Family of Crystal Rogers hopes for answers during FBI search of Bardstown farm

FBI agents are back in Bardstown Monday continuing the search for 35-year-old, mother of five, Crystal Rogers

NELSON COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – FBI agents are back in Bardstown Monday continuing the search for 35-year-old, mother of five, Crystal Rogers, searching once again in the last place she was seen alive, a 245-acre farm belonging to Brooks Houck’s family.

This search is yet another emotional one for Rogers family, who are just looking for closure.

“I’m happy they are back on that farm, I’ve never felt satisfied with that farm” said Sherry Ballard, mother of Crystal Rogers, to media Monday including our ABC affiliate WHAS 11.

Rogers was last seen on July 3rd, 2015. Her car was found on the side of the bluegrass parkway the next day with her purse, phone and keys still inside.

Ballard says when she got the call from the FBI about the search, she was full of emotion.

“I know it’s closer each day, it’s getting closer and I don’t know, I’m ready for answers, our family just needs answers and I think they are getting close” added Ballard.

Ballard says it’s always been in the back of her mind that maybe, just maybe, her daughter is somewhere on the Houck farm.

Brooks Houck was Rogers’s boyfriend at the time she went missing, and is the main suspect in the case, though he’s never been arrested or charged.

“Until I find her, I’m just never going to be happy with that farm and I always think that’s the last place she was seen” added Ballard.

This isn’t the first time the property has been searched; multiple searches were done by local law enforcement in 2015, and 2016, before the FBI officially took over the case in 2020.

Last year the investigation led FBI to the Woodlawn Springs subdivision at a property built by Brooks Houck around the time Rogers disappeared.
The FBI said several items of interest were found but did not say what those items were.

“These searches are hard, they’re very difficult for me, but I have to get through them that’s just, I have to do them for my husband and my daughter too” said Ballard.

The FBI is also still investigating the death of Rogers’s father, Tommy Ballard, who was shot and killed while hunting on his property just a little more than a year after Rogers went missing.

7 years of heartbreak and tragedy now for this family, but they still have hope they’ll get the answers and closure they need.

“I pray that they find my daughter and i bring her home” said Ballard.

You can submit tips or information on the case to the FBI through crystalrogerstaskforce.com or by calling 502-263-6000.

{Video and Interview courtesy WHAS 11}