FBI scour subdivision built by boyfriend of missing mother Crystal Rogers in Kentucky cold case: Prime suspect's brother failed lie detector test in 2015

The mother of a Kentucky woman who vanished more than six years ago says the FBI has turned its focus to three homes constructed by the missing woman’s boyfriend around the time of her disappearance.

Crystal Rogers, 35, was last seen July 3, 2015 by her boyfriend Brooks Houck. He told police she was playing games on her phone that evening, but was gone the next morning.

The Bardstown, Kentucky, woman’s maroon Chevrolet Impala was later found on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway with a flat tire. Her purse, keys, and uncharged phone remained inside the unlocked vehicle.

The FBI announced Tuesday that it was scouring a local neighborhood in connection with Rogers’ disappearance.

‘Based on information collected over the last year by the federal investigation into the disappearance of Crystal Rogers, FBI Louisville is now conducting several searches in the Woodlawn Springs subdivision,’ the agency said Tuesday on Twitter.

Krystal Rogers was last seen July 3, 2005, by her boyfriend, Brooks Houck, who was in the process of building three homes at the time of her disappearance

FBI agents scoured Houck's properties Wednesday as they continued their search for the missing mother-of-five

Investigators focused their efforts on three homes built by Houck around the time Rogers went missing, said her mom Sherry Ballard.

‘He didn’t help build the homes – he built them,’ Ballard told Dailymail.com. ‘He was the architect.’

Search teams have now narrowed its scope down to a single property, she said.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Rogers' boyfriend Brooks Houck is the only named suspect in the case

An agent on the scene Tuesday told The Courier-Journal, a local newspaper, that investigators would search for ‘as long as it takes.’

Search teams were aided by a cadaver dog, another Kentucky media outlet reported.

After she disappeared, Rodgers' father Tommy Ballard spearheaded an initiative to bring her home. 

But on November 19, 2016, he was fatally shot while preparing for a hunting trip with his 12-year-old grandson. He had been standing on family property, next to Bluegrass Parkway in Bardstown, when someone fired a single shot into his chest. 

His murder remains unsolved. 

The FBI is also investigating that case, but has not said whether it's connected to Rogers' disappearance.  

The FBI took over the missing person’s investigation last August, with 150 federal agents executing search warrants on nine properties, including a family farm and Houck’s home, where IRS agents were seen removing files, documents and computer hard drives.

The Bardstown, Kentucky, woman’s maroon Chevrolet Impala was later found on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway with a flat tire. Her purse, keys, and uncharged phone remained inside the unlocked vehicle

Before she went missing, Rogers sent a friend a message saying she and Houck hired a babysitter for their two-year-old son that evening, and planning to go on a date

At the time, his brother Nick Houck's home was also searched by FBI agents with canines who appeared focused on a pickup truck. Investigators collected evidence from the home, and witnesses said Nick Houck was taken away by law enforcement.

Nick Houck was in 2015 fired from the Bardstown Police Department for allegedly warning his brother that cops were coming to question him. He later failed a lie detector test about the case.

Nelson County Sheriff Ed Mattingly officially named Brooks Houck a suspect in October 2015, about three months after the mother-of-five disappeared.

Nick Houck, whose brother is the chief suspect in the case, was fired from the police force for tipping his sibling off when investigators planned to interview him

Police at the time released a video of an interview between a detective and Brooks Houck, which showed him claiming that Rogers went out with friends the night she disappeared.

'They do these fantasy parties,' he told the officer. 'All these girls get together, it’s not uncommon for them to stay out...the better part of the night if not the whole night.'

The detective then referenced a text obtained from Rogers' phone, where she told a friend that she and Brooks had found a babysitter to watch their two-year-old son that night.

Sixteen months after his daughter disappeared, Tommy Ballard was fatally shot while preparing for a hunting trip. His murder remains unsolved 

‘It's our first time being kid-free for awhile. We're gonna enjoy ourselves,' the detective said while reading aloud the text in footage obtained by WDRB.

'I don't know,' Houck responded.

Shortly after his girlfriend disappeared, Houck said he wasn’t concerned because the couple had a 'stressed relationship' at times and Crystal would sometimes 'cope or deal' by spending the night at her cousin Sabrina's house.

The FBI also launched a website to help raise awareness about the case.

The site features a quote from one of Roger’s daughters.

‘My mom is a very special women,’ the daughter said. ‘The memory that will forever be in my heart is going to DQ and buying my momma lunch. We would always get the chicken strip basket with the toast and gravy to go with it.

‘…Since my mom’s been missing, life has been really hard. I always wonder what my life would be like if she and my papaw was still here.’