Still waiting for answers: inside Till and Betty Ballard's long history of grief and determination
Till and Betty Ballard have buried their son Tommy and their daughter Sherry, but their granddaughter Crystal still has no grave. They visit two cemeteries every Sunday and wait for answers.
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In the warm kitchen of their Bardstown home, Till and Betty Ballard sit with the weight of nearly five decades of grief etched across their faces. On the table between them are memories of three people they've lost to violence: their daughter Sherry Ballard Barnes, murdered by her estranged husband in 1979 while pregnant with their first grandchild; their granddaughter Crystal Rogers, who disappeared in 2015; and their son Tommy Ballard, murdered in 2016 while hunting on family property.
"Not very good," Till says quietly when asked how they're doing. "We're just waiting till they get the rest of them- Rosemary and Nick and Rhonda and whoever else is involved- and find Crystal."
Earlier this year, three people were convicted in Crystal's case: her boyfriend Brooks Houck received a life sentence. Two of his former employees, Steve Lawson and Joseph, were also convicted in the case. But for Till and Betty, the convictions brought only partial relief. Crystal's remains have never been found, and no one has been arrested in Tommy's murder.
The couple visits two cemeteries every Sunday- and sometimes more often than that. They go to St. Thomas to see Tommy, and to another cemetery for Sherry, their daughter. But there's no grave for Crystal to visit.
Till believes Brooks Houck knows exactly where Crystal is but refuses to tell out of spite. "I think he hates Sherry so much, he's not gonna tell where Crystal is," Till explains, referring to Crystal's mother, who pleaded with Brooks from the witness stand during the sentencing phase of the trial. "He just sat there, you know, just staring straight ahead, you know, like 'heck with you.'"
The pain of not knowing cuts deep. "We could find her and have a proper burial," Till says. "That's all her kids need to know- where their mother's at."
"And those kids deserve to know," Betty added.
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