Man who moved Crystal Rogers’ car to be sentenced

BARDSTOWN, Ky. (FOX 56) — The man who admitted to moving Crystal Rogers’ car on the Blue Grass Parkway that night of her death will be sentenced on Wednesday afternoon.

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. Steve Lawson, 54, was one of three people accused in the Bardstown mother’s presumed death. Her body has yet to be found.

In May, Lawson was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. After deliberation, the jury recommended a concurrent 17-year sentence. 

He’ll go before a Nelson County judge at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 6.

Prosecutors claim that Rogers’ then-boyfriend Brooks Houck, who’s since been convicted of murder, offered to pay Lawson and reserve all the drywall work for his construction business for him in exchange for helping him “get rid of his old lady.” Witnesses testified that Lawson and Houck were spending an unusual amount of time together in the weeks preceding July 3, 2015.

“Lawson saw an opportunity to make a lot of money,” Prosecutor Jim Lesousky said. “This was his 30 pieces of silver.”

On the witness stand, Lawson continued to emphasize that his guilt doesn’t lie in what happened to Rogers that night, only in that he’s admitted to being on the Blue Grass Parkway the night of July 3, 2015, when his son Joseph called him for help because Rogers’ car had broken down.

Houck and Joseph Lawson, who have also been convicted for their roles in Rogers’s death, will be sentenced on Aug. 21.

This is a developing story. Stay with FOX 56 News for updates.