Prosecution rests, defense starts tomorrow
A look at who testified Tuesday and what they said
(BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — July 1, 2025) After six days the prosecution rested Tuesday in its attempt to convict Brooks Houck of murder and Joey Lawson of conspiracy to murder Crystal Rogers.
Special Prosecutor Shane Young and his team called a total of 41 witnesses over past five days to testify in front of a jury of seven men and eight women.
Who testified and what they said on Tuesday:
Terry Benjamin, Lone Star Search and Rescue Director
Benjamin was the dog handler who was recruited from an NRA gun show by Jefferson County Sheriff’s Detective Jamie Brooks to inspect the white Buick owned by Brooks Houck’s grandmother that Nick Houck sold in Louisville in May 2016.
Benjamin (via pre-recorded Zoom session) testified his dog, “Ranger,” is trained to detect human remains. When he performed a “double-blind” search of the vehicle, Ranger alerted to the car’s trunk.
Barbara Coulter, mother of Steve and grandmother of Joey
Coulter told the jury that Steve and Joey had a “toxic” relationship.
In 2022, Joey came to her house. He was high, she said, and he told her there was something she needed to know.
“I needed to know that Steve killed Crystal,” she said her grandson told her.
Judge Simms reminder the jury that Coulter’s testimony only applied to Joey, and to disregard it when considering Brooks’ guilt or innocence.
Rebecca Greer, ex-wife of Steve Lawson
Greer testified to hearing a conversation in 2019 between Joey and his girlfriend at the time about receiving $50,000 for “moving a car.” She said she later confronted him about it.
She also testified that Steve and Joey were usually broke, but when she first started dating Steve “had money all the time.”
She also related a vicious fist fight between Steve and Joey one time. During that fight, Joey said in a fit of rage: “I’m going to let everybody know about this car and just how involved he was.”
Joshua Hickman, cell phone forensic expert
Hickman analyzed the phone logs of Rogers’ phone and used those to provide details down to the millisecond of its use on July 3, including what apps she was using (a couple games, Facebook Messenger) and other usage information.
Hickman said Rogers’ phone battery ran out of charge at 9:23:10 p.m. on July 3. It started to boot back up at 11:57 p.m. That process lasted only three-tenths of a second before it was manually shut down.
The phone did not boot back up until police had it on July 6.
Lon Spalding, property owner on Thompson Hill Road
Spalding was a neighbor of Jeremy and David Thompson on what has been called Thompson Ridge. Steve Lawson described the farm as a “chop shop” for stolen cars and other criminal activity. It was also an area that Steve and Joey spent a large amount of time on July 4, 2015.
Spalding testified David’s farm had long been used as an illegal dump, and Jeremy would often burn garbage and furniture landlords paid him to collect from vacated apartments.
On the night of July 3 and into July 4, Spalding noted that Jeremy had dug a large burn pit, about 10-feet wide, on his own property and was burning an unusual amount of garbage. He said he “Found it very odd” because usually Jeremy burned the garbage on David’s farm.
Stacey Cranmer, former Houck subcontractor
Cranmer repeated the same testimony she gave at Steve’s trial. She said on late June 2015 she saw Brooks and Steve driving around to different houses and spending time in Brooks’ truck, which she said was unusual.
When she asked Steve what they had been discussing, Steve said he was “talking about a girl he had to take care of” who “had five kids.” Rogers had five children.
Cranmer called police to report the conversation after she learned Rogers had gone missing, but did not hear back from them. When she went in October to report it in person, she said police “laughed” at her and made her angry.
She agreed to wear a wire for the FBI in 2023 and try to get Steve to repeat what he had said that day, but at that point Steve said he had probably been referring to Joey’s ex-girlfriend.
Tim O’Daniel, Louisville Metro Police detective and forensic expert
O’Daniel took the stand for the second time, this time to specifically address the lack of call records from Joey. The detective has testified extensively about Houck’s phone calls and geolocation, as well as Steve Lawson’s, Joey’s father.
O’Daniel said Joey was using a Q-Link phone that used T-Mobil’s antennas. Defense attorneys had previously pointed out that Joey’s phone never appeared in “tower dumps,” which are bulk logs of what phones hit a tower. O’Daniel said those records could have been purged by the time police requested them.
Jamie Brooks, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office detective
Brooks was another repeat witness. He was called to the stand to testify about recordings that were previously introduced of various Houck family members secretly recording grand jury testimony (which is illegal), their meetings with their own lawyer and conversations with police.
Kim Edlin, neighbor of Rosemary Houck
Edlin is a neighbor of the Houck family farm on Paschal Ballard Lane. She was out of town on July 3, 2015, and questions revolved around whether she had a wi-fi extender on her home.
Edlin spent about five minutes on the stand, and Judge Charles Simms called a break. When court resumed, she was dismissed and her wi-fi was never mentioned again.