Sherry Ballard said she was grateful to see Nick Houck charged with perjury, following the trial of his brother, Brooks, in which prosecutors alleged Nick was an "unindicted co-conspirator" in her daughter's case.
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Crystal Rogers’ mom hopes new arrest will ‘lead to bigger things’ in investigation
Sherry Ballard got the call of Nick Houck’s arrest before anyone else, just one day before her birthday. It was a call she has waited years for.
“You know, I’m like, I knew this was coming. I was waiting for it, but the minute that [Commonwealth’s Attorney Kyle Williamson] told me it did happen, it was like, ‘Finally, oh my gosh,’“ Ballard said. ”Yeah, it was a relief.”
Ballard has been fighting for justice in her daughter Crystal’s case for almost 11 years and her husband Tommy’s for nearly that long. Investigators have suspected that Nick is a player in both, though, at this point, his recent arrest has not been officially tied to either one.
On Thursday, Nick was arrested on an indictment warrant for perjury, alleging he had made false statements to officials between July 15, 2015 and April 16, 2023.
During that time frame, Nick had been under the microscope of investigators.
Just days after Rogers’ went missing, they swept Nick’s police cruiser. At the time, he was an officer with Bardstown PD. They discovered a blanket they said “lit up like Chernobyl,” that contained bodily fluids.
During an hour long interview with KSP detectives on July 15, 2015, he told them he had no idea why that would be on the blanket. That interview revealed other aspects of Nick’s actions in the days after Rogers’ disappearance that investigators were scrutinizing. He was unable to provide specifics regarding conversations he had had with Brooks, his activity on the July 4th weekend Rogers’ disappeared or a trip he had taken to the Houck family farm in which he arrived and left with Brooks.
Excerpt of Nick Houck’s July 15, 2015 interview with KSP:
“So I don’t believe people just lose their memory. I think people forget what they don’t want to talk about. They hide those things,” the detective said. “And sometimes it’s a good person that does that because they’re trying to protect their family or they’re trying to protect their self. But you know what? There’s also bad people in this world.”
“Most definitely,” responded Nick.
“And those bad people intentionally lie and intentionally use those excuses, you know, to make it harder for the police to find out what really happened. Because deep down, they’re just a bad person.”
“Oh, I agree with you. I understand,” Nick said.
“So I don’t think that we’re dealing with the type of person here that’s a bad person. I think we’re dealing with somebody like you that’s coming forward and trying to be cooperative,” the detective went on to say. “But then again, I think you’re somebody that would protect your family in a case like this. And if your family told you something, that you would try to protect them to the best of your abilities, especially since you’re a police officer.”
Detectives made it clear that they did not believe he was telling them everything he knew.
“Nick, this is the only opportunity that we have to sit here and find out if you’re the actual honest person that we think that you are,” the detective said.
“I’m 100% honest,” Nick insisted.
“I don’t deny that, Nick, but you’re not being honest with us about this,” the detective responded.
“I’ve been 100% honest,” Nick said again.
Following that interview, Nick would fail a polygraph test. He would be fired from Bardstown PD in October 2015, accused of interfering in the investigation.
“Just to know that Nick Houck, after all these years of lying to people and lying to law enforcement, you know, that he’s finally been held accountable for his lies that he’s been telling was step in the right direction for me,” Ballard told WAVE.
Nick has also been under investigation for the shooting death of Rogers’ dad, Tommy. He was killed on family property in 2016. Investigators revealed in a court hearing years later that undercover agents had purchased a gun from Nick that may have been used to kill Tommy. They have not definitely said if it was the actual gun, and no one has ever been charged.
While Ballard believes this new indictment stems from her daughter’s case, she has not given up advocating for justice in both cases. She is grateful for any charges prosecutors are able to bring now, even if she would have liked to have seen more than a perjury charge for Nick.
“Even with a perjury charge, you know what, he has to come up with bail money. He has a trial he has to attend now, you know. I don’t mean to sound vindictive, but anything I can do to make that family pay for what they’ve done to my family, I’m 100% going to be right there,” Ballard said. “It’s the best birthday gift I could have ever got, you know, was for him to be arrested. And I’m hoping this is going to lead to bigger things.”
Nick Houck will be arraigned on June 18. If convicted, he faces one to five years behind bars.
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