The Secret in the Water

[0:12] It was after one in the morning, [0:15] we heard this popping sound. [0:19] We didn't know what was going on at first. [0:21] And I looked out the back door [0:23] and we could see the flames coming out of the house over here. [0:27] And so I called 911 just to think [0:31] that it could go up that fast. [0:33] It's horrifying. [0:35] I just figured the whole house was going to go. [0:38] I had to call roughly 1.35, give or take a few minutes [0:48] for possible structure fire. [0:50] Structure fire. [0:51] When we hear a structure fire for a call, [0:54] it's kind of just dangerous for everybody. [0:56] It kind of clicks you over into like it's game time. [0:59] Everybody just kind of jumps out of bed, [1:02] starts putting their gear on [1:03] and we jump on the truck to take off. [1:06] They respond urgent because you just never know [1:09] if there's people inside the home, [1:11] if there's anybody trapped, [1:12] how rapidly the fire is going to spread. [1:15] Of course, you're glued to the window [1:16] because you want to see what you're pulling up to. [1:19] Coming down the street, you can see it [1:20] because there's fire out of every door and window. [1:24] It was coming out of the garage, [1:26] the picture window in the front, the front door. [1:28] Kind of looked like a movie because inside, [1:31] you can see everything. [1:32] In real life, it's never like that [1:35] and something else could be going on. [1:39] Might not be just a typical accidental fire. [1:42] Kind of made you think, okay, [1:43] there could be something more to this. [1:45] It's definitely had a jump on us. [1:48] This fire is really just the beginning. [1:51] It's going to connect back eventually to another case, [1:54] a murder case that happened about 100 miles away. [1:58] A mystery that had gone unsolved for many years. [2:01] A man accused in multiple crimes, decades apart. [2:05] It's one of the region's oldest lingering questions. [2:09] Who killed Regina Rowe Hicks? [2:11] That mother was found in a Huron County pond. [2:14] He didn't just take her life. [2:16] He messed with everybody's life. [2:18] Calculated, deviant, evil. [2:20] They were dealing with a monster. [2:31] We got a call in at 1.35 a.m. [2:36] We were there within 10 minutes, rolled up. [2:38] We had fire coming out of almost, [2:40] pretty much every window. [2:41] We deployed our hand lines [2:42] and started knocking the fire down from there. [2:46] I don't know if someone's inside of the house that's on fire. [2:50] To put it simply, how long could you hold your breath? [2:53] Not very long. [2:55] They don't necessarily know that the homeowner [2:58] is not there that night. [2:59] It's in the middle of the night. [3:00] There could be people sleeping in here. [3:03] Two different crews. [3:04] One went up and then we went downstairs. [3:06] We didn't find anybody. [3:08] No victims in the house. [3:09] No one is there. [3:11] We crossed through the living room [3:13] and we crawled over, I believe it was a five-gallon gas can. [3:17] And during the search, I crawled over another gas can [3:21] that I believe was in a bedroom. [3:23] Something's not right, and he went and told the fire chief. [3:25] And he had the arson team dispatched to investigate the fire. [3:31] And they requested the Claremont County Sheriff's Office [3:33] to come up and to handle the investigation in conjunction [3:37] with some of the fire investigators [3:39] because they believed it to be an arson. [3:43] The owner of the home was a gentleman named Paul Hicks. [3:48] He had purchased the home about six to seven months earlier. [3:53] We learned that it was an investment type of home. [3:55] He didn't specifically live there, but he would stay random nights. [4:01] Goshen, Ohio, which is a suburb of Cincinnati, [4:04] but you are just on the edge of getting to farmland. [4:09] Mr. Hicks was a railroad foreman, [4:13] and he would specifically work around parts of Ohio [4:17] fixing crossings or intersections of the railway. [4:21] And he worked for a company, CSX. [4:25] Fire investigators were trying to reach out to the homeowner. [4:28] Once contact is made, he identifies that he's in a hotel [4:33] up in Bluffton, Ohio, where he's been staying [4:35] throughout the week for his job. [4:39] And very quickly, he identified that he had a surveillance system [4:44] within his home and also on the exterior of the home, [4:48] pointing towards the residence. [4:50] This surveillance had survived the fire, [4:52] and we were told that it survived [4:54] because it happened to be in two fireproof gun safes. [4:57] So eventually, Mr. Hicks shows up at the fire scene. [5:02] He helps us retrieve that DVR system. [5:06] The camera system had four cameras, [5:08] one outside in the back, one outside in the front, two inside. [5:12] The DVR that the footage was on was extremely well-preserved [5:16] for having been in a fire. [5:18] Investigators, they have all of this surveillance video, [5:21] which is a little bit uncommon. [5:24] The two people approach, and they first come into the view [5:26] of the camera. [5:27] It appears that it's about 1.14ish in the morning, [5:30] 1.15 in the morning, when they initially show up. [5:35] It's an infrared camera, so it's kind of black and white, [5:38] but it appears that they're wearing some sort of like Tyvek suit. [5:42] The male arsonist has a couple of gas cans with them, [5:45] and they walk up to the house, [5:47] and they come right to the front door. [5:50] They go into the house. [5:52] It doesn't appear anybody kicks the door [5:54] or does anything like that. [5:56] They kind of walk, meander through the house, [5:59] but one of the subjects in the house, [6:01] who we believe is a male, carries out a TV. [6:04] They carry it out the back door. [6:06] So they've got this Tyvek suit to cover themselves up, [6:08] but the hair and the face are exposed. [6:11] Right on camera, a camera angle that she walks under, [6:13] she has all of this long, curly blonde hair [6:15] that's hanging out. [6:18] The male does the majority of the pouring of the gas [6:21] that can be seen on surveillance. [6:25] It ultimately ignited the house on the backside. [6:29] You can see how quickly it goes up. [6:31] You essentially had kind of like an explosion [6:33] in the middle of the fire, [6:34] which pushed out the front of the building. [6:37] It is an absolutely massive fire. [6:42] Paul Hicks is very stern in his beliefs right away [6:47] as we're reviewing the surveillance. [6:49] He has his theory. [6:51] And he identifies the female arsonist. [6:54] That's definitively her, [6:56] and he's identifying her based upon her size, [6:59] her facial features, her hair, what her nose looks like. [7:04] That person stopped, looked at the surveillance camera, [7:08] and almost looked at the camera in a sense of, [7:11] here I am, this is who I am. [7:13] After immediately pointing the finger, [7:15] he's also saying that she's done this before. [7:18] He's basically saying that she is violent, [7:22] out to get him, and she would do this type of thing. [7:25] That was kind of our first level of what's going on here. [7:28] It kind of made us think twice. [7:49] There are some odd things [7:51] that are immediately apparent to the investigators [7:53] as they're looking through all of the surveillance video [7:56] that they have. [7:59] Didn't pass the smell test, if you will. [8:01] They take precautions to cover themselves up, [8:04] but the hair and the face are exposed, [8:07] and the hair is almost laying on the shoulders in display. [8:10] If your hair was that unique, [8:12] why would you not take the time to conceal it? [8:17] You would typically think [8:19] that if someone's committing an arson [8:20] and there's neighboring properties [8:21] and potential witnesses, [8:23] that they are gonna be in and out, [8:24] do it quickly, get out, [8:26] and that's not what you see on the video for this fire. [8:30] They definitely seemed very calculated [8:34] and very smooth in their moves. [8:38] The owner of this house, Paul Hicks, [8:40] he immediately tells them that he believes [8:42] that the woman in this video is his ex-girlfriend, Kelly. [8:46] He says they've been having problems, [8:48] especially child custody issues, [8:51] and he immediately points police in her direction. [8:55] Okay, it's June 18th, 2015, approximately. [8:59] 10-10, I referenced a house fire [9:02] determined to be an incendiary fire [9:04] with the homeowner, Paul Hicks. [9:08] Mr. Hicks had told us that he had had a bad relationship [9:11] with the mother of his child. [9:14] His ex, Kelly, has been blowing him up, [9:16] blowing him up for multiple calls, [9:19] continued to call all night. [9:20] Just told her, stop calling me, [9:22] and then she called, I think, 95 times in a row. [9:25] Okay, and this was last night? [9:27] Yes. [9:28] When we got the phone records back, [9:29] it appeared that Kelly's phone had called his phone [9:33] in excess of 100 times. [9:35] So you've had some problems with her in the past? [9:37] Oh, yeah. [9:38] She has been threatening to you in the past? [9:39] Oh, God, yes. [9:43] Paul had said that this isn't [9:44] the first time that Kelly has been out [9:47] to damage my house. [9:49] And he's saying, I also have this on surveillance, [9:51] that she came out to my property. [9:53] She actually came out twice in one day. [9:56] You got the video of her chopping up a hot tub? [9:58] Mm-hmm. [9:59] Two months ago? [10:00] This is when she did that. [10:01] He referenced a prior criminal damage [10:04] that had happened at that same residence [10:07] earlier in the year. [10:09] That kind of supported his reason [10:13] why he said he needed the surveillance system. [10:16] And with that hot tub incident, [10:18] it was very similar. [10:19] The hair was on display. [10:20] The body type was the same. [10:21] Because of the prior hot tub incident, [10:24] Goshen Township Police Department [10:25] had put a warrant out on the ex. [10:31] So at this point, [10:32] investigators want to confront Kelly, [10:34] and they set things up with Paul Hicks [10:37] to have her meet him for a child custody exchange [10:41] of their son. [10:42] We did that at Kroger's. [10:44] Once she went there to meet him, [10:46] we arrested her on the outstanding warrant. [10:48] So I didn't do anything wrong? [10:49] I understand. [10:50] So I'm handcuffed like a criminal. [10:52] I have no record at all. [10:53] What you have is a criminal damaging warrant. [10:55] I didn't do nothing. [10:56] So it's not, you know, [10:58] if you haven't gone out and killed anybody or anything, [11:01] it's just a criminal damage warrant, okay? [11:04] Well, you make these off? [11:05] No, I have to leave the cuffs on, unfortunately. [11:07] But I did nothing. [11:09] From that day forward, she remains anonymous, [11:13] never publicly revealing herself until now. [11:17] Right here, too, it was chilly. [11:21] I sat down with Kelly to talk about all of this, [11:23] her first time on national television, [11:26] and she remembers this day very clearly. [11:29] Before I know it, both my doors were open, [11:32] and there was taser guns pointed at me in my mom's head. [11:35] And what did they say? [11:36] They didn't tell me anything [11:37] until I got after they arrested me. [11:39] What are you thinking is happening? [11:41] Well, what did Paul do? [11:42] Yes, it's being recorded. [11:43] Is that cold? [11:44] Oh, yeah. [11:46] Authorities obscured Kelly's space in this video. [11:49] Now, do you have your records [11:50] from June 17th that night? [11:54] Yeah. [11:55] Because the records, I find, [11:56] is that you made a lot of phone calls to him. [11:59] You guys have been texting back and forth on the 17th, [12:01] so this was the night before the fire. [12:02] Here's the whole text message conversation. [12:03] Okay. [12:04] I know he's talking about, [12:06] hey, he's going to go for full custody and all that stuff. [12:08] And then after that, [12:09] after between about 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock that night, [12:12] there's numerous, numerous phone calls [12:15] from your phone to his phone. [12:17] Oh, no, that's what I was just showing you right here. [12:18] Okay. [12:18] I never called him at all after, [12:20] the last time that I spoke with him was at 625. [12:23] Okay. [12:24] And after that, his number's nowhere. [12:26] I never called him at all. [12:26] So there was no phone calls to? [12:28] None, zero, none. [12:29] I never called him at all. [12:31] They tell you about a woman who was caught on tape [12:34] who looked like you. [12:35] What are you thinking? [12:36] There's no way that's me. [12:38] I was at my mom's house sleeping [12:39] and she lives 30, 35 minutes away. [12:41] Did it resemble you from what you can see? [12:44] A little bit. [12:45] If you didn't know me, you'd be like, [12:46] oh, that might, you know, like, yeah. [12:49] So was your head spinning? [12:51] Like, who could this be? [12:52] Yes. [12:53] It was wild. [12:54] She was surprised. [12:56] And she was very stern and adamant [13:00] that she had no involvement in the arson [13:02] in that hot tub incident. [13:04] She said just, I was in bed. [13:06] I wasn't out, you know, out in the country in Goshen [13:08] and committing this arson. [13:09] This is the girl that is, they're trying to say it's me, [13:12] but it's not me. [13:13] And here's the obvious. [13:14] And you guys do resemble each other. [13:16] Just like the eyes, the cheeks, and the eyebrows. [13:18] Other than that, I don't have that distinctive chin. [13:21] So after the Kelly interview, [13:23] we start trying to just do our background on both of them. [13:27] We learned that neither one of them [13:28] were really in the area of the residence. [13:30] She told us she was over in the Norwood area, [13:33] which was consistent with the records we got. [13:36] And Paul Hicks told us he was up in the Bluffton location, [13:40] and we were able to verify that, too. [13:43] If it's not Paul who's there, [13:45] and it's not Kelly who's there, who is this woman? [13:49] Investigators are about to uncover something [13:51] that is pretty stunning. [13:53] Kept telling people, like, before the final straw, [13:56] telling you, he's going to do something, [13:58] something's going to happen. [13:59] Results come back is, to this day, [14:03] is the most incredible response I've ever gotten. [14:05] It's in black and white. [14:07] That was the game changer for me, for sure. [14:39] Zachary McCune, I'm a partner with Rolphus Henry, [14:42] which is a law firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. [14:44] A significant portion of my practice [14:46] relates to fires and explosions [14:51] and representing insurance companies in relation to those. [14:54] Zach McCune is not someone who's got the same powers [14:58] as a police officer, [14:59] but he emerges as the super sleuth of this case. [15:04] You have a very small universe of people [15:06] who could have been involved in this. [15:08] It's either him or it's her. [15:11] Kelly was extremely cooperative. [15:14] She came in and gave a voluntary sworn statement. [15:17] Kelly tells me that when she first met Paul, [15:20] she thought he was the kind of guy [15:21] she'd been looking for. [15:25] He was tall, he was handsome, [15:28] and he just, he was funny. [15:30] Dance, dude! [15:36] Did you feel like you kind of had met a Prince Charming [15:40] or a guy who was, could possibly be that? [15:41] I did, I've never met anyone who had like, [15:43] seemed like they had their life together. [15:45] I ended up pregnant within the, [15:47] within three or four months. [15:49] That had to be a surprise. [15:51] Yeah, so. [15:52] But he wanted you to move in with him. [15:54] Yes. [15:55] And did you know right away [15:56] that you wanted to stay with him? [15:58] What were the plans? [16:00] Oh, we were excited for, you know, [16:02] because I thought, oh, you know, [16:03] at the beginning, all that, everything's perfect, [16:06] you know, until things start to show. [16:10] Kelly says she and Paul would be on and off again [16:13] for the next seven years, [16:15] connected by their son, Daniel, [16:17] even as she says their relationship grew more volatile. [16:21] She told us about prior domestic violence scenarios. [16:26] There was an incident where he, from her perspective, [16:29] threw a gas can at her and said, [16:31] I wish you would burn. [16:32] There was an incident where she said he left the bar, [16:35] came home, took her clothes out in the front yard, [16:39] and lit them on fire. [16:40] Paul denies those domestic violence allegations [16:43] and was never charged in connection with them. [16:45] He would break stuff or he would say he's gonna get custody [16:49] and things like that. [16:51] And I was just, I was just done. [16:53] And he knew it. [16:54] So it was an ugly breakup. [16:56] Yeah. [16:57] This fire comes at a really pivotal time [17:00] in the relationship between Paul and Kelly. [17:03] They've broken up, they share a child, [17:05] and they are at a flashpoint in their child custody battle [17:09] where it's about to be time for child support payments [17:12] to be coming from Paul Hicks. [17:15] And then another concern was there were these really odd [17:20] cell phone communications the night of the fire. [17:23] His iPhone's incoming call logs show that she had called him [17:27] 90 some odd times. [17:29] But then her cell phone records came back, [17:31] and it showed that she only had five cell phone communications [17:35] with him that night. [17:37] They pulled the records and they figured out it wasn't me. [17:40] So that's really where the ball got rolling. [17:42] Like, what's going on here? [17:45] At first glance, it appears somebody is going [17:47] to great lengths to harass Paul Hicks. [17:50] Then investigators begin wondering, [17:53] could that person be Paul Hicks himself? [17:56] When we realized that the hard records didn't match, [17:59] somewhere along the line in a conversation with Kelly, [18:02] there was mention of spoofing, spoof card. [18:05] What spoof card is, it's a company [18:07] that would allow you to change the number [18:10] that shows up on their caller ID. [18:14] How did you know that he was using that? [18:15] I've seen him do it. [18:17] He told me. [18:17] The spoof card's legal compliance [18:19] were actually great in responding. [18:21] All that information comes back. [18:22] This program was used. [18:24] This is the real number that made all those calls. [18:26] They faked Kelly's number. [18:28] That was not Kelly. [18:29] Once investigators have this piece of the spoofing [18:32] of a phone number, they're able to trace it to an IP address. [18:36] And that IP address belongs to a woman who they don't know much about [18:40] and how she's connected to this case. [18:42] It takes a number of subpoenas to figure out who this woman is. [18:45] She comes in and says, yes, I do know Paul Hicks. [18:49] We were in a relationship, but I don't have a cell phone. [18:54] I don't have any cell phone communications. [18:56] I had this relationship. [18:58] We go our separate ways. [18:59] I don't know why people are asking me about the fire. [19:02] And I just want to be done with this kind of a thing. [19:05] We believe the phone was originally purchased by the female, [19:10] but it was in the hands of Paul Hicks. [19:13] Paul admits to using apps like SpoofCard in the past, [19:17] but denies having anything to do with those calls. [19:20] Investigators begin digging into the background of the woman [19:23] who says she dated Paul. [19:25] They start pulling her records, and they discover some unusual [19:29] purchases made under her name. [19:32] In her financial records, there was a purchase for a wig [19:35] at a store called Kay's Wigs. [19:38] A wig almost identical to Kelly's hair. [19:43] And they find something that's even more stunning [19:46] of a purchase than the wig. [19:48] This $368 purchase from a company called That's My Face. [19:54] This is a website where someone can give a photograph [19:57] of any individual, and that company will print out a mask [20:01] of that person's face. [20:03] And we were able to send a subpoena to That's My Face. [20:07] And the results came back to this day as the most incredible [20:12] response I've ever gotten from a subpoena. [20:15] It showed that a mask was purchased under this woman's name, [20:20] and it had all of these photographs of Kelly's face. [20:25] A number of these pictures we had seen either on Paul Hicks' [20:29] physical cell phone or in his social media accounts. [20:34] They find a custom-made mask that is made to look like you. [20:38] What the heck did you think was going on? [20:41] I was shocked. [20:42] Who even does that? [20:44] This is not the movies. [20:45] For his part, Paul Hicks has denied any connection [20:48] to the purchases of that wig and the custom mask. [20:51] You have the surveillance video, and you have a woman who's looking [20:55] at the camera with curly hair out and face bare. [21:00] It makes you put the pieces together. [21:02] That could be the reason that she was fine [21:05] with showing her face on camera. [21:08] The insurance company, they decide that there's no coverage [21:10] for the claim for this fire. [21:13] Paul Hicks sues them for breach of contract and bad faith, [21:17] and then Allstate countersues him for, among other things, fraud. [21:21] The civil lawsuit ultimately ends in favor of the insurance company. [21:26] Paul Hicks, he agreed that there would be a judgment against him [21:29] and in favor of Allstate for $400,000. [21:33] So the civil case is wrapped up, but investigators are still considering [21:37] criminal charges in that fire. [21:40] And across the state, another set of investigators are also looking into Paul Hicks. [21:46] A decade or so earlier, he was connected to something much darker [21:52] that was still unsolved. [21:53] Did you start to think that he could be capable of murder? [21:56] They were dealing with a monster. [21:58] After Kelly's arrest, Paul Hicks, her ex, files for temporary custody of their son. [22:20] Kelly says even as investigators began to doubt her role in the fire, [22:24] the allegations still followed her for years in family court. [22:29] He tried to destroy my whole world, and he got away with it for a long time, [22:32] taking my son from me, so... [22:34] He essentially had your son, Daniel. [22:36] Yes. It was horrible. It was a nightmare. [22:38] Like, he's everything to me. [22:43] It took two years just to be able to see him without supervision. [22:48] You want to tell me that I need supervision for my own child? [22:54] The initial allegations and accusations against Kelly pertaining to the arson, [23:00] we never ended up charging her. [23:02] We never got to a point where we believed that she was the person held responsible. [23:07] The hot tub incident, she wasn't the person involved in that, [23:11] and those charges were ultimately dismissed on her behalf as well. [23:14] After the civil case is over, criminal investigators are able to charge Paul Hicks [23:23] with aggravated arson, perjury, and insurance fraud. [23:28] Paul Hicks pleaded not guilty to that. [23:30] Are you thinking now that he's going to be held accountable? [23:33] Maybe he's going to go to jail. [23:35] I was thinking, hopefully, finally, you know, justice is finally happening. [23:39] 43-year-old Paul Hicks accused of organizing the elaborate scheme to have his house set on fire. [23:45] Deputies say Hicks told them his ex-girlfriend was one of the two people, [23:49] but detectives say she is innocent, and they do believe that Hicks is behind this plot. [23:54] Paul Hicks was making a lot of headlines in Ohio for the arson case. [23:59] What was actually happening not too far from there is another type of investigation [24:05] that involves something that happened back in 2001. [24:11] Mr. Hicks was originally from Willard, Ohio, or Huron County. [24:18] I ended up speaking to the elected sheriff. [24:20] They told me that from 2001, they had a victim by the name of Regina Hicks, [24:26] who was Paul Hicks' first wife, and she was a victim of a homicide. [24:38] Willard is rural. It's a railroad town. It's a hard-working town. [24:45] Not too far from Cedar Point, everybody knows where that's at. [24:50] Everybody knows everybody. If you want to know something about somebody, just ask somebody. [24:55] They'll tell you. [24:57] Regina was a tomboy, so she was used to working on, like, four-wheelers and dirt bikes and things like that, [25:02] and she enjoyed it. Her parents bought her a Grandiam. We would drive around the back roads [25:11] and listen to country music. Hank Williams Jr., Regina Love, that was her favorite. [25:17] You would feel protected around Regina. She would always make you feel safe, wanted, and loved. [25:23] Regina met Paul Hicks in school, and they started dating each other. I think she was, like, 16. [25:34] They went on after high school to get married. They had a son together. [25:38] Regina was a great mom. She would take Montana everywhere she went. [25:43] Once she met Paul Hicks, Regina couldn't hang out as much, and when we did hang out together, [25:49] Paul would always have to be there. She had to sneak and see us. [25:52] Before Paul, she was loud, happy, and more vocal. Paul made her more silent, more small. [26:04] Then at some point, there's a fire that happens at their home. [26:08] There's a fire at their house in the summer of 2001. The fire happened around 11 o'clock at night. [26:14] Paul Hicks decides, I'm going to go fishing. Regina goes with him. When they come back, [26:23] the house is on fire. It was determined that it was an electrical fire that started in the bathroom [26:29] shortly after they left. Regina was really upset about that fire. Her dad's things that she was given [26:36] to remember him by was in that house. After they split the insurance proceeds of $60,000, they start [26:49] to live separate lives, and she starts to do her own thing. That money really changed Regina's life. [26:55] She was able to break away from Paul and get some independence. She finally started acting like [27:03] herself again and doing stuff and buying stuff and going places. With the money, she went and [27:10] she bought a white Camaro. She wanted a fast car and everybody knew that that was hers. There wasn't [27:18] any other white Camaros in town. She was ready to turn the page on the chapter of Paul Hicks and just living it up. [27:26] She finally met somebody. She had filed for divorce and she was smiling like herself again, laughing. [27:41] It's a clear, crisp October evening in 2001. Regina Hicks has got her car, she's got her freedom, [27:48] and she's got plans for the evening ahead. She is expecting to pick her son up from Paul Hicks. Then [27:56] she is going to go to her mother's and drop off her son and then end the night with a guy that she is [28:02] dating with a night on the town. She has to pick Montana up at eight o'clock. Our mutual friend called me and [28:08] asked me if I had heard from Regina or if I had seen Regina. She was supposed to go pick up her son [28:15] and Montana was four years old. She did not pick up her son. She would have never left Montana. There's [28:24] no way she was going to leave her little boy and not pick him up when she was supposed to. No one [28:28] believed that Regina would just disappear on her own. And everyone was on the lookout for her signature [28:36] white Camaro. Where was it? Where was she? Almost instantly you knew something was really bad. [28:44] I don't know where you're at or where you're doing, but I'm so glad you're not hurt. [29:31] Four days have now gone by since Regina Hicks has gone missing, and understandably, [29:42] her relatives are frantic with worry. This is my son's field right here. He had a four-wheeler. [29:49] He rode around to the end of the property, and when he come up on top of the pond here, [29:55] he seen something out in the center of the pond. Something that was unusual. Yeah, he just didn't [30:00] know whether it was a plastic bag or what, but it's something that shouldn't have been there. And [30:07] come up the farm and told me Monday morning we came down here. He reaches down the water up to here, [30:18] and we was thinking maybe it was a jet ski, but you didn't know. We didn't know. And he said, [30:25] Dad, it's not a jet ski. And so I run up the farm and got a chain real quick, and we hooked onto it, [30:36] and he drove the truck. When he started to pull, I was standing on the bank, and I hollered at him, [30:42] oh, it's a car. I drove to the farm and called the sheriff. All of the different agencies descend [30:53] on this scene. You had the Huron County Sheriff's Office, the crime scene unit from BCI, [31:01] the Willard Fire Department, and the divers. The dining team go into the pond to determine if [31:08] there was a body in the pond. They tried to search the driver's side compartment, [31:16] and they initially thought they may have felt something, but they realized it wasn't anything. [31:21] And then they went to the passenger side of the vehicle and reached in and felt the shoulder of a [31:27] person. I said, do we have a body? They're like, oh yeah, we have a body in there. So when they pulled [31:38] this car out, it's a white Camaro. Regina drove a white Camaro. Correct. [31:42] It's pretty clear they found Regina's body. Absolutely. [31:46] Called me late, and she says, Lisa, I need you to promise that you're going to stay home. [31:57] But they think they found Regina's car, and just, her heart just drops. [32:09] People are showing up, standing out, the yellow tape line at the street. [32:14] They said they found a car in a pond, and then when we all got out there, it was Regina's. [32:24] She was on the passenger side. They didn't cover her up until everybody saw. [32:35] Because of the people there, we left her in the car, and we just towed the car to the local police [32:41] station. When you find out that she was left in that car, and I know they had the protocol to follow, [32:50] but it's just a sickening feeling. We put it in a garage bay, removed her from the car there, [32:59] and sent her to autopsy. The next thing that is really critical to the case is the positioning of [33:06] her body inside of that car. Her feet were clearly underneath the passenger side council. [33:14] For her to start in the driver's seat, and float over, and end up in that position, [33:19] probably next to impossible odds. That meant someone else was driving when it went in. [33:23] The driver's side, the seat appeared to be pushed all the way back. She was a smaller person, [33:29] so obviously somebody bigger had driven the car. She was covered in mud to the point of being caked [33:35] inside of the back of her folded jeans, mud inside the back of her boots. [33:40] There were no gunshot wounds, stab wounds, anything like that. There was some minor bruising, [33:46] but nothing that really stuck out. Deputies started to trace the steps of Regina [33:53] the day that she disappeared. One of the pieces of evidence from the vehicle included some receipts, [34:00] one where she went shopping at JCPenney. She went shopping to Mansfield, Ohio with her boyfriend, [34:09] Mikey Perkins, and then went back to town to drop Mikey off. She was supposed to pick up Montana at [34:18] eight o'clock at the Steve Gates property where Paul was located. Steve Gates would be Paul Hicks' best [34:23] friend. They did everything together. Steve Gates tells police that Paul Hicks was at his house with [34:30] their son Montana, and they were all waiting for Regina to come pick up her son, but he said that never [34:37] happened. Obviously that was completely out of the norm. Paul Hicks was a person of interest, [34:46] and Mikey Perkins, her new boyfriend, was also a person of interest. Paul is someone that the [34:53] investigators want to talk to, and they tell him to come down to the sheriff's office. Virginia was [34:58] supposed to come pick up Montana at Steve's house? Yeah. And she never showed up? Never showed up. What'd you do [35:05] with Montana then? Well, I took it back to my sister's, and I figured she was going to show up. She'd show up there, [35:10] show up the next morning. Paul had an alibi. He indicated that he tried to get a hold of [35:15] Regina when she didn't show up on time. Ask me, Paul, should you be here at 8-8-30-9? Can't call. [35:22] You said earlier you thought maybe she just didn't show, she was maybe farting or something? [35:28] Yeah. Where did she fart at? Bars, people's houses, wherever there's a party. [35:34] He was putting a lot of impetus on, well, she did drugs, so this could have been, you know, [35:40] she's getting drugs and it didn't go right. I don't know if she was taking it or what she was doing. [35:44] The pills should be at the house if she didn't sell them. And then, well, she got busted for that. [35:52] What kind of bill she had? I charged her or nothing. [35:54] Regina didn't do drugs, so none of that made sense. [35:58] She's got a, I don't know, a demented twist to her, I guess you could say, [36:04] that she don't want to see me here. [36:07] No emotion to the fact that she's deceased now. So there was observations and behaviors there that made [36:13] you wonder exactly where he was coming from. And now investigators are also about to get [36:20] Regina's autopsy back, which will reveal just how she died. Was she deceased prior to going into the [36:26] water? Or was she alive and then drowned in the car? We're on the property of the Huron County [36:45] Sheriff's Office. And so here today, what we have is we have the Camaro that Miss Regina Hicks [36:51] was driving back on October 18th of 2001. This is the car that was pulled from the lake? Yes, ma'am. [36:57] 20 plus years ago. Yes. It's still covered in mud inside and out. Pretty much preserved, [37:04] it looks like. What did you notice right away? When I started looking at the vehicle, [37:09] obviously I realized that the passenger side seat was laid back and the vehicle was actually stuck in [37:16] second gear and the driver's side window was down. And Regina's positioning in the passenger side of [37:23] the car convinces investigators that she was placed there by someone, then driven into the pond. Whoever [37:31] drove the car was pretty big. The wheels tilted up. So they needed space knowing that they had to get [37:36] out of the car. The door was closed, so they crawled out the window once it was in the water. [37:43] This is the actual shoe Regina was wearing. [37:45] You saw a shoe print somewhere. Yeah. And it was a swipe. Okay. So you've got a swipe. So what the [37:54] anticipation was is that her upper torso would have been placed inside the vehicle here. [38:00] If she had been driving this car, there's no way her foot would be swiping this side of the door, [38:05] getting into the car on that side. Correct. [38:08] This essentially was your smoking gun to prove that this was a homicide. [38:12] This was a very, very key piece of evidence to show and prove that Regina was not driving this [38:17] vehicle and that she was put in the passenger seat. And the autopsy results also support the [38:23] theory that Regina didn't end up in that pond by accident. There were three strikes on the top of her [38:31] scalp. Those strikes were not hard enough strikes to where it would physically kill somebody, [38:39] but they were strikes that could ultimately incapacitate somebody. [38:43] We also knew that when she went into that pond, she was unconscious, but she was alive because of [38:50] the fluid that was inside her nose cavity. She was breathing in the water from the pond. [38:57] The toxicology report was negative. She had no drugs in her system. [39:03] While investigators were looking into Regina's boyfriend at the time, Mikey, [39:08] turns out he had an alibi and was cleared of any involvement in Regina's murder. [39:13] Paul Hicks is at the top of the list for officials who are digging into this. [39:19] They're hearing from family members of Regina who say that there were troubles in their relationship. [39:25] There are also red flags that investigators are seeing when it comes to that custody battle. [39:32] Paul Hicks did not want to have to pay child support for Montana once the divorce went through. [39:37] You're about to custody your boy? [39:40] Yep. [39:40] I said, if you give me joint custody, I'll give you everything you want, the furniture, [39:46] everything. And she said, okay, I'll do that. She decided to change her mind. She's not going to [39:50] give me joint custody. Somebody told her she's not going to get child support if I get joint custody. [39:55] Pretty nasty affair, huh? [39:56] Yep. [39:57] Two days after Sheriff's deputies set Paul down for an interview, they asked him to come back in, [40:04] this time for polygraph. [40:06] First of all, I guess I'm going to ask, are you willing to take the examination? [40:10] Yeah, I want to ask you something, though. [40:12] Sure, absolutely. [40:13] Does it matter if you've been drinking or if you're getting any type of pills? [40:16] Well, it depends. What type of pills are you taking? [40:18] Three, number 10. [40:21] Xanax. [40:22] Xanax. [40:23] How much have you had a drink today? [40:25] A couple of shots of the evening. [40:27] The polygraph examiner immediately determines that he's not going to be able to actually do [40:33] the polygraph test because the inebriation would invalidate the results. [40:38] And as the investigation moved forward, everything continued to lead to Paul Hicks. [40:45] But there was nothing to definitively link him to the crime. No admissions, no DNA. So it's a hard case. [40:55] And then as time passed, we would stop getting information. That's why LaCella kind of started [41:01] doing more of the investigating herself. Regina's mother, LaCella, is desperate to find answers. [41:08] LaCella put up all kinds of billboards and talked to news stations. [41:15] We just want justice. Somewhere, somebody knows something. It's just a matter. [41:21] Is the people afraid to speak up? She full-heartedly believed that Paul [41:26] murdered Regina. Paul's mother also spoke to the media. [41:29] I know Paul didn't do this. I raised Paul. I know what kind of child Paul is. [41:34] LaCella was also trying to get custody of Montana. Montana legally went to live with Paul, [41:40] but he was actually living with Paul's mother. Paul's mom raised Montana. LaCella would buy [41:49] birthday presents and Christmas presents for Montana every year, hoping she would be able to get to [41:54] see him and give them to him herself. And it just never happened. Tell me about your mom. [42:00] She used to buy me toys a lot. You miss her, huh? LaCella was strong. She wasn't going to give up [42:10] until she got justice for her daughter. She just ended up getting cancer before that happened. [42:16] I mean, she was pretty sick. She only weighed about 87 pounds. LaCella told me to never give up [42:26] on finding who did it to Regina. I mean, even until she died, she kept, she kept fighting. [42:33] She never got the answers that she was so desperately seeking for. And this case goes cold. There's not any [42:40] development in it for over a decade. I was assigned to the Special Investigations Unit. The Huron County [42:51] Sheriff at that time asked us to take over the Regina Hicks cold case homicide. So BCI, we accepted [42:58] that request and then started the investigation. The Sheriff provided us with all the investigative [43:03] material. We had boxes and boxes of investigative files that were all transported back to our office [43:12] here at BCI. In this world of investigations, we tend to look at patterns. With Paul's relationships [43:20] after Regina's passing, there's that consistent pattern there of mental and physical abuse. He finds [43:28] women, he pays them attention, maybe buys them things, and then when he's done, he moves on to the next [43:34] adventure and still wants to control their lives as he did with Regina. When you heard about those details, [43:40] broken relationship, you know, domestic violence, a custody battle. Did you start to think that this [43:47] is a real pattern with this man? Oh yeah, there's all control. In the seven years that passed between [43:54] Regina's death and Paul meeting Kelly, she says rumors swirled around him. Did people talk? Did [44:01] people say anything to you about? Oh, he would leave the room and people would come up behind me like, [44:05] you know, he killed his wife. What? People would say to you? Yes. He killed his wife? And what did you think? I'm like, [44:12] what the hell? And then, you know, he'd be like, oh, people just, they're just jealous of me. That's all [44:16] that is. That was Paul's story, but BCI was actually looking into him for Regina's murder. And then he's [44:24] indicted on arson charges for that Claremont County fire back in 2015. I actually thought, well, if he [44:33] doesn't go to prison for killing Regina, at least he'll go to prison for arson. Paul Hicks eventually [44:39] pleads to an insurance fraud and he's sentenced to probation. It's a break for Paul. The perjury and [44:46] arson charges are dropped. He just has to pay back the insurance company that he defrauded. And it was [44:53] a huge letdown. How'd you feel? I just shot down, broken again, waited for so long and nothing. Paul [45:08] wasn't being held accountable for everything that Paul was doing and people were getting tired of it. But [45:13] things are about to change. Someone new steps into the picture who's going to shine a light on [45:19] Regina's cold case. Regina deserves somebody to fight for her. Regina's cousin. We grew up together. [45:52] We'd have, you know, summer parties, get togethers, and we would just have so much fun laughing and [45:59] talking. Regina would laugh. It would just light up a room. I miss that sound. Knowing the person that [46:11] you love is murdered and that everything seems to be pointing to her husband, but there's no evidence. [46:19] It's frustrating and it's hard. Good evening. Welcome to Allegedly with Ashley Ford. Ashley Ford [46:32] is a podcaster and for some reason you either really love her or you just don't like her. My podcast is [46:41] called Allegedly with Ashley Ford. I have no criminal justice background. I have no law enforcement [46:49] background. I don't like when things are unfair. If I see something that's solvable, I can't leave it [46:56] alone. You know, I'll take a look at this. She's someone who looks closely at unsolved cases. Ashley [47:04] Ford calls herself a troublemaker and she's someone who is controversial, especially to law enforcement. [47:11] She goes further than just talking about it on her podcast. She calls out people. One of my friends was [47:20] like, wow, Ashley's really riling people up. And I'm like, Ashley who? And she's like, Ashley Ford. [47:26] So she's like, you got to check it out. People started asking me to look at Regina Rohick's case. [47:37] Going to Ashley Ford, we had nothing really to lose because nothing was happening. What would it hurt [47:45] getting somebody talking about Regina? Regina deserves somebody to fight for her. Regina's mom, [47:52] Lacella Holbrook, had a massive file of everything that she could get her hands on for 15 years. [48:00] I looked at the files and I agreed with them. It was enough. It's been 24 years since Chad Rowe got a call. His [48:08] sister Regina was found dead in a pond and now local podcaster Ashley Ford wanted to help find out. [48:16] I wanted to see if we could get some attention to a cold case that definitely deserves justice. [48:22] I think most of the family felt like finally somebody's listening and opening doors. [48:29] I'm investigating a case that is 23 years cold and it makes it a little bit difficult. Specifically [48:40] for the main reason, I wasn't there. In the beginning, Ashley was pretty much recapping [48:46] everything we had already known. This is one of the more intricate and information-laden cases [48:53] that I have ever done. It didn't start getting more interesting until later on when she was doing [48:58] more digging. Everything kept coming back to Stephen Gates. He was Paul's good buddy during the time. [49:08] BFF back in the day. They were as tight as you could get. Regina was supposed to pick up her son [49:15] from her estranged husband at Stephen Gates' home. She was also going to pick my son up. She called me at [49:21] 753. That's what my cell phone said. I don't know exactly what she exactly said, but she goes, [49:26] I'll be there. It was Stephen Gates and Paul Hicks' testimony in 2001. She never showed up. I pulled [49:35] every report I could find that mentioned Paul Hicks and Stephen Gates. And she finds something [49:41] pretty interesting. A sheriff's report from just weeks before Regina went missing. We have to consider [49:48] this tip that was called in like 30 days before Regina actually was found dead. [49:55] In September of 2001, Regina Hicks is pulled over by Willard police. They search her car and they [50:01] find marijuana and pills. She says she believes that they were planted by her estranged husband to try to [50:08] set her up. Regina is never charged. I realized that Stephen Gates called in a tip that Regina was coming [50:16] back with a load of drugs, told them exactly where she was. It looked to me like they were trying to [50:24] get her arrested. And remember, Paul had mentioned this to investigators when he first talked to them. [50:31] She had marijuana and she was going to Kentucky. She got busted with dope? No. Well, she got busted here [50:38] in Willard. Stephen Gates is the property owner of property that Regina was headed to when she went [50:45] missing. If it were my daughter, I would want to expose whoever had to be exposed to get to justice. [50:54] And she doesn't back off of sharing his name publicly in a way that hadn't been shared before. [50:59] I found that releasing the information about Stephen Gates brought more information forward. [51:08] Behind the scenes, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation there in Ohio, [51:11] they are also simultaneously working on their own criminal investigation. [51:16] We had a very long list of individuals that we wanted to interview or re-interview to include [51:26] Steve Gates. We needed to ask the tough questions. Did you see her there? Can you tell us if she was there? [51:39] But he hasn't said anything all these years. Why is he suddenly going to talk now? [51:43] Well, we felt that he would. We had a try. I called Bernard Davis, his lawyer, [51:48] talked to him on the phone, set up a meeting. Steve had been holding us in for 24 years. [51:55] He said, I'm ready and I need to tell you everything that happened. [51:58] At that point, he becomes very emotional. There was a date and time that was set up for special [52:15] prosecution, our investigative team to meet with Steve Gates in Mansfield, Ohio. When we arrived [52:24] there, there was somewhat of a hesitation of how the meeting would go. What is he going to say? [52:33] One of the first things he said is, I'm ready and I need to tell you everything that happened. [52:38] He wanted to give us information on what actually happened the night of the incident, which is what [52:42] we've been waiting for and praying for, I guess, the whole time for it actually to come. It was pretty [52:48] exciting. His lawyer told us, look, my guy's going to give you Paul Hicks, but he wants immunity. [52:57] After 24 years earlier, he told them her Camaro never arrived on his property. Steve Gates wants to [53:04] make sure that he has immunity so that he doesn't get charged in any way for lying to police in the initial [53:10] investigation. What does he tell you? So they made an arrangement where Regina's going to pick [53:20] Montana up. He had just turned four. So Regina drives to Steve Gates' property, parks her car, [53:34] and immediately gets into an argument with Paul Hicks. The two are yelling at each other. He tells us [53:39] that he had seen and heard so many arguments between the two of them, he didn't want to get involved in [53:45] it. So he walked into his garage, he turned on WIOT, and was turned on his tractor, and was [53:55] working on his tractor. Eventually he came out of the barn and he noticed Regina Hicks's white Camaro [54:06] was now parked in a different area of the driveway closer to the road. According to Steve Gates, [54:20] he said he's seen the dome light on, he's seen the passenger side door open, and he's seen Paul Hicks [54:25] standing next to the passenger side door. He noticed that the driver's side window was down. He looked in, [54:35] he's seen Regina. He questioned what was wrong with her, and according to him at that time, he was told [54:43] that she was dead. When he gets to that point in his interview, the emotions really hit Steve, and he [54:59] becomes very emotional. Steve Gates, he immediately says, you got to call 911, we got to get her help. [55:08] Paul Hicks says no. They get into a little argument. Paul told Steve, you're now involved, [55:15] and we need to get rid of this. Paul Hicks gets in Regina's car. Steve Gates gets in Paul Hicks's car, [55:26] with Montana in the backseat sleeping. According to Steve Gates, he eventually followed Paul Hicks [55:37] to the pond location, where according to Steve Gates, Paul Hicks drove the white Camaro into the pond. [55:44] So he drove her into that pond, jumped out of the car, escaped the car himself, left her there to die. [55:59] Correct. And then got back in the car with Steve Gates. On the way back to Steve Gates's house, Paul [56:05] Hicks calls Regina. Steve Gates said, I couldn't understand why he took his phone out and called [56:15] Regina Hicks's cell phone. Well, that would make sense why her phone records indicate a call after the time [56:24] she was supposed to pick her son up. Steve like revealing all of this. Very remorseful, emotional, [56:33] remorseful. And then I said, well, who else have you told? He said, well, other than my lawyer. I [56:38] haven't told anyone. He lived with this information all these years. Correct. And never shared it. Correct. [56:43] I said, did you tell your wife? He said, no. I said, you're going to tell her tonight. So he had been [56:50] carrying the information that he knew within himself for decades, out of concern for his own safety and [56:58] well-being, out of fear, for his family, for his children. And then I come around the corner. [57:05] Okay. And that's when I was like... As a condition of this immunity deal, [57:09] Steve Gates has to provide investigators with a tour of his property where Regina Hicks would have been [57:17] hurt. They were like standing maybe here somewhere. I just remember this little swale. They were in this [57:23] little, and they were like, they were like yelling at each other. And you were over there. So when you came out of [57:31] the garage, where were they at? Down there. Down by the fence or behind the dump trailer. I just [57:38] remember being like amped up and just not thinking clear at that point because I'm like... Right. [57:45] You're involved and everything else, you know, and just... How long do you think you were standing by [57:51] the car with hits? Minutes. And then you get in his car and follow. He was very specific and we were [58:03] able to corroborate that. The Attorney General Dave Yost and Prosecutor Surly got together, had a discussion, [58:10] the agreement was made that we would give him immunity. Nothing he could say to us could be used [58:16] against him unless he lies to us. I'm glad Steve Gates came forward. And I think it did take some [58:23] courage to say, yeah, I sat on this and here's the truth. And he gets points for that. But it wasn't [58:32] courageous to ask for an immunity deal. It wasn't courageous to say, talk to my lawyer. He was a witness. [58:39] Steve Gates was the key to solving this case all these years. Correct. And once he gave you his [58:49] story, everything changed. Everything changed. We're lighting him up. And now after two decades, [58:59] 24 years, everything is about to change for Paul Hicks. [59:03] Come on, step out. So what am I going to wrestle for? Walking the streets. We're going to go over here in the [59:34] cruiser. He's been vacationing in Hawaii with a girlfriend, vacationing in Florida with a girlfriend. [59:41] He's been living his life for 24 years, while Regina's been encased in a coffin outside of Willard, [59:47] Ohio. April 22nd, 2025, he's indicted. Paul, I don't know if they told you that we had a war for your [59:55] arrest. So Paul Hicks is finally arrested. What did you think? I had a panic attack because I was [1:00:06] excited and terrified at the same time. Charged with the murder of his wife. You file for emergency [1:00:13] custody, by the way. Oh, the very next day. And he went straight up there and got Daniel. [1:00:18] No. I don't think he saw it coming. And I think it was a surreal moment for us at that point. Paul [1:00:28] was ultimately transported back to the Huron County Sheriff's Office and myself and Chris [1:00:34] attempted to interview Paul. It's not being disrespectful. Can we cut the and get what you need to do and show [1:00:40] me the charges so I can make my phone? Do you want to know what the indictment is? No, I want to make my phone call. [1:00:44] Okay. So we would like to talk to you about what that happened. I don't want to talk to me about [1:00:50] nothing. So you don't want to have anything to say. I have nothing to say to you. I want my phone [1:00:54] call. They were supposed to bring my phone, which I know is a lie, but they're not going to. Well, [1:00:58] you'll get your phone call when you get into the jail. Oh, I'm not in the jail. No, this is a, [1:01:03] this is an interview room. Oh, take me to jail. So yeah, you're cool with it. Let's go. So yeah, [1:01:09] you're going to go. You're not running the show here. Why don't we remain silent? Well, [1:01:12] then that's fine. That's fine. You don't get to you when they get time to get to you. [1:01:16] Oh, I know. I said in the parks. We don't get a . I know you don't. Yeah, we don't. Well, [1:01:21] it's all about you, Paul. Yeah. We then had firsthand knowledge on how he treated people because [1:01:27] he didn't want to hear what we had to say either. It was all about the control for him, [1:01:32] which was what I expected going in there. Correct. Paul Hicks is accused of killing his ex-wife and the [1:01:39] mother of his child, Regina Roe Hicks. The day after his arrest, Paul Hicks pleads not guilty [1:01:45] to the murder and kidnapping charges. 24 years later, what was that moment like for you to come [1:01:55] in and now make this kind of a leap in a long cold case? I made arrangements for two of Regina's [1:02:00] family members to meet with them. They were emotional and that something's finally been done. [1:02:06] At least now we're in the system. At least now he's been charged. Now, a jury is finally hearing [1:02:14] a case over what happened to Regina Hicks. 24 years is a long time to wait for a case and a trial [1:02:22] to get started. There's a big question that hangs over it of what's different now. [1:02:28] This was a case that was made without any forensic evidence. No DNA or anything like that? No DNA, [1:02:33] no fingerprints, no hairs, straight witness testimony and some circumstantial evidence. What was your biggest [1:02:40] worry going to trial? Collaborating with Steve Gates, the jury almost had to believe Steve Gates. [1:02:46] All rise, please. Right out the gate during the opening statements, [1:02:51] the prosecution lets the jury know that their star witness is a known liar. [1:02:56] Steve Gates discussed what happened on October 18th. He lied. He's going to get upon the witness stand and [1:03:04] he's going to admit to you that he lied. He lied to the sheriff's department. He lied for 24 years. [1:03:10] The prosecution laid out for this jury the potential motive for Paul Hicks to kill Regina. He had lost [1:03:17] his job, had blown through a lot of that insurance settlement money that they got from the fire at [1:03:22] their home, and he was getting closer to having to pay some steep child support payments to Regina. [1:03:29] The defense doesn't make an opening argument. Correct. That was the first time in 37 years [1:03:34] I've experienced that. There was a lot of information that came to light in regards to Regina [1:03:41] Hicks and Paul Hicks' relationship. What's the controlling as far as the relationship went? [1:03:47] Yeah, it's like she would only talk to her mom when he wasn't home and she was kind of one of [1:03:51] anything because she knew when she gets in and he pretty much told her that nobody had wanted her [1:03:55] if he couldn't have or nobody killed. There were a lot of witnesses, a lot of family and friends that had [1:04:00] first had knowledge and had seen not only these domestic altercations but the emotional abuse [1:04:08] that they say Regina Hicks endured throughout this relationship. He was always yelling at her, [1:04:13] fighting with her. Did you witness an incident like four or five months before her death that turned [1:04:20] physical? Yeah, he pulled her hair and smacked her at her house. Prosecutors have got a witness [1:04:28] contradicting Paul Hicks' claim that Regina never arrived at Gates' place. Jimmy Patrick, Regina's [1:04:36] uncle, he had saw Regina's car at Steve Gates' house around eight o'clock on that Thursday evening, [1:04:42] October 18th of 2001. I was driving by Gates' house. I just glanced over and looked and I said, [1:04:50] that looks like her car. When you'd seen that car, you said it was getting dark? Yeah, dusty dark. [1:04:58] At the time, Jimmy Patrick's statement couldn't be corroborated by investigators. [1:05:06] So Crystal Hicks, that is Paul Hicks' sister. So she was very reluctant to speak with investigators. [1:05:13] Getting off of work the night of the 18th of October, 2001, she actually got home [1:05:18] earlier than what she had anticipated. Paul was living at her house at the time. [1:05:23] I came home to a mess in my house and I was headed to the bathroom and he tried to cut me off. [1:05:30] Who's he? My brother. And he said it was a mess I would be mad. And when I proceeded to go to the [1:05:36] bathroom anyhow, his muddy clothes were floating in the bathtub. We've been trying to clean it. [1:05:40] And how much mud was in the bathroom? A lot. [1:05:42] Have you ever seen that much mud before? No. [1:05:45] And who was at your house when you came home? Steve Gates and my brother. [1:05:50] And what were they doing? Steve was sitting on the couch and like I said, I think I surprised [1:05:55] them both because I got off earlier than normal. Did you notice anything about the defendant's face [1:06:00] or neck area? He had scratches on his neck or part of his face somewhere in this area. [1:06:07] He set a tree of bone and scratched him. At the time Regina disappeared, Paul Hicks had moved on. [1:06:15] He had a new girlfriend and she's about to tell the jury something unusual. She remembers him telling her. [1:06:23] He told me that there were ways to beat a lie detector test. [1:06:31] A once cold case out of Ohio. Courtrooms can be really intense places. You had a packed gallery [1:06:55] of people who were supporting Paul Hicks and Regina's loved ones. They were all there in the same space [1:07:03] waiting to see if there was going to be justice one way or another. [1:07:10] It's day three of testimony and the jury is hearing from Jansen Phipps, Paul's girlfriend at the time [1:07:17] of Regina's disappearance. And she remembers some strange things from that night. [1:07:22] What happened after you went to bed? [1:07:24] I went to sleep. I woke up and Paul was gone, but I didn't think anything of it and went back to sleep. [1:07:32] What did he tell you about the money boots? [1:07:35] That he had a pair of money boots from the day that Regina went missing because they were digging [1:07:43] the pond and he put them on his sister's back porch and somebody stole them. [1:07:47] He gets up in the middle of the night. He does something with the boots. She also testified to [1:07:52] what he did that weekend. They went to a dance. They were together Friday night, Saturday. [1:07:58] Even though his estranged wife is missing. [1:08:00] Correct. [1:08:01] Jansen Phipps on the stand told this jury that she remembers conversation from Paul Hicks, [1:08:06] where he said that he could beat a polygraph examination. [1:08:12] Did he talk to you about things like breathing techniques, things like that? [1:08:15] Yeah, he had a book. I feel in my memory like it had a yellow covering. It was a softback, [1:08:23] wasn't a hardback book. But yeah, it was how to beat a lie detector. He told me he was just [1:08:29] trying to protect himself. [1:08:30] Did he also watch crime shows? [1:08:34] We watched a lot of like forensic files and just shows about how people would get rid of evidence. [1:08:44] And things like that. [1:08:45] During cross-examination, the defense was able to highlight the things that the prosecutors lacked. [1:08:53] There's nothing that you found when you reviewed the DNA to implicate Paul Hicks. Isn't that true? [1:09:01] There's nothing at all that that I can compare to anybody. It's just simply not sufficient for [1:09:05] comparison purposes. [1:09:07] You didn't find any DNA of Paul in the car. [1:09:10] I didn't find any DNA of anybody. [1:09:14] Nothing to implicate Paul in regards to the testing of the soil sands. [1:09:19] That's correct. [1:09:19] Okay. There was no DNA linking Paul to this case. [1:09:25] Yes, sir. [1:09:26] You would agree with me that there were no hair samples that linked Paul to this case? [1:09:33] That's correct, sir. [1:09:34] During the cross-examination of the sheriff, the defense asked a lot of questions about [1:09:39] why there are all of these other potential suspects who were not investigated further. [1:09:44] You testified you're trying to rule people out. You got her best friend telling you she's having [1:09:49] sex relations with four guys and you don't send anything to BCI in regards to those four men. [1:09:55] We did not send anything in regards to those four men. That's right. [1:09:59] So then, as you sit here today, you didn't rule out those four potential men as suspects in this case. [1:10:04] Nothing led us to believe those four people were suspects. [1:10:08] The defense was really suggesting that these investigators had tunnel vision when they [1:10:14] locked in on Paul Hicks. [1:10:16] Paul, I don't know if they told you that. We got a war for your arrest. [1:10:18] Okay. [1:10:19] Nobody's told me this. [1:10:20] The state conceded that Steve Gates has lied for 24 years. [1:10:27] Is that your position? [1:10:28] That's what I've been told you. [1:10:30] And you can't rule out as you sit there that he is going to lie tomorrow. [1:10:36] I can't. No, sir, I can't. [1:10:38] The state's next witness. [1:10:43] Steve Gates does not want to be recorded in any way. [1:10:50] All right. No audio, no video for this witness. [1:10:53] In the state of Ohio, they do allow cameras inside of the courtroom. [1:10:56] But if a witness wants to opt out of being shown, the court will grant that. [1:11:02] So this guy comes to court and he's lied to law officers before. [1:11:10] And now you are asking a jury to believe him. [1:11:12] You have to have credibility with the jury. [1:11:14] You can't pull punches or try to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. [1:11:19] And that's what we said about Steve Gates. [1:11:21] Look, he's a liar. [1:11:22] He lied in 2001. [1:11:23] He lied in 2002. [1:11:24] I'm not going to sugarcoat it. [1:11:26] But he's not lying now. [1:11:28] Sitting in the courtroom, I was, that was the one testimony I wanted to hear. [1:11:35] I wanted to hear from Steve's mouth what happened. [1:11:38] And we would get answers. [1:11:39] We would know. [1:11:40] Gates tells jurors exactly what he told investigators. [1:11:45] That Regina did, in fact, come to his home to pick up her son. [1:11:49] And that she and Paul got into an argument. [1:11:51] He said he saw Regina's body crumpled on the floorboard of her Camaro. [1:11:56] Stephen Gates said Paul Hicks told him that she is dead. [1:12:01] Gates doesn't mention that he in any way was involved in Regina's death. [1:12:06] But he does say that he followed the instructions of his friend and that he did keep his mouth shut. [1:12:12] He gave the bare minimum information. [1:12:18] But it was more of what he left out. [1:12:21] It's like, you know, where was Montana at during this time that they were fighting? [1:12:27] I mean, you're not going to ask what happened. [1:12:29] What did you do? [1:12:31] He could have gotten help. [1:12:32] Somebody could have called 911. [1:12:33] Mr. Grich, how are you ready with your phone? [1:12:35] Yes, sir. [1:12:36] The defense highlighted that he had multiple opportunities over the years to tell the truth [1:12:44] to police and that he continued to say that Regina was never there. [1:12:50] Their whole case is based upon speculation and conjecture. [1:12:54] The defense spoke to the jury for the first time during their closing arguments. [1:12:58] He said the prosecution's case is full of holes and did not have any substance. [1:13:02] Remember back in the 70s or 80s with the where's the beef commercialist? Where's the beef? Where's the beef? [1:13:08] Well, let's get to the beef in the case. [1:13:12] Zero forensic evidence linking Paul to the alleged crime scenes. [1:13:18] More importantly, far more importantly, zero forensic evidence [1:13:24] evidence to corroborate the scientifically unverified fiction of Charlottes and Gates. [1:13:32] The line was an Olympic event. That guy wins the gold, the silver, and the bronze. [1:13:40] Thank you, Your Honor. [1:13:42] Thank you. [1:13:43] Are you prepared to go to your vote? [1:13:45] Yes, Your Honor. [1:13:46] The state in their closing argument wanted to make sure that the jury understands [1:13:50] that everything in this case points to Paul Hicks and no one else. [1:13:55] If not Paul Hicks, then who? [1:13:57] Motive. Motive. Motive. Motive. That's what's about you. [1:14:03] Regina's independence. Regina wanted child support. Regina wanted custody. [1:14:10] Regina fought back. You want to fight back against Paul Hicks. [1:14:16] At this time, then, we will take a time for the jury to begin their deliberation. [1:14:21] When everything is in the hands of the jury, it's one of those anxious moments because you never know. [1:14:28] All rise, please. [1:14:29] All right, folks, we have breaking news out of Ohio. [1:14:42] The jury has reached a verdict in the murder trial of Paul Hicks. [1:14:45] There are some cases where jury deliberations can take days, weeks, but in this case, [1:14:52] this jury came back within three hours. [1:14:54] All rise, please. [1:14:57] The emotions that you have as an investigator when you're sitting there waiting for the verdict, [1:15:03] I truly can't explain. [1:15:04] In the state of Ohio versus Paul Daniel Hicks, the jury finds the defendant guilty. [1:15:11] It was a great moment. When they said guilty, it was a huge weight lifted. [1:15:24] A big sigh of relief. Finally, we got justice. And Paul's reaction was priceless. [1:15:35] He just threw his head back. Like, he couldn't believe it. [1:15:38] The Roe family have suffered. And they've gone so many years without answers. To be able to watch [1:15:49] them get that verdict, it seemed like justice. [1:15:56] It was like probably the best Christmas present ever. [1:16:02] My sister, Laisella, and Regina loved Christmas. And after Regina got killed, [1:16:09] Laisella never celebrated Christmas. So for them to do it, and they were playing Christmas music [1:16:16] outside, it was kind of like perfect. [1:16:18] What was that moment like for you? [1:16:21] Winning. Finally. My baby's home. We're safe. He's where he belongs. He's going to be where he belongs. [1:16:31] For Kelly, life is finally moving forward. Though amazingly to this day, investigators haven't [1:16:37] definitively determined who the two people were that set that fire. [1:16:42] After the verdict comes down, then is the matter of sentencing. This is the opportunity for the [1:16:53] victims' loved ones, Regina's family, to be able to address the court and share some things that they [1:17:00] haven't been heard publicly on for over two decades. [1:17:04] We appreciated, uh, I made sure I made eye contact with him. I would lean in so he would, [1:17:11] he would know I was talking to him. Regina was intelligent, far more intelligent than you. [1:17:17] She had a rare kindness and a heart that would have only grown stronger with time. [1:17:21] I wanted Paul to know how angry and horrible all of this was. [1:17:29] She would have made a real impact on this world. [1:17:32] During sentencing, Paul and Regina's son, Montana, is offered an opportunity to speak. [1:17:38] He doesn't come in person. He gives a letter to a victim's advocate to read. [1:17:43] When he gives his victim impact statement, he reminds the court that he is the victim who lost [1:17:48] the most here. I can't escape this. To me, there is no justice as to lack of evidence. [1:17:56] Nothing has been solved and nothing will be until the truth comes out about who really did this to [1:18:02] my mother. He also says that now I have to hear what has to be decided for my dad. Do I feel like he [1:18:09] should be punished? No, but anyone who committed a crime should pay. I lost my mom and now I'm losing my dad. [1:18:16] I'm glad that it was solved. I'm glad that people are talking about Regina again. But I just hate that [1:18:25] her son is learning all the things that he's learning and in so much pain. [1:18:31] You know, I think we need to realize what Montana's been through throughout this entire, [1:18:38] not only this entire process, but the last 24 years and what he's going to have to live with [1:18:43] for the rest of his life. There is no reason for any leniency in this case. The defendant had the [1:18:49] benefit of roaming free for the last quarter of a century before facing justice here today. Paul [1:18:55] Hicks was sentenced to life in prison with a possibility of parole after 25 years. 15 years [1:19:01] for the murder and 10 years for the kidnapping. I want her to be remembered as Montana's mom. [1:19:14] She loved him. She would have loved him deeply. She would do anything for anybody. She was just caring [1:19:23] and she loved her family. I want people to remember that she was a human, not just a victim. And there's [1:19:34] so much that she could have accomplished and been had Paul not taken that from her. So many lives [1:19:49] altered, David, by the acts of one man. Regina Hicks would have celebrated her 50th birthday this year. [1:19:55] So hard for her loved one. She's been gone 25 years now. And we should note tonight that [1:19:59] since his conviction, Paul Hicks has filed a notice of appeal with the court. That's our program for [1:20:04] tonight. Thanks for watching. I'm David Muir. And I'm Deborah Roberts from all of us here at 2020 [1:20:08] and ABC News. Good night.