Part 1 of the Brooks Houck interview transcript from his July 2015 police interrogation surrounding the disappearance of Crystal Rogers.
On July 8, 2015 Brooks Houck (longtime boyfriend of Crystal Rogers) was interviewed by Detective Jon Snow of the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office regarding her disappearance.
The interrogation, which lasts almost two hours, hovers into absurdity with Brooks’ explanation for his lack of concern over Crystal’s whereabouts (insinuating he thought she may be at a party buying sex toys) and is interrupted by a theatrical phone call from his brother, police officer Nick Houck.
The interview is heavy with crosstalk, interrupting, abrupt speaker shifts and regional dialect. Reading the transcript while also listening to the audio is recommended, if possible. We have included a video of the interview, courtesy of Nelson County Gazette.
Below is Part One of the Brooks Houck interview transcript, from 0:00 to 1:00:01 / Page 1-29.
[BEGIN BROOKS HOUCK INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT PART 1]
[Detective Jon Snow of the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office enters the interrogation room. A door closes behind him as he takes a seat behind a wooden desk. Brooks Houck is already seated at the opposite end]
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: I just called and tried to get ahold of him before I came in here. He’s not answering his phone yet, so he must still be in the middle of it.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright. That’s alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Alright, I’m gonna take a minute here and read through your statement if that’s alright…
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Get an idea. You might have answered some of my questions already, so–
BROOKS HOUCK: –but, you know, I was trying to cover as much as I could. If my writing’s not real legible you can just ask me and I can clarify it real quick for you [clears throat].
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Ok, yeah. [Reading Brooks’ statement to himself] Four o’clock, Blue Grass center…
BROOKS HOUCK: —and I don’t know these, I put approximately where I was before…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, yeah, yeah….and I don’t expect you to know [unintelligible] anyways…
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, no, there’s no way for me to.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: [Pointing at Brooks’ statement] Is this Friday? You were working on the new construction on Friday?
BROOKS HOUCK: [Pointing to sections in his written statement] Yeah, I didn’t put that word, but I put all that right there. The further you go, the more clarifying I get.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay.
BROOKS HOUCK: I broke it down into segments for you.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Oh, these are the people whose houses you were working on?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah. All these right here are people that I’m overseeing, that I’m speaking or talking to. We’ll just look at my phone to get my exact time for you… I got my phone in there, and that way you can build a timeline of all this stuff that I— I do this every day, so me looking back I had no what time it is.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right.
BROOKS HOUCK: There’s no way for me to remember that. I mean, you’ll see the more that you get to looking through there, you’ll see how much I’ve got in my head to try to keep up with.
[Pointing to statement] All these are guys that are working for me that help me, everyone one of ‘em. And then these right here, I skipped a line right to break that and put locations and I did it in subdivisions. So y’all know where my vehicle– y’all know where I’m at, my phone and everything. Those are the numerical address, the street address. And this is the type of work that I’ve got going on past that hyphen mark. Most of the type of work I’ve got going on, each construction… every one of them’s a separate job.
And then this right here is for the whole subdivision…keep the… the Woodlawn Springs homeowner subdivision. The president and all the members, the committee and stuff all…. I mean, I want to keep the subdivision looking nice. Trash and debris and all that kind of stuff and metal grates in the road to curb and gutter…. and all that. This is just kind of like a daily thing. I’ve got to go through this every day to keep everybody rolling and everybody happy.
[Points to another section on the page Det. Snow is reviewing] And this switches subdivisions. You see up the copper fields up here? And then these are the number houses I’ve got going out there. I’ve got different subs in different spots.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: [Reaches over to press a button his phone] Sorry, that thing will go off pretty constantly.
BROOKS HOUCK: That’s fine, it’s good.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: I’ve got people all over the county, so.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
—
Note: For reasons unknown, 4 minutes have been cut from the released video interview. At this point, the clock on the wall reads 5:16pm. The video fades out and when it sharpens again, the clock now reads 5:20pm.
—-
BROOKS HOUCK: Nobody else will write on that though, correct?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: No. And I’m ‘gonna make you a copy to show the FBI…
BROOKS HOUCK: I wanna be sure that nobody else messes with none of my stuff.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right, right. No. You’re gonna get a copy of it so that you can look at mine and look at yours and say they’re the exact same thing.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: In fact, I’ll do that right now. Give me just a second and I’ll bring it right back. [Gets up to make a copy]
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Take a minute, go through those page by page and compare them just to make sure everything’s good to go on ‘em.
[Detective Snow returns with copies. Brooks holds two stacks of paper side-by-side presumably containing his original written statement & the copies, and compares each page to make sure they were not tampered with]
BROOKS HOUCK: Looks good to me, sir.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: I’ll take the original and you’ll keep the copy and that way we’ll both have a copy. Alright, I’ll put this in the file.[sighs] So, obviously we’re hearing tons and tons of rumors, right?
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And I know Bardstown is the rumor mill of the world, but in a case like this, you know, should it turn into a homicide investigation…any question that I didn’t ask doesn’t get asked. Does that make sense?
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t understand what you’re saying, but….
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Well, if I don’t ask you, then somebody is going to ask me why I didn’t ask you later. You see what I’m saying?
BROOKS HOUCK: Sure.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So when I ask you a question, it’s not to be offensive, it’s to get the question cleared up, so that we can move on to another.
BROOKS HOUCK: I understand. Yeah. I’ll help however I can.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: One of the… one of the rumors that we’re hearing is that you all had gotten notice from the IRS that you were being investigated for tax evasion, is that correct? Or incorrect?
BROOKS HOUCK: No, sir.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And again, these are all rumors that people are calling in about.
BROOKS HOUCK: That’s fine. And who can… where you can get a legitimate source verified and everything right across the street up here at Gilbert Brown, Brown Company CPA does my taxes, he has for several years. If I need to sign a form to release all his documentation on me for that, you’re all more than welcome to it. And that’s the easiest way for me.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: These are again, these are just rumors–
BROOKS HOUCK: —that’s fine! Ask whatever you ‘gotta ask.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Um, had you and Crystal ever talked about breaking up?
BROOKS HOUCK: I mean, obviously we have fought just like any other uhh…any other uhh…any other couple. But in the last several years, I mean that right there, it’s came up. But we’ve always found ourselves together moving forward. So it’s been mentioned, but it’s never happened. And we’ve always found ourselves together, moving forward.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. I know she didn’t work out of the home currently, but had she worked out of the home recently? Had she had a job outside of taking care of the rental properties?
BROOKS HOUCK: Well, she took care of two young children. So she did some babysitting there at the house for some extra money. One little boy was about Eli’s [Crystal & Brooks’ son] size. And the other was, I don’t know how old, but he was a little bit older. And I don’t know how long it was, if it was eight months or a year, but she had worked at the store up the road from our house for the… I don’t want to say anything discriminatory. But I don’t want to say if they’re not Americans, but they aren’t–
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: —they’re Indians. You’re allowed to….
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright, yeah…I don’t wanna say nothing that…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: —the convenience store.
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, convenience store. She worked for some folks up there. I did not know… I think it might be Sandy or Sandeep or something like that. But I don’t know his….she worked up there at that gas station for quite some time, but that’s been quite some time ago.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Was that before or after Eli was born?
BROOKS HOUCK: I think she started there before, before he was born? And she did work some there a little after he was born. She, she worked for a pretty good period of time there. But it’s been quite some time back.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, cuz he’s two and a half, so do you think—
BROOKS HOUCK: He’s a little bit older than two and a half, he’ll be three in October.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Almost three, yeah. So you think she was… you think it was a year ago or better since she worked there?
BROOKS HOUCK: Probably approximately? I don’t, I don’t know. I don’t know. I would say give or take a six month window there. Something like that would probably be pretty accurate. But I do not know the answer to that. I do not know. I just know that it’s been a period of time.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Was it… have you all since you’ve lived together, have you all always lived on Glenview (Drive)?
BROOKS HOUCK: That’s the only house since Eli has been born…we brought him home from the hospital, we lived there.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay.
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes. That’s the only residence.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So you all were living there when she was working at the… and when she stopped working at the—
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes. When she stopped working there.
BROOKS HOUCK: There was, I don’t know, maybe four or five other girls that worked up there with her. I don’t know their names. They didn’t have a large amount of employees. Just a few.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: When you said you all had, you know, talk about splitting up… had that been more recently or was that before Eli was born or had that been since—
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t… I don’t remember the exact, exact dates. But if you’ll remember, recall back a couple days ago, we had talked… whenever usually that had came up, she had always went to like, Sabrina’s house, or she went out with Brooke or to her parents for a short period of time. A day, a day and a half. And after she cooled off, and we had a chance to talk a little bit, we always found ourselves back together. But there… it has been at times a stressed relationship. I’m not here telling you anything other than that. That is the truth, and that’s accurate.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah.
BROOKS HOUCK: That has been discussed, but we’ve always found ourself together. We loved each other very much, and that right there’s the bottom… the bottom end of it.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Well, the reason I ask is because there are some people that she’s associated with that are telling us that she had made some tentative plans to leave, like looking at the apartment at that store… above the… the apartment above the store. I’m just trying to figure out if that was something that was ancient history, or if that was something that was more recent?
BROOKS HOUCK: Well, that’s news to me. I don’t know anything about that.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So when you all are, let’s say, let’s say the last time you all had discussed splitting up, she didn’t discuss any specifics with you about moving to an apartment or anything like that? Just that you all were having some issues and you resolved it?
BROOKS HOUCK: Say all that again? Break your question… break ‘em down a little bit.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, the last time that you all had that type of a disagreement, okay? The last time there was the possibility that you might split up, did she specifically talk to you about moving out somewhere? About moving out?
BROOKS HOUCK: No, not anything that I recall— she’s never had an isolated point saying “hey, I am moving here, moving there.” I don’t… I don’t recall anything like that. No, sir.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: That was my question, just if she had–
BROOKS HOUCK: –alright. Sometimes, and I know that you all do this for a living, sometimes I feel like when you ask me a question, you put so many things, so many things. And I’m thinking we need to dissect it a little bit so I can answer each part specifically, rather than put some… and I’m not… please don’t think I’m [unintelligible] for saying that to you.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Oh no, no, no!
BROOKS HOUCK: I want to break it down in a simplified direct question rather than put so much information into one question. Try to come answer one and have a bunch of parts in one, you know?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: No, that’s fine…
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright, yeah…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: If you need me to… that’s fine. What you did right there is just fine. If you need me to ask it a different way or ask—
BROOKS HOUCK: –‘cause I want you helping me. Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: That’s fine. That’s no problem at all. Let’s see. We kinda already established the Kyleigh thing, but just so I’m clear on it, you got home at somewhere between five and five-thirty. Probably closer to five, right?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes, sir.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And Kyleigh [Crystal’s daughter] was there?
BROOKS HOUCK: I didn’t go in the house at that time.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Oh, you didn’t?
BROOKS HOUCK: No. I knew that whatever she was coming behind me, I knew that she was ‘gonna be there shortly. So what I did was I jumped on that little tractor. I knew I had a little bit of time. And I wanted to go up there and fill it up full of fuel, checking… do all that kind of stuff. Get my fuel levels right so that I didn’t have to stop. You know, as you can tell when you look at that list, I’ve got so much stuff to do. I don’t have any unaccounted for time. I’m wide open. If I stop for a few minutes I go backwards, and I don’t have time to do that.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So you didn’t go inside? So you don’t know she was there when you arrived?
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t know. If she was there, she was riding with Crystal. I do not know.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And when you got back from gassing up the tractor, they were all there; her and Eli and Crystal?
BROOKS HOUCK: All four, yes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay, and so all four of you were there?
BROOKS HOUCK: [Nods affirmatively]
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So during that time they– the neighbors– say that she got home around 5:15…
BROOKS HOUCK: [Nodding] Give or take.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So from 5:15… and I think I mentioned to you that I see on the video that you all go past Circle K. Well, you go past the storage place and Circle K all within a minute or so about five minutes after seven, thereabouts. Give or take a minute.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So let’s say you left the house around seven o’clock, fair enough?
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright [shrugs]. That’s fine with me.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: There’s gonna be a little bit of time, but I’m just generalizing. So she gets home about 5:15, you get back from the store. You all are there from let’s say 5:30 to 7:00 together. The four of you. You eat, you eat dinner at home I think he told me last time?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, we didn’t fix it until… I don’t know what we ate. We didn’t fix nothing fancy.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right. Sandwiches or….
BROOKS HOUCK: Whatever we did.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: You guys leave to go to the farm, but Kyleigh does not go with you.
BROOKS HOUCK: That’s correct.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: She stays there waiting on Kathy.
BROOKS HOUCK: Her memaw, Kathy. Her father’s mother.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, Kathy Fenwick, right?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So, she stays there. You don’t know what time she gets picked up. But she’s there when you all leave?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Because that was one of the things I think she got confused– Kyleigh, not Kathy. Kyleigh got confused about the timeframes when I was talking.
BROOKS HOUCK: But I can’t speak on their behalf.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, yeah, no, no. That’s fine. I’m just trying to make sure I’m not confused.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright. That’s why… what you said is my understanding of it.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So you guys leave, you go, um… presumably you go out Bloomfield Road to get through because you go past Circle K, and not turning on Woodlawn Road. So you go out there. And then the next time I see you is when you pass Caddyshack, the little restaurant there on 49. You go past there… and it’s about the right amount of time for you to be traveling, you know? And then you get to the farm around, uh… best I can figure it out by the timeframe on the video is about 19 minutes after seven. So you’re actually there you know, roughly about 7:20 So…
BROOKS HOUCK: [Shrugs] Okay?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So, you get there, um, by the way I twisted your… I guess it would be your aunt’s arm… we noticed they had the video cameras, that’s why.
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, that’s fine. That’s good.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So, she actually helped you out with the time.
BROOKS HOUCK: Good.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: It showed you coming. Now, I haven’t watched the full day’s yet, so I don’t know anything about comings and goings. But I know you got there about 20 minutes after and you left there about 11:55, thereabouts. So during that time from reading your statement, you left once and went down almost to Loretto Road and then turned around and came back. Because you decided the Tractor Supply might be closed, right?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So that, you know… a little bit of time there. How long were you at the farm before you went to get feed then came back, decided that it was too late? Do you remember, right about?
BROOKS HOUCK: It couldn’t have been long?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Because you were gonna feed the cows, right?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, it couldn’t have been probably more than… I don’t know, maybe 15? I don’t know! 15 or 20 minutes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. I’m just trying to get an idea so when I watch the video, you know, I can kind of look for when you’re coming and going back to this.
BROOKS HOUCK: Mhmm. Yes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And when you got to the farm, do you know if anybody was there other than your mom?
BROOKS HOUCK: Hmm, I don’t know.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Did you see your mom when you came in?
BROOKS HOUCK: No. We didn’t, we didn’t stop up there. We went straight down there, we were going there to feed the cows, so….
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Well, yeah, but the barn’s within eye shot of the house.
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes, but sometimes… sometimes she might park inside, sometimes she might not, so I don’t know if…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: –she got more than one vehicle?
BROOKS HOUCK: She’s got a little red truck. And she’s got a [crosstalk] and then she’s got a white, a white SUV.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay.
BROOKS HOUCK: But I can’t— that 15 to 20 minutes is as close as I can… and that’s a guess, but I’d say it’s pretty accurate.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Uh huh. She, uh, I think your mom told me she had been mowing grass. Do you know if she was mowing when you got there? Or…
BROOKS HOUCK: She’s always outside doing stuff. She’s more of an outside person than inside. But, uh, she likes to mow grass. Sometimes she’ll mow it whenever it don’t even need to be mowed. So, uh, but no… I don’t believe…I don’t recall her mowing, if she was mowing. But there’s a lot of area there that if she was mowing that I could have pulled in and not seen her. But I don’t believe she was mowing.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, okay. And it’s not all that important. I’m just trying to get an idea of what was going on.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So, then I noticed when I was out there yesterday, I guess it was… there’s a bulldozer in the drive. There’s a tractor, actually two tractors in the, in the barn, right? There’s a tractor with a bucket—
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: —and a tractor that looked like maybe it was leaking hydraulic fluid, maybe somebody was working on it or something…
BROOKS HOUCK: An attachment.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah maybe an attachment. Alright. So when you were out there Friday, did you operate any of that equipment to take care of the cattles? Or how do you normally—
BROOKS HOUCK: No. No, when you feed the cows, you just get the sweet feed and you holler for them, you shake the bucket and they… because repetitious. They know the route. They know—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: –I didn’t know if you feed them hay, or…
BROOKS HOUCK: No, if you’re talking about in the wintertime, you have to have a tractor that can handle… we don’t do square hay. I mean, in the wintertime, we’re gonna have to handle a round bale, and that’s done by tractor that, you know, we’re not gonna… you can roll one by hand if you’ve got four or five guys, but I mean, we’re not going to do that. We’re gonna take a tractor and—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: –right, but I’m talking about Friday, you didn’t…
BROOKS HOUCK: No, no.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So you just fed them out of the bucket, the sweet feed?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And so–
BROOKS HOUCK: Now Aaron, probably he’s out there raking hay and stuff. He might very well have done that. I don’t know if it was Friday, but he’s been out there the past two weeks doing hay, and I don’t, I don’t grab the equipment because that’s not what I do. Aaron takes care of all that. And he, he bales the hay, he cuts it. He does all of the, you know, all the mechanical work out there.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Now who is Aaron?
BROOKS HOUCK: Uh, the person that does all the work out there.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: But I mean, is he related to you all? Is he a farmhand or what is he?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, he’s the city mechanic right up here for the city of Bardstown, the bus garage. He does all the mechanics and does all the inspection reports for the city of Bardstown bus school system.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right, but how is he connected to your family?
BROOKS HOUCK: There’s no blood relation. We graduated together in high school.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: You and he did?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So does he get the hay off of your farm, or….
BROOKS HOUCK: Five of the cows out there that are out there are his.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Oh, okay.
BROOKS HOUCK: So what he does is, I don’t– whenever you look at this paperwork, I’ve got so much stuff going on. I’m not a farmer, I enjoy farming, but I don’t farm. So what he does is– as an added benefit to me– he takes care of all the fencing, all the labor, keeps the equipment running. If it’s round bales, or busting ice and stuff like that in the wintertime, he does all that. He’s got the time, he gets off early at three o’clock in the day. So he will come out there. And he knows about the mechanics, I’m not a mechanic. So he’ll go out there and cut all the hay and prepare for the winter. He uses his time to do all that to use the grounds out there for his cows, because he’s only got about seven acres here in town. And he wants to keep growing and expanding. And the way to do that… I don’t have time to bush hog and all that. So I would rather keep up with the grounds while letting somebody do that, and participate and let them— I don’t charge him no money. You see what I mean?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, and he keeps his cows out there…
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes, it’s a good trade off. Absolutely.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Gotcha, okay. But he wasn’t there Friday, that you saw?
BROOKS HOUCK: No, he wasn’t there Friday at all.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: When you were there, not before. I don’t need to know about before. When you were there he wasn’t there.
BROOKS HOUCK: Mhmm.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So you all fed the cows with the buckets and watched them eat. And then you walk… now, when you said you walk the road to the gravel, you’re talking about not just to the turnaround that goes right by the farm…
BROOKS HOUCK: No, that’s just… no, we walked through the back—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: To the where the old county road goes through?
BROOKS HOUCK: Where I put the…. yes, exactly. Where road gets a little harder. It’s still… you still drive a car on it, but there’s a little bit of grass in the middle.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And that’s what goes…when you get to the…
BROOKS HOUCK: Cul-de-sac at the top of the hill?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right. [Pointing to a map] If you get to the turn-around here—
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BROOKS HOUCK: The house is right here and the barn’s here….right here is where— yes, and it goes back there far. And there’s three big pins back through there. There’s three separate fields where we rotate the pasture and stuff.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Gotcha. And you said you walked from field one?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah. Let’s make this real clear for you [takes pen & begins to mark a map]. Can you… you can just put this in your paperwork, or whatever.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, yeah, whatever.
BROOKS HOUCK: [Flips a piece of paper & looks at the back] I didn’t write that.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: No, I drew it out for somebody else. [Chuckles]
BROOKS HOUCK: [Marking paper] This is the barn. And then of course, you know, the fence does something like this…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right, coming… kind of gives an angle off your mom’s place—
BROOKS HOUCK: …and then it goes all the way back. So somewhere right in here, there’s a… this is a double gate. This is where we go in, right here is where we enter the field because this is barbed wire, you know. And then over here is kind of an octagons eight, but it ain’t eight. This is like a pen out here that we can move around and then there’s some troughs and stuff in here. And then, I think right here, that field separates, and then there’s another gate right here. So this is number one. And then way up here, this is number two, and then number three goes a far piece back through there. So we go through this gate, and then the gate from two to three…. you know, the other gates up here.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right.
BROOKS HOUCK: You know what I—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah.
BROOKS HOUCK: And then there’s more food in field number three then there are in these other two because these two are ate down close. So a lot of times… and it’s cooler back there in the ravines and holler for the cows than if they’re on this flat land. And they would rather stay cooler and eat back here. And they’re in a big pond back there, but there’s a little pond for a water supply too right now. So more often than not they go back there in that third field but like in, later in the evening. A lot of times we’re consistent at the times, but sometimes we’re not. But a lot of times in the evening they’ll drift up here thinking they’re ‘gonna get some feed.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right, they’re after the sweet feed, right?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yup.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right. So you all… when you all went for the cows though, are they—
BROOKS HOUCK: —Yeah, we went in this gate right here and then we walked all the way back through there.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Walked all the way through. ‘Cause they weren’t up in field one yet.
BROOKS HOUCK: Yup.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So okay, so you fed the cows. Wait, what else did I read there? [picks up paper to review]. Sorry. You’re doing all kinds of crazy stuff over here. You fed the cows and then you come back out and you walked the road, right? The road that goes….
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah. After we come back after walking up through here, then we walk out to here at which… there’s another— can I see your pen again? So there’s another [draws line on map] it ain’t exactly straight, it looks something like this.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: That’s your driveway?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, this driveway to the barn. And then we walk up the road, and we just walk back through there.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. And how long would you say that road goes back into there? Do you know, if you had to guess?
BROOKS HOUCK: Umm, I bet it’s a good mile
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: From the barn to the end of that road and back? So a couple mile walk going to and from?
BROOKS HOUCK: If you go… ‘cause there’s a cul-de-sac right here. There’s also a cul-de-sac I put in up here, and then there’s a third cul-de-sac at the very end by the creek back here in the very back.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. But you think it’s about a mile, maybe a little more?
BROOKS HOUCK: I would say close, yeah.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So you walked to the end of there and came back? Did y’all do any work on the barn or anything while you were there?
BROOKS HOUCK: No, we didn’t do no work on that barn.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Didn’t work on the driveway or anything like that?
BROOKS HOUCK: Nuh-uh [shakes head no].
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: The dozer… the reason I ask is because of the dozer that’s sitting there. Did somebody use that to put that driveway in and put rock on the driveway recently or—
BROOKS HOUCK: No, the uh.. the uh… on uh… on Saturday I moved it over there. It was parked. That doz— I’ve got a skid steer also broke down. I’ve got uhh… skid steer right here with some weeds growing up around it [marks map with pen]. And then I had a dozer… a dozer right here. And I did uh… I backed it right across here, right here. And there’s been a water… this uh, water coming in the uh, in the front. There’s a big door right here in the front of the barn, and water had been going in the uh, in the front of it right here. And then I moved… plus I wanted to… she’s always complaining about – my mother – is always complaining about the trash and rubble. You know, she likes to keep everything neat and clean. She likes to keep the grass mowed short. But I’m not gonna pay a high bill to take that stuff the county dump when I can clean it up easy. It’s too much to do all at once, but I can… every time I come out there I can throw a match on it, or burn a little pile. Eli likes to roast marshmallows. So what I do, and we spend so much time out there, what I do is put a pile and I will light a little… a little piece of it on fire. And then that way I won’t have a huge fire, but I’ve got nothing— I’m constantly getting rid of something and they won’t charge me that high density fee out there at the dump. So I’m going to take all this equipment, this skid steer too… I just hadn’t drug it over there yet. And then all these trailers where them weeds are high, I’m gonna try to get it on both sides of these uh… doors. You know, just to get it out of there.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Did you burn anything Friday night when you were out there?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah. Oh, yes. That’s not uncommon. I don’t want this stuff piling up to the moon. I always light a fire. There was a little pile probably… I’ll write that on there [referring to marking the map]. Right where this little… little pile here. Yeah, I think y’all may have covered it up, y’all go out there—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: I think we did.
BROOKS HOUCK: —throwing stuff everywhere.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, I apologize. That day…
BROOKS HOUCK: It don’t matter.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: The dog– that lady’s dog– she said acted like there was something under there.
BROOKS HOUCK: Oh that’s fine, that’s fine. So, I had some water problem right there and I’m in the process of getting that right there basically dug out… at um uh, right there in front of that door trying to let a vein of water come out because it’s too low, the slab is.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And that was Saturday?
BROOKS HOUCK: That was Saturday when I did that.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Do you remember what time Saturday you got there?
BROOKS HOUCK: Nuh-uh [shakes head ‘no’].
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Was it before lunch, after lunch?
BROOKS HOUCK: Oh yeah, it was… it was well before lunch. It was… it was morning in time, but it wasn’t early morning, wasn’t late morning… about mid morning.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. So, you had a little fire. When was that? After you took your walk or before you took your walk?
BROOKS HOUCK: Umm, I lit it… um probably right before we took off walking? I know we fed the cows first because I wanted to do that as quickly— while we had still plenty of daylight. I don’t know if I lit the fire before we walked back here, right when I got back. I could have done it either way. I don’t remember.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Mmhmm. So you lit the fire. I’m assuming then you probably don’t leave until the fire burns out… or do you leave it burning, I don’t know? I generally don’t like to walk away from…
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, yeah, but if it’s just a bag of coals then…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Oh yeah, yeah… but I mean it’s not like burning…
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, yeah. I wouldn’t leave if I thought there was any danger, not when… especially when I got all this equipment and barn stuff right there. But if it’s died down and it’s just a big bag of coals, I’m not too worried about it. Yeah. You know? Especially if it’s not in August or September when everything’s just perfectly dry. It wasn’t uh…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right. We’ve had plenty of rain.
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah. The ground’s wet and dew’s on it. Yeah, it’s not a big deal… to me, in my opinion. I’m not a firefighter, so… [shrugs].
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: But you definitely moved the dozer on Saturday?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, I moved the dozer on Saturday.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Um, is there a septic system on that barn?
BROOKS HOUCK: Um, there uh… there is. But it’s never been hooked up, there’s never been a toilet put on there. But I can tell you who put it in there. And he can tell you exactly how 100% it was in, is Casey Ballard.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Casey Ballard did it?
BROOKS HOUCK: Mhmm [nods].
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And… Casey Ballard, is that her—
BROOKS HOUCK: That’s her brother.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: That’s what I was thinking. Yeah. Um, so, he put the septic… is there like, an opening somewhere where you can access it?
BROOKS HOUCK: Oh, yeah.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Do maintenance or what not?
BROOKS HOUCK: [nods affirmatively] Mhmm.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Where would that be at?
BROOKS HOUCK: [Pointing on map] There’s a big pole out in the middle of this, in field number one right here. There’s a great big, uh, pole like this right here that marks the end of it. It’s got one big lateral big pipe on it, and it’s marked out there so someone don’t crush it with a tractor.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So the opening for the top of the septic tank is… oh, you’re talking about the lateral line?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, they just [unintelligible] out. There’s a big.. underneath that right where this fence is right there. There’s a big round lid right here.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. Next to fence for field one.
BROOKS HOUCK: Mhmm.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And how long has that septic system been there? ‘Cause I noticed the work’s kinda ongoing?
BROOKS HOUCK: Probably about three… probably about three… probably about three years. Two or three years.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Three years? Okay.
BROOKS HOUCK: I just never did finish that barn, um, ‘cause I’ve had so much other stuff going on. But in that barn I’ve kind of got a little… a little bit in…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah I saw where you were putting the cedar planks…
BROOKS HOUCK: I never got done with it, but I’m close to getting it done. I just never made it that far.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right.
BROOKS HOUCK: But yeah the… right, right where that little plumbing, that little bathroom is right on the outside of the barn there’s a big, uh, a septic tank right there. And then there’s a great big long piece of pipe right here, a bleeder valve. And then it’s marked by there’s a big pot, there’s a iron, a iron T-post out in the middle of this field. And then I took a piece of PVC pipe that’s weather-resistant, and I just slid over top– it will stop the posts from rusting. And it’s also much taller than the grass so that if the grass did get up real high, somebody wouldn’t hit it with a bush, go around, hit it with a mower or something like that.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Alright, so you guys, you’ve taken your walk the fire is down — maybe not out, but it’s down — and you’re leaving. And it looks… again, looking at the video, looks like it’s about five minutes till midnight.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: That’s… to me… and I’ve got a couple kids, you know, but everybody parents a little differently. To me it seems a little late to be out on the farm with a two and a half year old. Where is he at at midnight? Is he… has he been asleep in the car for a while, is he still wide awake?
BROOKS HOUCK: No, he’s still wide open. And he’ll — he’ll– anybody– he’s so used to sleeping ‘til later in the morning, his normal day, that’s his seven, eight o’clock in the evening.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Really?
BROOKS HOUCK: Because she sleeps much later in the morning, she stays up. So yeah, it’s always been that way.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. So he’s still awake at midnight?
BROOKS HOUCK: He’s wide open.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Alright, alright. So you guys get back in, load up in the truck… excuse me, load up in the truck and you drive back. You leave out, uh, I see you leave out the driveway at about 11:55. Um, somebody passes you on the drive back on Loretto Road, about 10 minutes after midnight or so he says, roughly. We’re still kind of narrowing that down but roughly sees you about 10 after midnight, which wouldn’t be uncommon. It’s been raining most of the day. You know the roads are kind of wet. 15 minutes from your mom’s house to… to uh, the golf course. There’s the
Caddy Shack. Not a big deal there. And so did you, do you remember… did you go straight home on Friday night? Or did y’all stop somewhere? Or? Because I’m thinking if that’s their normal seven, eight o’clock in the evening, it might be dinnertime. Did you stop and eat something or did you go straight home?
BROOKS HOUCK: We did not eat anything. I went straight home.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay, so you went straight home. So let’s… if we assume that he’s correct in about 10 minutes after midnight, another 10 minutes to the house or so. So…
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, I just.. I don’t see it being that light. I mean, if that’s what some of the things say, you know, I guess you’d have to kind of go by that. But yeah, we didn’t stop anywhere. We went straight home.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. So you could feasibly be home by 11:30. You could be on that.
BROOKS HOUCK: I still—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Which is what you told me you thought, you know, you thought— I’m sorry, not 11:30, 12:30. You could feasibly be home by 20 minutes after twelve. If he passes you at 10 minutes after 12.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Which is a little off from what you originally told me and you just said… I still think it’s a little off. But we’re gonna… we’ll go with what the camera says, as opposed to memory ‘cause sometimes memory’s not that great.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And I checked the time on her camera, and I’m allowing for about a nine minute gap there between what my watch says and what her camera said.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So, which puts you leaving there by 11:55. Which, you know, again, 15 minutes to Caddy Shack is not terribly bad in the rain. So it could have been that he passed you 10 minutes after midnight. Putting you home roughly 20 minutes after 12.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Fair enough?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So, you guys get home 20 minutes after twelve. Thereabouts. I think you said you went to bed first. Do you remember about how long you were home before you went to bed?
BROOKS HOUCK: I went to bed immediately.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So when you guys got in, you went and did your nightly routine and you’re going to bed? I think you told me that she stayed up. And Eli? Did he stay up as well?
BROOKS HOUCK: He was up.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And what was… where was she at?
BROOKS HOUCK: If there’s any activity going on in the house, he doesn’t want to go to bed. If we both… if everybody turned the lights out, and we just go out in the bed? He’s gonna follow us in there and lay down with us. But if I go to bed, and she stays up, he’s not gonna come in there in the bed until all the lights are out and then she goes to bed. If I was doing something out there and she was in the bed, he’s going to stay up with me until the lights are out, until I go in there. You see what I’m—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Sure.
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So he’s gonna stay up with mom?
BROOKS HOUCK: [Nods]
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right. So and before you went to bed, or as you’re— any conversation? I know you told me that you all had a conversation Friday evening sometime about the kids. We will talk about that in a minute. But the… you said you all talked about the kids Friday evening. Does that conversation bleed over to when you get home, or is that conversation done?
BROOKS HOUCK: No whenever I got home I went to bed. I mean, it was relatively you know, quickly when I got uh… got in there. The conversation does not bleed over.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. So you go to bed, she stays up. What’s… what’s she doing?
BROOKS HOUCK: She’s, she’s just on her phone, uh, playing. I don’t know what game but she normally plays a game. She’s got several of them on there but I don’t know which one.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay, so she’s on her phone messing around, doing whatever. And you go to bed. You… do you know what time she… uh… Eli came to bed or she put him into bed?
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t know.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: You don’t have any idea? Okay.
BROOKS HOUCK: I normally go to bed earlier than that. So when I went to sleep, I’m pretty heavy sleeper. I wouldn’t have noticed if he crawled in there, you know.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So you said you’re a pretty heavy sleeper. So your phone is getting a phone call — I can see it on your phone log — before seven o’clock in the morning on Saturday morning.
BROOKS HOUCK: Mhmm.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Do you hear that going off? Is it… do you normally keep it in there to hear it—
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, but I don’t have to. At that time I’ve got a… an alarm’s on my phone at six o’clock and seven o’clock. Sometimes I’ve got ‘em at four and at seven. But my alarm most mornings goes off. I always have it for six and seven but I wake up before my alarm goes off. But yeah, that’s not uncommon for me to get calls really early in the morning.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So what time do you think you got up on Saturday morning?
BROOKS HOUCK: I probably… I probably woke up around, you know, in between that time like six or seven o’clock and then I left. You know, I got up and did my normal thing. Put you know, change my clothes, put my clothes on and, and headed out you know shortly after that. You know?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: I’m sorry. I forgot to ask you something. On the phone records there appears to be a phone call, um, around midnight.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: On Friday night, Saturday morning. You know what I’m talking about? On your way home, basically.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Um, do you know who that person was who called you around midnight? Do you remember talking to them, taking a phone call?
BROOKS HOUCK: No, can you uh, can you just call the number back? I don’t—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: I mean, I could. [cross talk]
BROOKS HOUCK: What’s the phone number? I can look in my phone, but I don’t remember that.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: You don’t remember getting a phone call on the way home?
BROOKS HOUCK: Uh-uh [Negative].
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Would it be unusual for you to get a phone call at midnight? I mean, it is for me and I work for the Sheriff’s Office. I get calls quite regularly, but…
BROOKS HOUCK: Uh… uh… some of the people that do the tile for me, I wouldn’t put it past them to call me at any time. They lay brick through the day and then they’re tiling my houses at night. The Thomases I wrote on there, Derek and his brother… uh… Tyler Thomas. They’ll call me at any time. I got it… even if it’s just one day, I don’t pay them people by the job. They ‘gotta get paid by the hour, and when they get done with it, I pay ‘em. That’s just what we’ve agreed on. Those folks, they’ll call me any, you know, any hour. Umm…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: It was a pretty short phone conversation is the only reason I ask. Kind of unusual to get a 13 second phone conversation at midnight. Ya know, it is for me… it may not be for you.
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright. Well just… just check it out. Yeah, check it out.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: So, Saturday morning you wake up sometime between six and seven. Uh, I think we decided that Danny Singleton, is that his name?
BROOKS HOUCK: Mhmm.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: The guy that works for you, was calling you, and called you pretty frequently. You said you sometimes give him incentives to work for you on Saturdays?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: —and that may have been why he was calling you. So did you go do some work Saturday morning before you went to your mom’s house? Before you went to the farm? Or what did you do Saturday morning?
BROOKS HOUCK: Saturday morning… no, I didn’t um… I didn’t do any other uh, any other work on Saturday morning. That’s where I went on all out there to the barn. I don’t know exactly what time I got out there but that’s what uh, um… that’s what I had done.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Mhmm. So, so you get up between six and seven and where’s Eli at when you wake up?
BROOKS HOUCK: He’s next to me.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: He’s in the bed with you?
BROOKS HOUCK: Mhmm.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. Um, so you get up— does he get up with you?
BROOKS HOUCK: He’s still uh, he’s still asleep whenever I… whenever I get up. But I go to, uh, you know the bathroom and all that kinda stuff. And he’s still sleeping, uh, asleep in there on the bed.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And so when you wake up, he’s there but Crystal’s not?
BROOKS HOUCK: She’s not.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. And so, did you um, did you try to call her or?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes I noticed, I mean I noticed that she wasn’t there and I didn’t know what was… I didn’t know exactly what to think. I don’t know what time I called her, but yes, I called her that morning.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: I mean, did you call her before you left the house to go to the farm?
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t remember what time… I don’t remember what time I called her.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: But do you remember where you were at? Were you at home or were you at the farm? Or you were on the way to the farm? I don’t know, or somewhere in between?
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t– I don’t recall. I don’t– I don’t know.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: That’s fair enough. So you uh, before you go to the farm do you feed Eli breakfast?
BROOKS HOUCK: Uh I… I… I did not before, we uh, before we got there I normally get those, like those squeezable um yogurts it’s got all them vitamins and minerals and stuff in it, and he likes to eat stuff like that for breakfast and it’s easy. He can do that in his car seat or whatever he’s got to do.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. So you think he was eating on the way to the farm?
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t think he was, I know he was.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay.
BROOKS HOUCK: Now how much of the yogurt did he eat? I don’t know.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: No, no. I’m not worried about that. It’s not a question of what he ate or how much he ate, I’m just trying to establish—
BROOKS HOUCK: Well he’s a healthy boy, I can tell you.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: —patterns of behavior from that weekend, ‘ya know?
BROOKS HOUCK: Alright.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And here’s why, I’ll be honest with you. I have been all along, will continue to be. If I woke up on a Saturday morning and my wife wasn’t with me in the bed, as is normal — which might not be normal for you, I don’t know– but for me it would be normal, particularly if my wife’s a late sleeper which mine is as well on Saturdays, for her to be there in the bed when I get up. So if she were not, probably the first thing I would do would be to call her to find out where she was.
BROOKS HOUCK: But what you’re… what you’re not aware of… what you’re missing is a lot of times that her and Brooke, her sister, or Sabrina… a lot of these girls that they do all these… they go out and do stuff sometimes. They do these uh… and it’s ‘gonna be embarrassing for me to talk to you about, but I’m wanting to get everything cleared up as quickly as I can. They do these, uh, fantasy parties [NOTE: ‘Fantasy parties’ are events held to buy sex toys, generally from a multi-level marketing compay]. All these girls get together. They talk about and do whatever, and it’s not uncommon for them. When they go out and party, they stay out the better part of the night, if not the whole night. So, umm, and of course I always have the children— fair enough, they don’t take the kids to that. Matter of fact, I take care of some of their other children while they’re the ones going. It’s not uncommon for— ‘cause I know… I don’t get into all that stuff and they know that, uh… I’m a man. Don’t get me wrong. Understand that. A white blooded American male. And there’s no sense… I’m not telling you anything different. They, they do all these parties and order all this stuff. Well, who gets the kids? I’m good enough to get the kids for all this, and I’m a good enough person to do that, and then when everybody sees a little bit of distress, they’re ‘gonna throw me under the bus. You know, they need to reexamine all these other actions, how… you know… and I can understand the family wanting to vent and stress and it makes perfect sense to me, but these people know me better than what’s going on. And before this is all over and done with, you all are too… but it really, it bothers me because not only have I been a victim, I can’t even..my mind’s not even where it should be because I’m trying to protect Eli from this, and I’m trying to… he’s the most important person I’m trying to protect. I don’t care about them dragging my name through the mud right now because I’m wanting to keep the main focus and emphasis on bringing her back uhh, safely and as quickly as possible. But it really… it really bothers me what’s being done and the method that everybody’s pursuing and doing. Because what’s going to happen is I don’t want their apology, I don’t want nothing from ‘em. But then after this is all said and done, they’re gonna sweep it under the rug and then it’s gonna… they’re just gonna forget about what they’ve done to me in the process. What I’ve gotta be faced with now is as good a mother as Crystal’s been, now, nobody’s gonna love you like a mother. Now Eli is in an atmosphere where… I’ve got all the hope in the world, but now I’m a– I’m a single parent, it appears to me. Where she’s been there one hundred percent of the time for him, to raise and rear him, where I know that he doesn’t have to go to a daycare or a babysitter and I know that his mother’s gonna take care of him. Now, where am I at with, without that love and support from her? Now I’ve got a little boy that’s two who’s gonna grow up his life— if something’s not done where she’s not brought back safely— now one of the very most important people in his life he’s gonna grow up without. Do you see what I’m saying?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Oh yeah.
BROOKS HOUCK: And I’m in here answering a bunch of bullshit that I’m doing the best that I can possibly do with, but it’s taken a lot of energy and effort away from the other efforts that could be out there trying to help and bring her back here safely. I can’t even go out to the side of the road without looking like a murderer, or something like that. It’s wrong. I’ve been extremely honest with you all, and now I’m up here doing… they can have the house. Y’all take anything that you want. You don’t need any of that paperwork or search warrants. And now I’m up here trying to get my head where I can be on the side of being able to protect myself and defend myself for my son, whenever I’m the one that, I feel like, has the largest loss.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, well—
BROOKS HOUCK: —[raising his voice] do what you gotta do! I’ll do whatever I can, but this is… this is starting to get silly. I don’t need an attorney. I haven’t asked for an attorney. I don’t need none of that, I’m innocent. I’m willing to talk to whoever, but this, this to me is really starting to get, it’s starting to get silly because I feel like— I don’t have a Facebook page, I don’t have time to get on the internet. I don’t know a lot about computers. Crystal did all that for me! I didn’t have to do that, because that’s something else she always took care of. So now I have people coming back to me telling me they’re completely trashing me online for the whole media. You know, I’ve taken seventeen years of my life and I feel like I’ve gotten… worked hard to get a good education. I’ve worked hard all these years. I’ve built a nice life for me and my family, and now my whole family’s name is… is trashed for something that’s completely not even tied to me. That’s where I’m at right now, so I’m extremely upset. I’m hurt over it. I’ve tried to put on a tough shell and bubble and move forward. Um, it’s extremely difficult, uh, to get up in the morning and push on, look at Eli and know that here I’ve got a million things going on that I have to get done. And then who’s gonna suffer? He is! And it’s not right. I’m ready to… [begins crying] I’m ready to hire an auctioneer to sell all this stuff so I can, so I can be there for him like Crystal [Reaches for a tissue and begins to wipe eyes]. What else do you want to know?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Take a minute, it’s alright.
BROOKS HOUCK: No it’s….
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: It’s fine to be upset, I understand. It’s fine to be mad, I can understand that too.
BROOKS HOUCK: He’s there asking, asking for everybody. It’s a shock to him.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: It’s okay to be upset by it, I understand. It’s okay to be upset at her family, they’re—
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah but their, their emotions are so shot right now I can understand it. And I don’t— if that’s how they wanna be, that’s, that’s… that’s fine!
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: But you’re allowed to be emotional, too. That’s fine.
BROOKS HOUCK: What they’re mad about is the darn cellphone that I took away from Ashley because her mother told for me to take it away from her! That’s what they’re mad about. And it’s just been a spiral since then in October and ever since then their attitude towards me and everything is so wrong for punishing a sixteen year old girl when she’s not hurt, she’s not hit, nothing like that. And I’m the worst person in the world for having any… and I understand I’m not her dad, I’m not her disciplinary figure. She disobeyed her mother. I followed a direct order from her mother, her mother couldn’t get it from her. I took the cell phone from her and it’s just been hell ever since.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: That was the whole thing about the wrist?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yes, exactly. Yeah, they took her up to the hospital and did the thing with CPS and all this buncha garbage. They ruled it unsubstantiated or however they wanted to say it, no bearing or whatever. You pull the reports. They documented it all, you can get all that stuff, too. [Sighs]
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Do you want some water?
BROOKS HOUCK: No I’m good, I’m— let’s move forward. Whatever you need, I’m here to give to ‘ya. I’m innocent. I don’t need an attorney… so, I’m good. Ask whatever you want to ask.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. Well, if we can just continue with the conversation. I don’t want to rush you, take your time. We… I think we left off round about Saturday morning. So you guys got up, and she wasn’t there, so you and Eli got ready and went to the farm. Did you go anywhere else before you went to the farm?
BROOKS HOUCK: I didn’t stop at McDonalds or nothing to get any kind of breakfast because he had that yogurt, that squeezable breakfast. Whatever… I don’t know. Whatever it… some of it’s still in the refrigerator if you want one.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: No that’s okay, that’s fine. So you went to the farm and was your mom there? Saturday? Do you remember?
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t think— I didn’t stop at the house up there either that morning.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: What do you do with Eli while you’re working on the equipment? Is he in your…
BROOKS HOUCK: I’m not— I’m usually not one that works on, works on the equipment. Sometimes I might drive some of it. But yeah, if I go on that little tractor, he rides, he rides in my lap.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: No, no— but I’m saying you said you worked on the driveway, on the drive in front of the barn there Saturday morning—
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah but no, he’s got five or six tricycles and big wheels and stuff like that he plays on. He don’t make a lot of—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: This isn’t about your parenting skills, don’t misunderstand.
BROOKS HOUCK: I understand, yeah but—
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: I’m not asking you about that. If you’re working on the dozer, is Eli in the dozer with you, or is he out playing in the yard or….?
BROOKS HOUCK: I’m not really… I’m not really working on the dozer. He’s, he’s got five or six of the, uh, tricycles and big wheels things that are at the barn. And if he’s not out there with the cows or something, he rides them little toys around. We’ve got ‘em down there in the barn, we’ve got ‘em out there in the driveway. It don’t take a lot to entertain him.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Sure.
BROOKS HOUCK: A lot of times he peddles, or does whatever he does.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Sure. But here— but how long would you think that it took you to fix that area you said was taking on water there in front of the barn with the doors?
BROOKS HOUCK: Oh I don’t– I don’t know. A lot of times on Saturday I just use that as a… as a place to uh, to vent and get away from what I call ‘the city’. Not just Bardstown the city, but all the like… city stuff that goes on. Loud music and all that. Out there you hear crickets. You know, you don’t hear a lot of people. So, I go out there to kind of… a lot of times just get away from the stress of all these tenants and stuff, calling these new construction contractors and stuff. So it’s kind of a little vacation away from home.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right but do… you told me earlier on that on Saturday you fixed the spot in front of the barn where the water was going in…
BROOKS HOUCK: Mhmm. Yeah if you– if the waters not– if the– if– if it’s not been like, raining a solid week or whatever you can’t really tell if it hits and misses. Sometimes if we get a substantial amount of rain, um, you can… you can kind of tell where problems are, like, you know. And um, and I could tell so, that, you know… that’s just what I did. Just piddled. Just nothing important, just piddled.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right. But would you… would Eli normally be in the, in the bulldozer with you while you’re operating it? Was he in there with you while you’re operating it?
BROOKS HOUCK: He’s been, yeah. He’s– he’s– drove it, not that morning there he wasn’t, but yeah I mean he has been in it. He’s drove the bulldozer before. He’s drove all the tractors out there before.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. So that morning did you say your mom was or wasn’t home, do you… you don’t know?
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t remember.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Yeah, okay. Um, so you don’t know that she did— he was out riding on his tricycles or whatever. When you said in the driveway, you mean the driveway in front of the house or the driveway where that you’re working on?
BROOKS HOUCK: Say it again now?
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: You said you were working on the driveway in front of the barn with the dozer, right?
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, in front of… down there by the barn…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: And you said he was probably riding on tricycles or something.
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, he was– I’m sure– he was riding on the concrete slab. It’s easier for him to pedal on the slab than it is outside there, and I can see him better, my visibility’s better if he’s– if he’s in there than out here.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right, so he was here by the barn and not over by the house there, right?
BROOKS HOUCK: No, he wasn’t by the house.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Gotcha, okay. So you guys finish up whatever you’re doing—
BROOKS HOUCK: —Maybe later that, later that day or something he might have went over there. The chickens might have come down there. He might have done something with them, I don’t know. But it’s not uncommon for him, you know… the chickens out there they can be fast, but they’re not scared of people because he plays with them so much. But you can catch them pretty easy. I mean, he treats them like a cat.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Mhmm. So you guys… um, any idea how long you were out there, Saturday morning?
BROOKS HOUCK: It was a good— yeah usually on Saturday I’m not in any kind of a rush because I try to take, uh…uh, I usually try to take it easy on Saturday.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. So did you, did you eat lunch out there?
BROOKS HOUCK: I don’t know if I ate lunch out there. I know I ate supper out there at uh, Fabian’s house that night because he had everybody over there at his house for… it was about, I don’t know, maybe 150 people over there at my mom’s brother’s house. Um, we went out there for a short while, it wasn’t real long. Um, I know what I ate there. Eli ate there. I don’t know what we did for lunch, I can’t remember.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. Did you go from the farm to Fabian’s or had you—
BROOKS HOUCK: I– I don’t know if I took a shower or… I may have went home and taken a shower from being out there on the farm. You know, I don’t want to go there smelling like a bunch of cows.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Sure.
BROOKS HOUCK: I may have went home, I’m not sure. I don’t– I don’t know. I may have went home and took a shower and then came back. That’s more than likely what I did, but I can’t remember.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Okay. So then you, sometime Saturday evening you went over to Fabian’s house. Do you remember round about what time that was? That would have been Fourth of July.
BROOKS HOUCK: Yeah, that’s some– that’s something that we were supposed to go to that.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Mhmm. Did you all stay out there for fireworks or…
BROOKS HOUCK: We didn’t stay that– that late. Uh, I know that there was a bunch of people there that hadn’t seen in a good while. My mom’s got a pretty large family, uh, that I hadn’t seen and I wanted to see, see ‘em. But um, we didn’t stay out there… out there real late. Um…
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Any idea how many times you’ve called Crystal at this point, by the time you went from getting up Saturday morning until you were going to the family gathering at Fabian’s?
BROOKS HOUCK: I know I– I know I called her back around maybe noon again the second time and um… I don’t know what the exact time I called her after that, but I know that sometimes in the past if I’ve called her and blown her phone up, it made it worse.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Mhmm.
BROOKS HOUCK: So, sometimes I’ve just called periodically and I’ve found that to… she doesn’t take as much offense to that. You know, if you’re just disrespectful to ‘em, especially if someone’s mad, it makes it worse to keep calling, and calling and calling.
DETECTIVE JON SNOW: Right.
BROOKS HOUCK: I wasn’t… I wasn’t even alarmed! I was for sure the girls were doing this to me on purpose, Brooke and Sabrina and them.
[END BROOKS HOUCK INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT PART 1]
Part Two of the Brooks Houck police interview is currently being transcribed and will be posted and linked as soon as it is completed.
Other Articles on the Crystal Rogers Case:
Former Property of Brooks Houck Searched by FBI in Crystal Rogers Case
Video:
Gray Hughes & Chasing Truth multi-part Youtube series on Crystal Rogers / Bardstown cases
