BARDSTOWN, Ky. — Known as the "Bourbon Capital of the World," Bardstown is a fitting place for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, which brings thousands of people every year to American's "Most Beautiful Small Town."
It isn't hard to see signs of the town's bourbon culture but it's more sinister history in recent years can also be found if you look hard enough, with signs posted around town calling for justice for four solved murder cases and answers in a missing person case.
"There are several of us in this town, in this group, that made a promise to Sherry and Tommy that we would never quit," Mary Taylor said. "We would never forget and we would never forget their names."
Taylor, a friend of Sherry Ballard, has been looking for answers for four years after Ballard's daughter, Crystal Rogers, disappeared in Bardstown. Ballard's husband, Tommy, was killed more than a year later.
Taylor and others decided the large amount of traffic from the Bourbon Festival was a good time to make sure their cases got more attention, printing bright yellow t-shirts and setting up billboards and signs throughout town to bring awareness, which many people have been very receptive, according to Taylor.
"There are people that are curious and then there's sympathy and they're heartfelt, wanting to know what could they do," she said.
This comes after family and friends of the Ballards found several missing signs calling for answers in Crystal's disappearance behind city hall in the area where signs illegally placed in the public right of way are placed. The city and county have denied to WHAS11 their policy has been to remove the "Prayers for Crystal" signs. Taylor and others close to the families believe there are some who want to move on from these cases, which is something they're not willing to do.
"Crystal's still missing," she said. "We're still looking for her. The kids still go to beds every night not knowing where their mom is. They still have rough mornings, rough nights. Sometimes Sherry has to pick them up at school, still four years later. So it may seem like it's been four years and we should move on, but to them, it's like yesterday."
Taylor says the shirts and signs go beyond just remembrance. She hopes the exposure will eventually lead to answers.
"We do want people to know that because you never know when that one person might have been here four years ago, saw something or heard something about Crystal's disappearance that may help break the case," she said.
Taylor said the t-shirts arrived on Thursday and more than 300 have already been sold, with orders coming in from around the country.
Taylor said she also hopes to speak with county and city officials to hammer out a policy about the signage so that the signs won't be removed again until Rogers is found.
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►Contact reporter Dennis Ting at dting@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@DennisJTing) and Facebook.