The second trial in a criminal case involving the disappearance and presumed death of Crystal Rogers is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Warren County.

A mother of five who lived in Bardstown, Rogers was 35 when she was last seen on July 3, 2015, and authorities presume she is dead.

Two days after Rogers was last seen, her car was found abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway with her keys, phone and purse inside.

Rogers’ then-boyfriend, Brooks Houck, 43, of Bardstown, was indicted in 2023 on charges of complicity to commit murder and complicity to tampering with physical evidence.

Houck will face a Warren County jury alongside co-defendant Joseph Lawson, 34, of Bardstown, who is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and complicity to tampering with physical evidence.

The pair were indicted, along with Lawson’s father, Steven Lawson, by a special grand jury in Nelson County in 2023 after an investigation was begun by the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office.

The case has attracted significant attention in the 10 years since Rogers was reported missing, including the airing of a TV documentary in 2018 by the Oxygen Network that examined her disappearance.

Citing the ample pretrial publicity, 10th Circuit Judge Charles Simms determined that an unbiased jury could not be empaneled in Nelson County and ordered that the trials of all three co-defendants be held in Warren County.

In a separate order barring cameras and other video and audio recording devices from the courtroom at each trial, Simms remarked on the “circuslike atmosphere” resulting from the “tremendous interest” the case has generated.

Steven Lawson’s trial was conducted last month at the Warren County Justice Center and a jury convicted him of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, recommending a 17-year sentence.

Steven Lawson is scheduled to be sentenced in August, though his defense team of attorneys Darren Wolff and Zach Buckler has moved for a new trial on several grounds.

The attorneys, who were appointed last year to represent Lawson after his previous attorney withdrew, argued that they lacked the time to prepare an adequate defense ahead of Steven Lawson’s trial and were not able to review all the evidence.

They also assert that the jury, which deliberated for about three hours before finding Steven Lawson guilty, could not have reviewed the evidence and thoughtfully deliberated the case in the time it took to reach its verdict.

Wolff and Buckler also argue that a number of people in the gallery who wore pink clothing during the trial violated an order mandating courtroom decorum, with the attorneys saying that the color was associated with supporters of Rogers.

A prosecution witness, Elizabeth Chesser, testified that during a recess in her testimony she spoke with Rogers’ mother, Sherry Ballard, and said that she thanked her and prayed that the proceedings would bring her peace, which Wolff and Buckler argued prejudiced the jury against Steven Lawson.

At his trial, Steven Lawson testified that he took his son to pick up Rogers’ car on the night of July 3, 2015, for Joseph Lawson to move, and then traveled to the Bluegrass Parkway to pick up Joseph Lawson after the car broke down.

Steven Lawson admitted to adjusting the driver’s seat of Rogers’ car, which prosecutors said was a ploy to make it appear as though she was the last person to drive it, and then driving his son away from the scene.

While Steven Lawson admitted to tampering with evidence, he denied having any part in a plot to kill Rogers and had no knowledge of why his son moved the car, though he acknowledged calling Houck minutes after the car was moved to tell him that “the job was done.”

Houck employed the Lawsons as construction workers in his business developing rental properties.

Houck and Joseph Lawson, who have been in custody since 2023, were both transferred Thursday to Warren County Regional Jail.

Attorney Shane Young has been appointed special prosecutor in the case against all three co-defendants.

Houck is represented by a defense team led by attorney Brian Butler, while Joseph Lawson is being represented by attorneys Kevin Coleman and Robert Boyd.