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The Trouble in Bardstown

January 20, 2026·1 hr 18 min·5 clips

The FBI discovers a 13-second phone call was made near Crystal Rogers' car the night she vanished.

This Dateline episode, "The Trouble in Bardstown," hosted by Andrea Canning, investigates the 2015 disappearance of mother Crystal Rogers in Bardstown, Kentucky. Hosts Patrick Hinds and Gillian Pensavalle of "True Crime Obsessed" recap and react to the episode, noting their audience has long requested coverage of this case. The episode details how Crystal vanished over the Fourth of July weekend after a family outing with her boyfriend, Brooks Houck, and their two-year-old son, Eli. Brooks claimed they took a late-night walk in a field before he went to bed and Crystal stayed up playing phone games, only for her to be gone the next morning. Crystal's car was found abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway with a flat tire, her keys in the ignition, and her purse and phone inside. Detective Jon Snow noted the driver's seat was positioned too far back for Crystal's height, suggesting someone else drove the car last. Brooks did not participate in community searches and gave a televised interview on Nancy Grace. During a police interview, Brooks made a rehearsed-seeming call to an employee, Steve Lawson, to ask about their prior conversation. Brooks's brother, Nick Houck, a police officer in a neighboring department, called during the interview and advised Brooks to leave the station immediately. Police Chief Rick McCubbin later ordered Nick to cooperate with the investigation. A surprising element is the Rogers family's tragic history, as Crystal's aunt was also murdered decades earlier, which the hosts feel primed the family to organize searches effectively. The hosts find Brooks's story of a hours-long, late-night walk in the rain with a toddler utterly unbelievable. They highlight the moment Detective Snow subtly challenges Brooks's evolving timeline as a key investigative turn. The tone is conversational and comedic, with the hosts frequently interjecting personal anecdotes and pop culture references. True crime fans interested in unresolved missing persons cases and Dateline viewers would appreciate this episode. Listeners who prefer strictly serious, narrative-driven analysis might find the hosts' humorous asides distracting.

As heard by us

A brisk, blunt recap of a disappearance and the tension around it.

Patrick Hines and Jillian Benzavalli keep the pace tight by returning to the police call, the brother who will not cooperate, and the chief who finally runs out of patience. That gives the episode a sharp, practical rhythm, even when the talk drifts into asides and quick riffs.

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Why you'd press play

For the true-crime listener who wants Kentucky chaos, cop-on-cop friction, and zero patience for nonsense.

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