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On Monday, 8 years after Virginia woman Crystal Rogers went missing on July 3, 2015, the FBI announced that they are still investigating her disappearance. While FBI agents could not release any specific leads, they did note that they have made progress in the case.
The victim was 35-year-old at the time of her disappearance. She was last seen during a party at a farm in Bardstown, near Louisville.
On the 8th anniversary of Rogers' disappearance, the FBI also released an official statement about their progress in the case.
According to WLKY, Cyrstal Rogers was a mother of five. The father of her youngest child was a man named Brooks Houck, who was listed as a suspect and person of interest in the case, but never formally charged. A year after Rogers' disappearance, her father, Tommy Ballard, was fatally gunned down. Ballard's murder also remains unsolved.
The timeline of the search for Crystal Rogers
Witnesses claimed that they last saw Crystal Rogers alive in 2015, during a fourth of July party at the Bardstown farm. According to one cousin, that day Rogers was seen walking out of a Walmart with Brooks Houck. She was reportedly supposed to go on a date with Houck that night.
The next morning, Brooks Houck claimed that he woke up to find that the mother of his child had disappeared. She was formally reported missing on July 5. Later that day, her vehicle was found abandoned at Bardstown's Bluegrass Parkway. The car reportedly had a flat tire. Upon searching the vehicle, officials found Rogers' phone, keys, and her purse.
During the course of the investigation, Brooks Houck quickly emerged as a suspect. Later that year, Houck's brother was accused of allegedly tampering with the investigation. Brook Houck's friend, Danny Singleton, was also charged with 38 counts of perjury for allegedly lying to police officers about the details of the case. He was found guilty of false swearing, a lesser charge.
In November 2016, Crystal Rogers' father was murdered. Tommy Ballard was reportedly gunned down by an unknown suspect while he was taking his grandson on a hunting trip. The case remains unsolved, and authorities have not confirmed whether the shooting was related to Rogers' disappearance.
In an interview with WKLY, Sherry Ballard, mother to Crystal Rogers, and widow to Tommy Ballard, discussed how the case has impacted her family:
"I don't want anybody to forget what happened to my family and that we are still looking for answers. If he wasn't out physically searching he was on the computer looking up stuff. He promised the kids he would bring their mom home and he never gave up on that," Ballard said.
The FBI said that they are optimistic that they can solve both Rogers' disappearance and Ballard's murder
