Back to Bardstown: Jason Ellis, the Netherlands, Crystal Rogers, and Tommy Ballard

Bardstown, Kentucky, experienced five murders in a three-year time span, including of a police officer, with three of the crimes very distinct and four remaining unsolved. Kentucky reporters Shay McAlister and Jessica Noll covered the five cases in the 2019 podcast, Back to Bardstown, with updates in the years since. I’m obviously late to listening to the podcast, but I binged everything over the last two weeks. Which turned out to be good timing given the news of the past week relevant to one of the cases. As I sometimes do, I took notes while I listened to each episode. What follows then, are those notes in the order I heard them just to give you a sense of my real time thinking. One other note: when I refer to “people say” for potential theories about the case, these were theories brought up on the podcast from the people of Bardstown.

Bardstown

First, Bardstown itself. With a population of 14,104, Bardstown is considered a relatively small town. I say “relatively” because to non-Americans, that probably still seems like a lot of people! For Americans, we consider that a small town. As McAlister and Noll discuss, Bardstown, like many a town in Kentucky and America, has its share of drug overdose issues and petty gangster crime. The drug and gang connections are a point of emphasis throughout the series. More on that in a moment.

Bardstown Police Officer Jason Ellis

In 2013, Bardstown police officer Jason Ellis was seemingly ambushed and killed. The perpetrator or perpetrators left tree branches at the exit of the Bluegrass Parkway that runs through Bardstown. On his way home and off shift, Ellis stopped to clear the branches. When he did, he was shot multiple times from the direction of the embankment with a shotgun. He was only 33, leaving behind a wife and son, and sisters and a mother who live in Cincinnati. The case has remained unsolved ever since. Yes, that is surprising since Ellis was a police officer, but it’s also surprising that there doesn’t seem to be any sort of leads, evidence, or potential suspects.

Notable information in the Ellis case

• Ellis was a K-9 Officer, with his dog Figo. Figo was not with him at the time. People theorized drugs may have been involved to the extent that Ellis was a K-9 Officer, i.e., someone or a cartel was seeking revenge.
• The department didn’t have dash cams and certainly not body cameras at the time.
• Ellis never had an opportunity remove his gun from its holster, which combined with the tree branches, made investigators suspect it was an ambush.
• Nick Houck, a fellow Bardstown policer officer, apparently didn’t get along with Jason Ellis. Nick would be potentially implicated in other Bardstown cases, but people theorize it’s possible this was blue-on-blue and then the blue is apparently backing the blue to cover up the death situation …
• Given the wounds and shell casings, it doesn’t seem clear whether there was just one shooter who shot from the embankment and advanced on Ellis, or if there were multiple shooters involved.
• People think it must be someone who knew Ellis’ routine in order to ambush him.

My thoughts on the Ellis case

• Whenever there is an unsolved death, I feel like people always trot out the drugs and/or cartel motive and connection. People, I think, lack imagination about how crime tends to function: it’s usually someone the person knew, not nefarious drug cartels.
• McAlister interviews a “citizen journalist” on the podcast, Richard Caldwell, who, with all due respect, is a bit of a clown. He’s the one who proffers the “blue-on-blue” theory and that it’s a police coverup. Based on … what? Nothing. But it sounds ominous. (Another podcast positively describes him as a “conspiracy theorist,” so, this tracks.)
• While yes, I did say people forget that crime is usually perpetrated by someone the victim knew, in the case of a cop, it’s possible someone didn’t know Ellis’ routine and was merely hoping to get any cop who happened upon those tree branches on the Bluegrass Parkway. That said, you would think someone with that sort of animus against police officers would strike again. I find that a befuddling part of the Ellis case: this seemingly random ambush was a one-and-done deal. (Unless the person has struck in other places that haven’t been connected back to this one.)

Kathy and Samantha Netherland

In 2014, Kathy Netherland and her 16-year-old daughter Samantha were found brutally murdered inside their home, which was just outside the Bardstown city limits (another reason the “small town” qualification is amusing since it’s literally a city). Kathy was a school teacher for special needs students. An older sister was left behind, in addition to the husband/father.

Notable information on the Netherland’s case

• Kathy’s husband, Norris, found them after Kathy didn’t show up for work.
• The mother and daughter were beaten, bludgeoned, shot, stabbed, and had their throats slit. Samantha in particular was described as “nearly decapitated” by the media. It seems like a classic case of “overkill,” which sometimes speaks to, again, someone close to the Netherlands, i.e., a crime of passion.
• Police later released an image of a black Chevy Impala captured by surveillance video from a nearby gas station they have an interest in as a suspect vehicle.
• In 2024, police later said they knew the vehicle was connected because it pulled into the back of the Netherland home. Footage from a nearby establishment then captures a “dark figure” moving around to the front door. “Someone then appears to let that person in.”
• Another theory is that it was a gang initiative.

My thoughts on the Netherland’s case

• To be abundantly clear, this is not a tragedy Olympics here; no one Bardstown murder case is more important than another. But naturally, I think, Ellis’ case received outsized attention compared to a normal murder because he was a police officer and his family was willing to discuss the case, and two other cases I’m about to talk about received outsized attention because a disappearance adds a layer of intrigue, and again, the family was very outspoken about the case. Here, the Netherland family did not speak about the case. All that to say, this is the most brutal and shocking of all the murders in my humble opinion because of the violence involved, particularly against a child, that it was done in their home, and that the killer presumably remains at large.
• If Kathy’s sister is right about the footage and it depicts the killer “being let in,” that’s rather key information. While it’s possible Kathy or Samantha let a stranger into their home, it’s more likely they would let someone they knew into their home. Again, then, the perpetrator would be someone they knew. For what it’s worth, the sister doesn’t think it was random.
• Given how disproportionately violent Samantha’s death seems, that makes one think she was the main target, and again, this is something Kathy’s sister believes, too. So, is the killer someone connected to her somehow?
• As for the gang initiative theory, I dispute that for the same reason I did in Ellis’ case.

Crystal Rogers

A little more than a year after the Netherlands case, on July 5, 2015, Crystal Rogers was reported missing. (Eerily, her aunt was killed 36 years earlier.) She was a mother of five and dating Brooks Houck, who she had a 2-year-old son with. Obviously, the family didn’t believe that their daughter, again with five children, would merely walk off and disappear of her own volition. They set about searching throughout Bardstown for her.

Notable information on the Rogers case

• Brooks Houck is the brother of Nick Houck, the Bardstown police officer. Nick would be terminated from the department after his efforts to interfere in the Rogers case and for his lack of cooperation therein (he called Brooks during a police interrogation and advised him to stop talking, essentially). Credit to the Bardstown police chief at the time, Rick McCubbin, I believe, for firing Nick, who seemed like a bad, incompetent officer otherwise anyhow.
• During the aforementioned police interrogation, Brooks became defensive when the detective asked why he seemed to not make much of a fuss about his girlfriend not being home the next morning after he’d just seen her the night before “playing games on her phone.”
• When Nick does interrupt the interrogation with his phone call, it felt like a rehearsed conversation to me from what we could hear of Brooks’ side of the conversation. (Spoiler alert: Brooks never came across sincere or genuine to me, with the huge caveat that I try not to judge how anyone reacts in their grief during a murder investigation.)
• Two days after she was reported missing, Crystal’s car was found with her purse, phone, and keys inside. That’s a giant red flag that Crystal did not leave her home of her own volition. If she was going to, she likely would have taken all those items, and you know, the car, too.
• Nick would be forced to cooperate in the investigation. His cruiser was investigated and they found “fluids on a blanket” in his cruiser. They also know that Nick met with Brooks after Brooks’ interrogation. Nick claims to not recall having met his brother on their farm, which occurred less than a week prior to the interrogation with police. Finally, Nick, like Brooks, got angry when confronted with all this and his lying by the detective. (Obligatory note here that polygraph tests and “failing” them are junk science.)
• The same day, I believe, Nick is fired from the Bardstown Police Department, Brooks is named as the “prime suspect” in Crystal’s disappearance.
• Danny Singleton became the first person arrested and charged in connection to Crystal’s case for perjury, which was later reduced to false swearing. Singleton was an employee of Brooks’.
• Weird, minor tidbit: Brooks went on to date another blonde named Crystal.
• The FBI was involved throughout and really seemed to stake their claim on the case in the summer of 2020.
• Unidentified human remains were found, but determined not to be Crystal’s (so yet another unsolved issue?).
• In September 2021, the FBI was digging on a property connected to Brooks (he’s apparently a wealthy landlord) and “items of interest” were found under the driveway.
• Shane Young, lead prosecutor of neighboring Harding County, took over the Ellis case, Crystal’s case, and another case I’m about to talk about in 2023.
• By September 2023, Joseph Lawson was arrested for Crystal’s death, the son of Steve Lawson, both of whom are connected to Brooks.
• Steve Lawson and Brooks had a 13-second midnight conversation the night Crystal disappeared. Again, Brooks sounded rehearsed and/or phony when talking to Steve about the phone call in front of detectives. What’s weird is, Steve claimed he needed to talk to Crystal to which Brooks said he would have Crystal call him back despite Crystal sitting in the truck next to him when the call ostensibly occurred. Detectives pick up on that weirdness. Brooks didn’t have a good answer.
• Steve would also be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and for tampering with evidence in Crystal’s disappearance and murder. Steve picked his son up, who had driven Crystal’s car to the Bluegrass Parkway. He needed picking up because the car had a flat tire.
• Digging occurred near a house and woods in Nelson County, which I believe was also connected to Brooks.
• Brooks was finally arrested in connection to Crystal’s death, also in September 2023. There would go on to be a $10 million bond dispute, but the judge didn’t budge.

My thoughts on the Crystal Rogers case

• I do not like someone being named a “prime suspect” by police if they haven’t been arrested and charged with anything. Either make an arrest and submit charges or not. The former seems more like a theatrical element for the public and the media than anything to do with solving the case.
• Brooks’ story always seemed flimsy from the get-go from his seeming lack of interest in reporting her missing to being the last person who saw her alive to the 13-second midnight phone conversation the night of her disappearance. Also, obviously, the connection to his brother, Nick, a police officer at the time, and his shadiness during the investigation, along with the fluids found in his police cruiser.
• It’s kind of bizarre how much time elapsed between Singleton being charged with perjury and the Lawsons and Brooks being arrested (more than seven years).
• Steve Lawson and his attorney who is interviewed for the podcast are morons, respectfully. They argue the police offered Steve immunity in exchange for his testimony. Police are in no position to offer immunity! They’re not prosecutors!
• Season 1, Episode 8: “Hunting the Houcks” was a rather unseemly title for the episode, especially given what happened in the previous episode. It was also a nothingburger of an episode.
• Again, it’s so silly to connect Crystal’s disappearance to “drugs” and/or that “she knew something.” People imagine grand conspiracies when the truth is much simpler and closer to home most often.
• Why the heck did McAlister and Noll talk to a freaking psychic? Yes, she has a cop background, but no, you cannot trust “cop intuition” because it’s bunk. It was a waste of time. How are we still doing psychics in the 21st century?!
• I have no idea why the podcast or the people of Bardstown assumed there was a connection between Ellis, the Netherlands, and Crystal. They’re all very distinct cases! Yes, the throughline is that they all occurred in Bardstown, but the actual crimes are so different.
• I was always wondering about the children. McAlister said she intentionally did not cover them much, especially Crystal and Brooks’ son, but I still wondered about the custody situation, especially after Brooks was named a “prime suspect.” After Brooks was arrested, Sherry Ballard, Crystal’s mother, filed for custody. [The latest information on that from September 2025 is that Brooks surrendered custody of the child to his sister …]
• Sherry Ballard was the outspoken family member who reported her daughter missing and was always keeping her daughter’s story and case alive. She was the primarily family member of any of the victims who was interviewed by McAlister throughout the podcast.

Tommy Ballard

Tommy Ballard was Crystal Rogers’ dad, who was unyielding in his search efforts for Crystal. In November 2016, while out hunting on his private property with his 12-year-old grandson, he was shot in the chest and killed. Notably, the family property abuts the Bluegrass Parkway. What is it with that Bluegrass Parkway …

Notable information about the Ballard case

• Even from the FBI’s $10,000 reward page, there’s virtually no helpful details about the case.
• Obviously, people think his murder is connected to Crystal’s disappearance and murder. People, including one of the lead organizers of Team Crystal, thought “he knew something” and was killed for it.
• The most obvious suspects are the Houcks.
• During that $10 million bond hearing for Brooks, Prosecutor Young alleged that Brooks’ family was interfering in grand jury proceedings (charge them then!) and that they bought the gun from Nick Houck, which they believe is the gun used to kill Tommy (charge Nick then!).

My thoughts on the Ballard case

• There’s that nefarious “he knew something” angle again. If Tommy knew something pertinent about his daughter’s disappearance, he would have told it to his wife, Sherry, and they would have told it to investigators and likely the media, too.
• It’s just a sad situation, not only because he didn’t live to see justice served for his daughter, but that his murder occurred in front of his grandson.
• As my earlier parentheticals indicate, why hasn’t other members of the Houck family, including Nick, been charged then? Also, how stupid is Nick, a former police officer, to sell the alleged murder weapon to someone? Very stupid.

Everything prior to this was me just listening to the podcast. As it happens, a lot transpired between the last update of the podcast (April 2024) and now.

Updates as of September 2025

• In August, Steve Lawson was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his role in Crystal’s death after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.
• Joseph Lawson, who in the years after Crystal’s murder suffered an accident resulting in paraplegia, was also found guilty of those same charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
• Brooks Houck was convicted by a jury of murder and being an accomplice to a crime. The judge sentenced him to a life sentence in prison.
• Of course, we always want to know the “why” of it all, i.e. motive. Why did Brooks kill Crystal, and why did the Lawsons help? According to the prosecution’s case, it came down to what it often does: a dispute over the their child. Brooks, who again was supposedly worth millions, didn’t want to pay child support and didn’t want to share custody with Crystal. (Although what about the Lawsons? Someone help me out if I’ve missed it! The prior link indicates Steve may have been scared of the Houck family for what that’s worth)
• Notably, those documents also indicated who the two “unindicted co-conspirators” are: Rosemary Houck, Brooks’ mother, and Nick Houck. In fact, prosecutors believe Rosemary is the primary person who instigated everything starting back with Danny Singleton, asking him if he “knew someone who could get rid of Crystal.”

Overall, Back to Bardstown was a fascinating look at a city that’s faced three very distinct crimes that went unsolved for years, two remain unsolved, and an additional murder connected to one of those cases, which also hasn’t been solved. Despite some of my criticisms (primarily the use of Caldwell and a psychic), McAlister and Noll did a phenomenal job covering these cases with curiosity, fortitude, and empathy. Obviously, there seems to be way more to come on the Houck situation given what’s publicly available about Rosemary and Nick Houck, as well as it regards the Tommy Ballard murder.

Hopefully the families of the other victims will see justice soon, too.