fourth of July weekend in 2015, investigators said, when he - acting alone or with others - mutilated, concealed or destroyed physical evidence and aided a person in the planning or commission of a crime causing the death of another person.
“[We] heard that a third arrest was coming,” Shey Koger, a Bardstown resident who’s tediously followed Crystal’s case, said. “I think we're finally putting all the final pieces of the puzzle to finally getting justice.”
Investigators made the first arrest in connection with Rogers’ disappearance in September 2023, indicting Joseph Lawson, 32, on the same charges Steven faces.
Following Steven’s arrest Friday, WHAS11 learned he has a son named Joseph Lawson but cannot confirm if he is the same man who was arrested in the fall.
Of the more than a dozen locals WHAS11 spoke with in Bardstown, not a single one knew anything about either of the Lawsons.
“It was kind of a shock when it first came out that there was someone [unknown] like that involved," Kim Evans, a Bardstown resident, said. “Like everybody, we just want justice for the Ballards and for people to pay for the crimes that they did.”
While seemingly off the public’s radar, the Lawson name is one familiar to law enforcement.
According to reporting from WHAS11 investigative journalist Shay McAlister, Steven's name came up in one of the very first police interviews between Nelson County Detective Jon Snow and the main suspect in Rogers' disappearance, Brooks Houck.
As investigators close in, the initial shock has subsided for some like Louisville resident Laura Skrebunas.
“[The arrest] doesn't surprise me at all. It's been enough time, that [investigators] have probably been building it for a while, I think,” she said. “I am just happy [Sherry Ballard] is getting, possibly, some closure.”
In her first interview after major bombshells were dropped in court regarding the deaths of Sherry Ballard’s daughter, Crystal Rogers, and husband, Tommy Ballard, she told WHAS11 recent developments have not surprised her and she’s hopeful for the future.
“God is finally answering some of my prayers. It’s His time, not mine. And I'm very happy with that,” she said during the Nov. 15 interview.
Steven is being held at the Harrison County Indiana Jail. He is expected to appear in court on Dec. 21.
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