BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (FOX 56) — Day four of Steven Lawson’s trial in connection with the disappearance of Crystal Rogers is underway in Warren County.
Lawson is charged with conspiracy to murder and tampering with physical evidence, and he’s one of three people accused
in the Bardstown mother’s presumed death.
Rogers was last seen on July 3, 2015, and her mother reported her missing two days later after her vehicle was found at mile marker 14 on the Bluegrass Parkway. She has since been presumed dead, but her body has yet to be found.
Cameras and recording devices are not allowed in the courtroom, per Judge Charles Simms’ orders.
Courtroom sketch of barbara colter, steve lawson’s mother, on may 30, 2025. (sydney young)
Proceedings stalled on Thursday afternoon after the Commonwealth rested its case, and the defense postponed any further witness testimony after receiving word that their next witnesses wouldn’t be able to testify until Friday.
The defense called its second witness to the stand on Friday morning: Barbara Colter, Lawson’s mother. On Thursday, the Commonwealth’s final pieces of evidence were recordings of conversations between Colter and Lawson from the Nelson County Detention Center.
The majority of Friday morning, Steve Lawson was on the witness stand and was subject to cross-examination.
Courtroom sketch of steve lawson on may 30, 2025. (sydney young)
Lawson continues to emphasize that his guilt doesn’t lie in what happened to Rogers that night, only that he’s admitted to being on the Blue Grass Parkway the night of July 3, 2015.
When asked why he lied numerous times in grand jury testimony over the years, he said he couldn’t man up and was trying to protect his son, Joseph Lawson, but that he’d never lie to protect Brooks Houck.
Before the first recess, the defense objected that as tensions rose between Lawson and a prosecutor during cross-examination, Lawson exclaimed that the prosecution was “putting words into his mouth,” which he had never said.
Further questioning surrounded what Lawson was doing in the early morning hours of July 4, 2015, at the Thompson Hill Road farm in the four-hour time frame that’s allegedly unaccounted for.
Courtroom sketch of steve lawson on may 30, 2025. (sydney young)
Lawson testified that he was drinking at the farm, which wasn’t uncommon and was something he did frequently.
The defense has since rested its case.
This is a developing story. Stay with FOX 56 News for updates.
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