00:00:01 Speaker 1: We're taking a break this week from our regularly scheduled programming to let you know about several important updates from the stories we covered in Season 2. I'm especially excited to tell you the latest from the case of Dr. John Young, an archaeologist who was found burned inside his New Mexico home. The Blood Trails community has made a real difference, and we'll get to that in just a few minutes. We also have updates on Mike Kreitz and Bill Rowland, but first, a major update from the Tommy Ballard case. As we covered in episode 5 of season 2, Tommy Ballard was gunned down while hunting with his grandson outside Bardstown, Kentucky in November of 2016. Many believed he was killed because of his campaign to find his daughter, Crystal Rogers. Crystal had disappeared the year before, and Tommy pointed the finger at Crystal's boyfriend, a guy named Brooks Houck. Brooks was eventually arrested and convicted of Crystal's murder, but Tommy's remains unsolved. One of the primary suspects in Tommy's murder is Brooks' brother, Nick Houck. Investigators said they had recovered a rifle they believe was used to kill Tommy. That rifle had been sold by Nick Houck, but the former Bardstown police officer remained a free man. But that changed in June of this year, just a few weeks after our episode aired. That's when prosecutors charged Nick Houck not with murder, but with perjury. His indictment alleges that sometime between July 15th, 2015, And April 16th, 2023, he lied under oath during an official proceeding. This was obviously huge news, but tons of questions remain. The first is, what did Nick Houck lie about? The judge has sealed the document that details this information, so we don't know everything. However, in Nick Houck's motion to dismiss the case, his attorneys mention one of the alleged falsehoods. In a July 2015 grand jury testimony, Nick said he did not attend a July 4th party in Boston, Kentucky when he actually did. While this was technically a lie, his lawyers argued that it doesn't amount to perjury because it did not affect the outcome of the Crystal Rogers case. We'll see what the judge thinks of that argument. The other, more important question is whether these perjury charges are just the beginning of Nick Houck's legal trouble or the end. It's possible prosecutors are still working on more serious charges. It's also possible they've decided they can't prove Nick was involved in Tommy or Crystal's murders. We don't know for sure one way or the other. I reached out to some of the Ballard family, and they said prosecutors have been tight-lipped. But I also spoke to Ryan Weldon, a longtime state and federal prosecutor in Montana. He explained that prosecutors might be using the perjury charges to get the ball rolling on some kind of plea agreement. 00:02:57 Speaker 2: When you have your initial charge, it's something that you can easily prove. Then the way to think of that is shots are now fired from the prosecution team. So they have made sure that that individual is being brought in. They will get counsel. And in some circumstances, the prosecution team will actually bring in the defense team and say, we've charged with the perjury charge. Now we want you to see the additional evidence that we have against your client as it relates to these other activities. And then there may be a negotiated settlement from there. 00:03:33 Speaker 1: Of course, it's also possible, much like Al Capone was charged with tax evasion instead of murder, they're going after Nick Houck for perjury because it's all they have. 00:03:43 Speaker 2: They may not have sufficient evidence to tie him to the murder. This could be it for what they have, and so this is the end of the road for them. This is the charge they've agreed that they can prove at this point, and that would be the end of the road. 00:03:58 Speaker 1: We'll keep you posted on this case as it progresses. I also encourage everyone to follow Kentucky journalist Shay McAllister. She's been at the forefront of this story from the beginning, and she has better access than anyone. She recently covered a ceremony dedicating a bridge in Bardstown to Crystal and Tommy, and she got a chance to speak with Sherry Ballard, Tommy's wife. 00:04:19 Speaker 3: I feel good that I've got justice. You know, that's given me a peace of mind. But I'll feel better when I bring her home. And I hope a couple more will be in jail, too. Then I'll really feel good. 00:04:36 Speaker 1: Sherry sent me a very kind note after our episode aired, expressing her appreciation for our coverage of Tommy's murder. I value that kind of feedback more than any other, and I hope that one day the Ballard family can get the justice they deserve. Mike Kreitz is next. It's not an update so much as some additional context to that wild story. Mike Kreitz was an avid outdoorsman who lived by himself outside Helena, Montana. He went missing in 2011, and his dismembered remains were found along a highway a few months later. Investigators found that Mike had been feuding with his neighbors, particularly one man named John Meehan. They couldn't gather enough evidence to prosecute Meehan, but in September of 2020, they indicted another neighbor named Leon Ford. Ford went to trial a few years after that, but the jury was hung, the judge declared a mistrial, and charges were never refiled. I'd like to say that we have new evidence and new charges, but unfortunately we don't. But we do have some insight into that jury. No one really knew how the jury in Ford's trial broke down. Was there a lone holdout in one direction or the other? Or was the jury split evenly between those who thought Ford was innocent and those who thought he was guilty? Well, now we have some insight into that question. I received a message from someone who was on that jury during Ford's case. He said they were split seven to five, with seven voting in favor of Ford's innocence while five thought he was guilty. This juror believed that Ford killed Mike with help from Meehan, though he admitted it was tough without a murder weapon and inconclusive DNA evidence. He also said something I thought was really interesting. He wrote, quote, This matched up with something Sheriff Dutton told me about Leon Ford's wife. In the interviews, his wife. 00:06:27 Speaker 4: I felt, I felt his wife almost confessed to it. She was just close, but the detective didn't feel like going further. So I can't fault him. I wasn't there. But that's why I say they came close. 00:06:52 Speaker 1: I also received an email from someone who said they recently bought property near Mike's. He said he'd met John Meehan, and Meehan is, quote, just as weird as they say. He also said he purchased his acreage from Leon Ford. who then sued him after the fact for a steel building he'd left on the property. Based on what this person said, it sounds like Mike's death is still a subject of discussion in this neighborhood. And if you listened to that episode, you know why. Here's another update and more questions from the Bill Rowland case out of Texas. If you missed it, Bill Rowland went missing in July of 1997 from his lake house on Lake Sam Rayburn. His remains were never recovered, but investigators did find his burned-out truck on a hunting lease about 35 miles from the lake house. They also found his pontoon boat tethered in a cove. The boat's pontoons had been shot in an apparent and unsuccessful effort to sink it. The Texas Rangers took the lead on the investigation, but it didn't really go anywhere. No suspects were ever named. Bill did have an ongoing dispute with one of his neighbors at the lake house, but that individual was never publicly identified or arrested. There are dozens of theories about what could have happened to Bill. Some of them involve infidelity, both on Bill's part and on the part of his wife at the time, a woman named Lynette. In one of these rumors, which we covered in episode six, a man named Heath was having an affair with Lynette. The couple plotted to kill Bill and bury him under a half-finished parking lot or bus stop in the town of Zavala, Texas. Zavala is just to the west of Lake Sam Rayburn, and we drove through it when we went down there. I tried to get in touch with some of Heath's friends and family, but didn't get a response. However, after the episode aired, Heath's wife sent me a message on Facebook. She doesn't think her husband was having an affair with Lynette. She claimed the two didn't even know each other. She also pointed out that their age difference, Heath was 26 in 1997 while Lynette was 49, would have made an affair unlikely. But she also mentioned something else. She told me that Lynette owned the construction company that was building the parking lot in Zavala. A family member of Heath's worked for Lynette, and he said that Bill was buried underneath that lot. Heath told one of Bill's sons this information before he committed suicide, and Heath's wife said she passed this info to the Texas Rangers. Heath's wife made it clear that she believes Lynette had something to do with Bill's death. She didn't say why or how, so it's hard to know how to judge this rumor. The main point of connection appears to be that parking lot that was built by Lynette's company. It offers one explanation for why Bill was never found, though it's hardly proof that Bill was slain by his own wife. But the idea that Bill is under a parking lot and not in the lake aligns with something I observed in my conversation with Texas Ranger Chris Perkins. Ranger Perkins is currently in charge of Bill's case. I asked him if they had plans to search the lake for Bill's body, and his response was less emphatic than I expected. Is that something that... you're considering, another search of the lake? Because I know technology has improved quite a bit since the 90s. Is that something that you would think about doing? 00:10:09 Speaker 5: It very well could be. That would be a question with the local agencies to find out if we could do that. But I certainly wouldn't rule it out. Um, I know, I mean, it's been, it's been 20 years and I'm sure there's been a lot of changes to the, to the late, late bed since then. But, um, if, if the investigation, if it came up as something that we needed to do, then certainly we would do it. And that's something that, um, even so DPS has its own dive team and we use them all the time for stuff like that. And I know even what, Their capabilities have improved in the last 20 years as well, so that may be something that we wind up revisiting, sure. 00:10:55 Speaker 1: Now, obviously, an investigator doesn't have to show his cards and reveal everything he's thinking. But that line about searching the lake if it came up as something we needed to do makes me think they don't believe Bill is in the lake. If that's true, then the parking lot, at least based on what I've been told, seems like the most likely alternative. I also got confirmation that the Texas Rangers did look closely at Lynette and her business. Don Morris, the Ranger who originally investigated Bill's case, called me a few weeks after this episode came out. He told me they polygraphed both Lynette and one of her employees, and both passed the test. Polygraphs are notoriously unreliable, but this does tell me that Bill's wife was a suspect, at least to a certain extent. As always, we'll keep you in the loop if our tree shaking results in anything else tumbling to the ground. Last, but certainly not least, we have a major update in the John Young case. Dr. John Young was found dead inside his burned-out home in Taos, New Mexico. The fire marshal determined that the blaze was likely set on purpose, but our reporting revealed that the Taos County Sheriff's Office never opened a homicide investigation. The evidence showed that Dr. Young arrived home the day of the fire and left his car in a hurry. The food he'd been eating was still in his Suburban, along with some groceries and a few other personal items. When the fire died down and his remains were found, it looked like the man had been stuffed in a corner of the garage. There was also evidence of a bullet hole in his head, though the medical examiner later concluded that the strange deformation was likely caused by the fire. The fire marshal also found evidence of several places in the home where it looked like an accelerant had been splashed on the walls and floor. 00:12:41 Speaker 3: Dr. 00:12:41 Speaker 1: Young was an archaeologist, and his house was filled with artifacts. The family doesn't believe many of those artifacts had been stolen, but they were never able to account for a specific piece of crystal. Other valuables, such as firearms, had been left behind by whoever had started the blaze. I had a heck of a time getting people to speak to me about this case. the Taos County Sheriff never agreed to sit down with me for a recorded interview, and I wasn't able to get past the press office at the New Mexico State Fire Marshal's office. I reported all of this in the episode, and it sounds like many of you shared my frustration. I know that because about a week after the episode aired, I got a call from a detective with the Taos County Sheriff's Office named Donovan Byers. Detective Byers explained that Dr. Young's case had been receiving quite a bit of attention. And because of that, the sheriff had decided to open a homicide investigation. Detective Byers sounded excited and hopeful that he might make progress in the case, and he asked me to send him everything I'd found. I couldn't have been happier to receive that call. 00:13:45 Speaker 3: Dr. 00:13:45 Speaker 1: Young's case deserves a full investigation, and I think the Blood Trails audience deserves the credit for making it happen. And as you heard in the episode, there are no shortage of leads. Kevin Young wondered if some local tribal members had been upset that the archaeologist had so many artifacts in his home. Others I spoke to wondered if Dr. Young was killed by a violent burglar who was operating in the area. A private investigator said he'd spoken with a neighbor who spotted a group of four men in a white pickup truck hanging around the neighborhood the day of the fire. I don't know how far Detective Byers has followed any of these leads, but I do know that he may have just gotten another one. On August 18th, 2026, the Taos Fire Department was called out to a house in Miranda Canyon, just six miles south of town. Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze that had started in a room on the second floor of the single family home. The house didn't burn down, but the fire department posted on Facebook, quote, one deceased occupant was located inside the structure. We don't know how that person died or whether they were found in the same room as the fire. but we do know that the state fire marshal was called in to help with the investigation. That tells me the fire itself was somehow suspicious, though at this point I don't have any more details that I'm free to share. The similarities between that situation and the fire that killed Dr. Young are impossible to ignore. Only time will tell if those similarities turn out to be significant, but I have reason to hope that we might be getting some answers soon. If you have an update about a case we've covered or know about another story that deserves our attention, send me an email at bloodtrails at themeateater.com. I read every email, I respond to most, and I love to hear from you. Once again, that's bloodtrailsatthemeateater.com. We'll be back with another new full-length story next week. See you next time. Stay safe out there.