Suspect's brother, a cop, fired amid missing Ky. mom investigation

NELSON COUNTY, Ky. -- Police have named the boyfriend of a missing Kentucky woman a suspect in her disappearance, and the boyfriend's brother, a police officer, has been fired for allegedly interfering with the investigation, reports CBS affiliate WLKY.

Crystal Rogers, 35, a mother of five, was last seen by her live-in boyfriend Brooks Houck July 3 at their home in Nelson County south of Louisville, the station reported at the time. Her unlocked maroon Chevy Impala was later found abandoned on a highway, with a flat tire and her keys, purse, and phone inside, reports the station.

Houck, the father of one of Rogers' children, reportedly told investigators that he stayed up late the night Rogers vanished, and when he woke up, she was gone. However, family said publicly they doubted his story.

Friday, the Nelson County Sheriff's Office named Houck a suspect, the station reports. The same day, his brother Nick Houck, a police officer with the Bardstown Police Department, was reportedly fired, and this week, nearly 200 pages of documents and several hours of police interviews, hearings, and phone calls were released in the case.

In a recording of a two-hour police interview with Brooks Houck in the days following Rogers' disappearance, Houck is seen becoming emotional and claiming his innocence. A detective tells him he had become the "main person of interest" because of "big gaps in his timeline."

"I don't need an attorney. I haven't asked for an attorney but this is really starting to get silly," Houck is heard telling a detective.

He tells the investigator that on the night of Rogers' disappearance, the couple went to his family farm with his son to feed livestock, reports the station. He says he burned trash at the farm when the detective tells him a search dog hit on a burn pile there, reports the station.

"Yes, it's not uncommon. I don't want stuff piling up to the moon. I always light a fire," he says.

Brooks Houck was reportedly captured on surveillance camera on his aunt's nearby home leaving the farm just before midnight. He told investigators he left the farm with Rogers, but she was gone the next morning when he woke up.

His brother Nick Houck reportedly calls his cell phone during the interview, and Brooks Houck is heard telling him, "I'm innocent. I haven't done anything wrong."

In another recently-released interview video, police are seen interviewing Nick Houck about week later. Investigators said both Houcks had been captured on surveillance video returning to the family farm within two hours of Brooks Houck's interview, reports the station.

Nick Houck is reportedly seen in the video telling investigators he can't remember what happened at the farm.

"Man, if I knew I'd tell you. I wish could give you a detailed statement," he says.

Later in the interview, detectives are seen telling Nick Houck that neighbors had reported seeing him taking something out of his police cruiser in the days following Rogers' disappearance and then putting it into his mother's car.

In the video, investigators tell him a search dog hit on his cruiser and apparent blood spatter was found in the trunk.

"There's a couple spots in your trunk and that blanket lit up like Chernobyl. Why would that be?" an investigators asks him.

Nick Houck replies there would not be blood in the cruiser's trunk. The investigator replies, "Okay, bodily fluids."

Houck said, "I don't have a clue."

Law enforcement said last week that Crystal Rogers is presumed dead, reports the station, Her family is continuing the search, though they are scaling back their efforts.