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Divers Comb Lake For Body Of Missing Bardstown Mother Crystal Rogers
During a search for Crystal Rogers at Melody Lake, a cadaver dog alerted, indicating the possible scent of human remains.
In the second episode of Oxygen's docu-series "The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers," reporter Stephanie Bauer and retired homicide detective Dwayne Stanton visited Melody Lake in New Haven, Kentucky, to search for the body of Crystal Rogers, the mother of five who went missing in 2015. Melody Lake is located just over a mile from the family farm of Rogers' boyfriend, Brooks Houck, allegedly the last person to see her alive. Investigators searched the lake multiple times over the past three years, but were not able to locate Rogers' remains.
Rogers' mother, Sherry Ballard, told "The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers," "The cadaver dogs hit on that lake every time they come out here — every time. [...] I've personally tried to get that lake drained. I had one of the detectives tell me, 'Sherry, I don't think anything we did with that lake would satisfy you.' Until I find my daughter, I don't think nothing will satisfy me."
The Ballard family says they believe Rogers may have been killed on the Houck farm and that her body may have then been dumped in the lake. The Houcks have denied any involvement in Rogers' disappearance and no family member has ever been charged in the case.
Bauer and Stanton were on site as Rogers' friends and family, who have dubbed themselves "Team Crystal," gathered at Melody Lake to conduct yet another search.
"The cadaver dogs are here, and if they hit on the lake again today, we have a team of divers that will go out and do a search," Stanton said.
While Team Crystal made a grid across the lake in boats, cadaver dog trainer Tammy Finci told Bauer she had been on Lake Melody three times and that the cadaver dogs gave "their full-trained response each time" on one part of the lake. Shortly after reaching that same spot, Geena, a cadaver dog who has been working with the Ballard family, alerted to her handler.
Divers then buoyed the area and did multiple searches of the lake floor, but they were unable to recover anything.
Bauer concluded, "Being out at Melody Lake, you can really see how daunting the task is of finding a body."
To learn more about the case, watch "The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers" on Oxygen.
[Photo: Oxygen]
