20/20 - The Secret in the Water

Episode Date: May 2, 2026

A mysterious fire, a woman found dead inside her car submerged at the bottom of a pond and a two-decade quest for justice exposes the double life of a man hiding a deadly secret. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Avocado Mattress.com. It was after one in the morning. We heard this popping sound. We didn't know what was going on at first. And I looked out the back door, and we could see the flames coming out of the house over here. And so I called 911, just to think that it could go up that fast.

It's horrifying. I just figured the whole house was going to go. We had a call roughly 135, give or take a few minutes for possible structure fire. Structure fire. When we hear structure fire for a call, it's kind of just dangerous for everybody. It kind of clicks you over into, like, it's game time.

Everybody just kind of jumps out of bed, starts putting their gear on, and we jump on the truck to take off. They respond urgent because you just never know if there's people inside the home, if there's anybody trapped, how rapidly the fire's going to spread. Of course, you're glued to the window

because you want to see what you're pulling up. to. Coming down the street, you can see it because there's fire out of every door window. It was coming out of the garage, the picture window in the front, the front door. It kind of looked like a movie because inside it's, you can see everything. In real life, it's never like that and something else could be going on. It might not be just a typical accidental fire. It kind of made you think, okay, there could be something more to this. It's definitely had to jump on us.

This fire is really just the beginning. It's going to connect back eventually to another case, a murder case, that happened about 100 miles away. A mystery that had gone unsolved for many years. A man accused in multiple crimes, decades apart. It's one of the region's oldest lingering questions. Who killed Regina Roe Hicks? That mother was found in a Huron County pond. He didn't just take her life.

He messes with everybody's life. Calculated, deviant, evil. They were dealing with a monster. We got a call in at 1.35 a.m. We were there within 10 minutes, rolled up. We have fire coming out of almost pretty much every window. We deployed our handlines and started knocking the fire down from there. You don't know if someone's inside of the house that's on fire.

To put it simply, how long could you hold your breath? very long. They don't necessarily know that the homeowner is not there that night. It's in the middle of the night. There could be people sleeping in here. Two different crews. One went up and then we went downstairs. We didn't find anybody. No victims in the house. No one is there. We crossed through the living room and we crawled over, I believe, was a five-gallon gas can. And during the search, I crawled over another gas can that I believe was in a bedroom. Something's not right and he went and told the fire chief and he had the arson team

dispatch to investigate the fire. And they requested the Claremont County Sheriff's Office to come up and to handle the investigation in conjunction with some of the fire investigators because they believed it to be an arson. The owner of the home was a gentleman named Paul Hicks. He had purchased the home about six to seven months earlier. We learned that it was an investment type of home. He didn't specifically live there, but he would stay random nights.

Goshen, Ohio, is a suburb of Cincinnati, but you are just on the edge of getting to farmland. Mr. Hicks was a railroad foreman, and he would specifically work around parts of Ohio fixing crossings or intersections of the railway, and he worked for a company CSX. Fire investigators were trying to reach out to the homeowner. Once contact is made, he identifies that he's in a hotel up in Bluffton, Ohio, where he's been

staying throughout the week for his job. And very quickly, he identified that he had a surveillance system within his home and also on the exterior of the home pointing towards the residence. This surveillance had survived the fire, and we were told that It survived because it happened to be in two fireproof gun safes. So eventually Mr. Hicks shows up at the fire scene. He helps us retrieve that DVR system. The camera system had four cameras, one outside in the back,

one outside in the front, two inside. The DVR that the footage was on was extremely well preserved for having been in a fire. Investigators, they have all of this surveillance video, which is a little bit uncommon. the two people approached and they first come into the view of the camera. It appears that it's about 1.14-ish in the morning, 1.15 in the morning when they initially show up. It's an infrared camera, so it's kind of black and white.

But it appears that they're wearing some sort of like Tyvex suit. The male arsonist has a couple of gas cans with them. And they walk up to the house and they come right to the front door. They go into the house. It doesn't appear anybody kicks the door or does anything like that. They kind of walk meander through the house, but one of the subjects in the house, who we believe is a male, carries out a TV, they carry it out the back door. So they've got this Tyvex suit to cover themselves up, but the hair and the face are exposed.

Right on camera, a camera angle that she walks under, she has all of this long, curly, blonde hair that's hanging out. The male does the majority of the pouring of the gas that could be seen on surveillance. ultimately ignited the house on the back side. You can see how quickly it goes up. You essentially had kind of like an explosion in the middle of the fire, which pushed out the front of the building. It is an absolutely massive fire.

Paul Hicks is very stern in his beliefs right away as we're reviewing the surveillance. He has his theory. And he identifies the female arsonist. That's definitively her. And he's identifying her. He's identifying her based upon her size, her facial features, her hair, what her nose looks like. That person stopped, looked at the surveillance camera, and almost looked at the camera in a sense

of, here I am, this is who I am. After immediately pointing the finger, he's also saying that she's done this before. He's basically saying that she is violent out to get him and she would do this type of thing. of us kind of our first level of what's going on here. It kind of made us think twice. There are some odd things that are immediately apparent to the investigators as they're looking through all of the surveillance video that they have.

Didn't pass the smell test, if you will. They take precautions to cover themselves up, but the hair and the face are exposed, and the hair is almost laying on the shoulders in display. If your hair was that unique, why would you? you not take the time to conceal it. You would typically think that if someone's committing an arson and there's neighboring properties and potential witnesses, that they are going to be in and out, do it quickly, get out, and

that's not what you see on the video for this fire. They definitely seemed very calculated and very smooth in their moves. The owner of this house, Paul Hicks, he immediately tells them that he believes that the woman in this video is his... his ex-girlfriend Kelly. He says they've been having problems, especially child custody issues, and he immediately points police in her direction.

Okay, June 18th, 2015, approximately 10-10. I'm at reference a house fire, determined to be incinerary fire. I'm with the homeowner, Paul Hicks. Mr. Hicks had told us that he had had a bad relationship with the mother of his child. His ex-Kelly has been blowing him up, blowing him up for multiple calls, continued to call all night. He's told her, stop calling me, and then she called, I think, 95 times in a row.

Okay, and this was last night. Yes. When we got the phone records back, it appeared that Kelly's phone had called his phone in excess of 100 times. So you've had some problems with her in the past. Oh, yeah. She has been threatening to you in the past. Oh, yeah, yes. Paul had said that this isn't the first time

that Kelly has been out to damage my house and he's saying I also have this on surveillance that she came out to my property she actually came out twice in one day you got the video of her chopping up a hot tub two months ago this is what she did that you referenced a prior criminal damage that had happened at that same residence

earlier in the year that kind of supported his reason why he said he needed the surveillance system. And with that hot tub incident, it was very similar. The hair was on display. The body type was the same because the prior hot tub incident, Goshen Township Police Department had put a warrant out on the X. So at this point, investigators want to confront Kelly.

And they set things up with Paul Hicks to have her meet him for a child custody, custody exchange of their son. We did that out of Kroger's once she went there to meet him. We arrested her on the outstanding warrant. So I didn't do anything wrong. I understand. Mom, he had kept like a criminal. I have no record at all.

What you have is a criminal damaging warrant. So it's not, you know, is it you haven't gone out and killed anybody or anything. It's just a criminal damage warrant, okay? We can make these off? No, I have to leave the cuff on, unfortunately. But I did nothing. From that day forward, she remains anonymous, never publicly revealing herself until now. I sat down with Kelly to talk about all of this, her first time on national television,

and she remembers this day very clearly. Before I know it, both my doors were open, and there was taser guns pointed at me and my mom's head. And what did they say? They didn't tell me anything until I got after they arrested me. What are you thinking is happening? What did Paul do? Yes, it's being recorded. Is that cold? Oh, yeah.

Good. Authorities obscured Kelly's space in this video. Now, do you have your records from June 17th that night? Yeah. Because the records I find is that you made a lot of phone calls to him. You guys have been texting back and forth from the 17th, so this was the night before the fire. Here's the whole text message conversation.

Okay. I know he's talking about, hey, he's going to go for full custody and all that stuff. And then after that, after between about 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock that night, there's numerous, numerous phone calls from your phone to his phone. Oh, no, that's what I was just showing you right here. I never called him at all. After the last time that I spoke with him, is at 625. Okay. And after that, his number's nowhere.

I never called him at all. So there was no phone calls? None, zero, none. I never called him at all. They tell you about a woman who was caught on tape who looked like you. What are you thinking? There's no way that's me. I was at my mom's house sleeping and she lives 30, 35 minutes away.

Did it resemble you from what you could see? A little bit. If you didn't know me, you'd be like, oh, that might, you know, like, yeah. So was your head spinning? Like, who could this be? Yes, it was wild. She was surprised and she was very stern and adamant that she had no involvement in the arson and that hot tub incident.

She said just I was in bed, I wasn't out, you know, out in the car. country in Goshen committing this arson. This is the girl that is, right. They're trying to say it's me, but it's not me. And here's the obviously. And you guys do resemble each other. Just like the eyes, the cheeks and the eyebrows, other than I don't have that distinctive chin.

So after the Kelly interview, we start trying to just do our background on both of them. We learned that neither one of them were really in the area of the residents. She told us she was over in the Norwood area, which was consistent with the records we got. And Paul Hicks told us that. He told us he was up in the Bluffton location, and we were able to verify that too. If it's not Paul who's there, and it's not Kelly who's there, who is this woman?

Investigators are about to uncover something that is pretty stunning. Kept telling people before the final straw telling you, he's gonna do something's gonna happen. The results come back, to this day, is the most incredible response I've ever gotten. It's in black and white. That was the game changer for me for sure.

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Betrayal, secrets and lies. So many people are living with their own betrayal. Sunday nights at 10-9 Central on ABC and stream on Disney Plus and Lulu. I'm Zachary McKeown. I'm a partner with Rolfus Henry, which is a law firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. A significant portion of my practice relates to fires and explosions and representing insurance companies in relation to those. Zach McHune is not someone who's got the same powers as a police officer, but he emerges as the super sleuth of this case.

You have a very small universe of people who could have been involved in this. It's either him or it's her. Kelly was extremely cooperative. She came in and gave a voluntary sworn statement. Kelly tells me that when she first met Paul, she thought he was the kind of guy she'd been looking for. He was tall. handsome and he just, he was funny.

Did you feel like you kind of had met a Prince Charming or a guy who could possibly be that? I did. I've never met anyone who had like seemed like that life together. I ended up pregnant within the, within three or four months. That had to be a surprise. Yeah, so. But he wanted you to move in with him. Yes. And did you know right away that you wanted to stay with him? What were the plans. We were excited for, you know, because I thought, oh, you know, at the beginning, all that, everything's perfect, you know, until things start to show. Kelly says she and Paul would be on and off again for the next seven years, connected by

their son, Daniel, even as she says the relationship grew more volatile. She told us about prior domestic violence scenarios. There was an incident where he, from her perspective, threw a gas can. at her and said, I wish you would burn. There was an incident where she said he left the bar, came home, took her clothes out in the front yard, and lit them on fire. Paul denies those domestic violence allegations and was never charged in connection with them.

He would break stuff or he would say he's going to get custody and things like that. And I was just, I was just done. And he knew it. So it was an ugly breakup? Yeah. This fire comes at a really pivotal time in the relationship. between Paul and Kelly. They've broken up, they share a child,

and they are at a flashpoint in their child custody battle, where it's about to be time for child support payments to be coming from Paul Hicks. And then another concern was there were these really odd cell phone communications, the night of the fire. His iPhone's incoming call logs show that she had called him 90-some-odd times. But then her cell phone

records came back and it showed that she only had five cell phone communications with him that night. They pulled the records and they figured out it wasn't me. So that's really where the ball got rolling. Like what's going on here? At first glance, it appears somebody is going to great lengths to harass Paul Hicks. But then investigators begin wondering, could that person be Paul Hicks himself? When we realized that the hard records didn't match, somewhere along the law, the line in a conversation with Kelly, there was mention of spoofing, Spoof Card. What Spoof Card is? It's a company that would allow you to change the number that shows up

on their caller ID. How did you know that he was using that? I've seen him do it. He told me. So Spoof Card's legal compliance were actually great in responding. All that information comes back. This program was used. This is the real number that made all those calls. They faked Kelly's number. That was not Kelly. Once investigators have this piece of the spoofing of a phone number, they're able to trace it to an IP address, and that IP address belongs to a woman who they don't know much about how she's connected to this case. It takes a number of subpoenas to figure out who this woman is. She comes in and says, yes, I do know Paul Hicks.

We were in a relationship, but I don't have a cell phone. I don't have any cell phone communications. I had this relationship. We go our separate ways. I don't know why people are asking me about the fire, and I just want to be done with this kind of a thing. We believe the phone was originally purchased by the female, but it was in the hands of Paul Hicks.

Paul admits to using apps like Spoof Card in the past but denies having anything to do with those calls. Investigators begin digging into the background of the woman who says she dated Paul. They start pulling her records, and they discover some unusual purchases made under her name. In her financial records, there was a purchase for a wig at a store called Kay's Wigs. A wig, almost identical to Kelly's hair. And they find something that's even more stunning of a purchase than the wig.

This $368 purchase from a company called That's My Face. This is a website where someone can give a photograph of, any individual and that company will print out a mask of that person's face. And we were able to send a subpoena to, that's my face. And the results came back to this day is the most incredible response I've ever gotten from a subpoena. It showed that a mask was purchased under this woman's name and it had all of these photographs of Kelly's face.

A number of these pictures we had seen either on Paul Hicks' physical cell phone or in his social media accounts. They find a custom-made mask that is made to look like you. What the heck did you think was going on? I was in shock. Who even does that? This is not the movies. For his part, Paul Hicks has denied any connection to the purchases of that wig and the custom mask. You have the surveillance video and you have a woman who's looking at the camera. with curly hair out and face bare, it makes you put the pieces together.

That could be the reason that she was fine with showing her face on camera. The insurance company, they decide that there's no coverage for the claim for this fire. Paul Hicks sues them for breach of contract and bad faith, and then Allstate countersues him for, among other things, fraud. The civil lawsuit ultimately ends in favor of the insurance

company. Paul Hicks, he agreed that there would be a judgment against him and in favor of all state for $400,000. So the civil case is wrapped up, but investigators are still considering criminal charges in that fire. And across the state, another set of investigators are also looking into Paul Hicks. A decade or so earlier, he was connected to something much darker that was still unsolved. Did you start to think that he could be capable of murder? They were dealing with a monster. After Kelly's arrest, Paul Hicks, her ex, files for temporary custody of their son. Kelly says even his investigators began to doubt her role in the fire,

the allegations still followed her for years in family court. He tried to destroy my whole world, and he got away with it for a long time taking my son from Lisa. He essentially had your son, Daniel. Yes. It was horrible. It was a nightmare. He's everything to me. It took two years just to be able to see him without supervision. You want to tell me that I need supervision for my own child? The initial allegations and accusations against Kelly pertaining to the arson, we never ended

up charging her. We never got to a point where we believed that she was the person held responsible. The hot tub incident, she wasn't the person involved in that, and those charges were ultimately dismissed on her behalf as well. After the civil case is over, criminal investigators are able to charge Paul Hicks with aggravated arson, perjury, and insurance fraud. Paul Hicks pleaded not guilty to that. Are you thinking now that he's going to be held accountable? Maybe he's going to go to jail. I was thinking, hopefully finally, you know, justice is finally happening. Forty-year-old Paul Hicks accused of organizing the elaborate scheme to have his house set on fire. Deputies say Hicks

told them his ex-girlfriend was one of the two people, but detectives say she is innocent, and they do believe that Hicks is behind this plot. Paul Hicks was making a lot of headlines in Ohio for the arson case. What was actually happening not too far from there is another type of investigation that involves something that happened back in 2001. Mr. Hicks was originally from Willard, Ohio, or Huron County. I ended up speaking to the elected sheriff. They told me that from 2001, they had a victim by the name of Regina Hicks, who was Paul Hicks's first wife, and she was a victim of a homicide.

Willard is rural. It's a railroad town. It's a hardworking town. Not too far from Cedar Point. Everybody knows where that's at. Everybody knows everybody. If you want to know something about somebody, ask somebody, they'll tell you. Regina was a tomboy, so she was used to working on like four-wheelers and dirt bikes and things like that, and she enjoyed it. Her parents bought her a grandam. We would drive around the back roads and listen to country music, Hank Williams Jr.

Regina loved. That was her favorite. You would feel protected around Regina. She would always make you feel safe, wanted, loved. Regina met Paul Hicks in school and they started dating each other. I think she was like 16. They went on after high school to get married.

They had a son together. Regina was a great mom. She would take Montana everywhere she went. Once she met Paul Hicks, Regina couldn't hang out as much. And when we did hang out together, Paul would always have to be there. She had to sneak and see us.

Before Paul, she was loud. happy and more vocal. Paul made her more silent, more small. Then at some point, there's a fire that happens at their home. There's a fire at their house in the summer of 2001. The fire happened around 11 o'clock at night. Paul Hicks aside, I'm going to go fishing. Regina goes with him.

When they come back, the house is on fire. It was determined that it was an electrical. fire that started in the bathroom shortly after they left. Regina was really upset about that fire. Her dad's things that she was given to remember him by was in that house. After they split the insurance proceeds of $60,000, they start to live separate lives and she starts to do her own thing. That money really changed Regina's life. She was able to break away from Paul and get some independence. She finally started acting like herself again and doing stuff and buying stuff and going places.

With the money she went and she bought a white Camaro. She wanted a fast car and everybody knew that that was hers. There wasn't any other white Camarrels in town. She was ready to turn the page on the chapter of Paul Hicks and just living it up. She finally met somebody. She had filed for divorce and she was smiling like herself again, laughing. It's a clear crisp October evening in 2001. Regina Hicks has got her car, she's got her freedom, and she's got plans for the evening ahead.

She is expecting to pick her son up from Paul Hicks. Then 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 dating with a night on the town. She has to pick Montana up at 8 o'clock. Our mutual friend called me and asked me if I had heard from Regina or if I had seen Regina. She was supposed to go pick up her son and Montana was four years old. She did not pick up her son. She would have never left Montana. There's no way she was going to leave her little boy and not pick him up when she was supposed to. No one believed that Regina would just disappear on her own. And everyone was on the lookout for her signature, White Camaro. Where was it? Where was she? almost instantly you knew something was really bad.

Four days have now gone by the other 20 people who are looking for. Four days have now gone by since Regina Hicks has gone missing and understandably her relatives are frantic with worry. This is my son's field right here. He had a four-wheel here. He rode around to the end of the property and when he come up on top of the pond here, he's seen something out in the center of the pond. Something that was unusual. Yeah, he just didn't know whether it was a plastic bag or what, but it's something that shouldn't have been there. And come up the farm and told me, Monday morning we came down here, He reaches down the water up to here.

And we was thinking maybe it was a jet ski. But you didn't know? We didn't know. And he said, 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, and he drove the truck. When he started to pull, I was standing on the bank, and I hollered at him. Oh, it's a car.

I drove to the farm and called the sheriff. All of the different agencies descend on this scene. You had to hear on County Sheriff's Office, the crime scene unit from BCI, the Willard Fire Department, and the divers. The dining team go into the pond to determine if there was a body in the pond. They tried to search the driver's side compartment, and they initially thought they may have felt something. but they realized it wasn't anything. And then they went to the passenger side of the vehicle and reached in and felt the shoulder of a person.

I said, do we have a body? They're like, oh yeah, we have a body in there. So when they pulled this car out, it's a white Camaro. Yeah. Regina drove a white Camaro. Correct. It's pretty clear they found Regina's body. Absolutely.

My mom called me late and she says, Lisa, I need you to promise that you're running to stay home. But they think they found Regina's car. And just... Your heart just drops. People are showing up, standing out. The yellow tape line of the street. They said they found a car in a pond.

And then when we all got out there, it was Regina's. But she was on the passenger side. They didn't cover her up until everybody. everybody saw. Because of the people there, we left her in the car and we just towed the car to the local police station. When you find out that she was left in that car, and I know they had to protocol to follow, but it's just a sickening feeling.

We put it in a garage bay, removed her from the car there and sent her to autopsy. The next thing that is really critical to the case is the positioning. of her body inside of that car. Her feet were clearly underneath the passenger side counsel. For her to start in the driver's seat and float over and end up in that position probably next to impossible odds. That meant someone else was driving when it went in. The driver's side, the seat appeared to be pushed all the way back. She was a smaller person, so obviously somebody bigger had driven the car.

She was covered in mud to the point of being caked inside of the back of her the jeans, mud inside the back of her boots. There were no gunshot wounds, stab wounds, anything like that. There was some minor bruising, but nothing that really stuck out. Deputies started to trace these steps of Regina the day that she disappeared. One of the pieces of evidence from the vehicle included some receipts, one where she went shopping at J.C. Penny. She went shopping to Mansfield.

to Mansfield, Ohio with her boyfriend, Mikey Perkins, and then went back to town to drop Mikey off. She was supposed to pick up Montana at 8 o'clock at the Steve Gates property where Paul was located. Steve Gates would be Paul Hicks' best friend. They did everything together. Steve Gates tells police that Paul Hicks was at his house with their son, Montana,

and they were all waiting for Regina to come pick up her son. done, but he said that never happened. Obviously, that was completely out of the norm. Paul Hicks was a person of interest. And Mikey Perkins, her new boyfriend, was also a person of interest. Paul is someone that the investigators want to talk to. And they tell him to come down to the sheriff's office. Virginia was supposed to come pick up Montana at Steve's house?

Yeah. And she never said, what'd you do with Montana? No, I took it back to my sisters. and I figured that she was going to show up. She showed up there and show up the next morning. Paul had an alibi. He indicated that he tried to get a hold of Regina when she didn't show up on time.

Hey, it's me, Paul. Should you be here at 8.30 from 9? Give me a call. Bye. End of message. You said earlier you thought maybe she just didn't show. She was maybe a party or something? Yeah.

Where did party? Where's the party? In general. All bars, people's houses, wherever there's a party. He was putting a lot of impetus on, well, She did drugs, so this could have been, you know, she's getting drugs and it didn't go right. I don't know if she was taken in or what she was in.

It would be in the house if she didn't sell them. Then, well, she got busted today. Which she would be charged her. What kind of she had? Regina didn't do drugs, so none of that made sense. She's got a, I don't know, a, a minute twist to her, that she would say that she don't want to see me here. No emotion of the fact that she's deceased now.

So there was observations and behaviors there that made you wonder exactly where he was coming from. And now investigators are also about to get Regina's autopsy back, which will reveal just how she died. Was she deceased prior to going into the water? Or was she alive and then drowned in the car? SPN presents the Stanley Cup playoffs. The most exciting playoffs out there. A two-month roller coaster filled with sudden death overtimes and good old-fashioned chaos.

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We're on the property of the Huron County Sheriff's Office, and so here today what we have is we have the Camero, that Miss Regina Hicks was driving back on October 18th of 2001. This is the car that was pulled from the lake? Yes, ma'am. 20 plus years ago? Yes. It's still covered in mud inside and out.

Pretty much preserved, it looks like. What did you notice right away? When I started looking at the vehicle, obviously I realized that the passenger side seat was laid back, and the vehicle was actually stuck in second gear. and the driver's side window was down. And Regina's positioning in the passenger side of the car convinces investigators that she was placed there by someone,

then driven into the pond. Whoever drove the car was pretty big, the wheels tilted up, so they needed space knowing that they had to get out of the car. The door was closed, so they crawled out the window once it was in the water. This is the actual shoe that Regina was wearing. You saw a shoe print somewhere. Yeah, and it was a swathing. Okay, so you've got a swipe. So what the anticipation was is that her upper torso would have been placed inside the vehicle here.

If she had been driving this car, there's no way her foot would be swiping this side of the door, getting into the car on that side. Correct. This essentially was your smoking gun to prove that this was a homicide. This was a very, very key piece of evidence to show and prove that Regina was not driving this vehicle and that she was put in the passenger seat. And the autopsy results also support the theory that Regina didn't end up in that pond by accident. There were three strikes on the top of her scalp. Those strikes were not hard enough strikes to where it would physically kill somebody, but they were strikes that could ultimately incapacitate somebody. We also knew that when she went into that pond, she was unconscious, but she was alive because of the

fluid that was inside her nose cavity. She was breathing in the water from the pond. The toxicology report was negative. She had no drugs in her system. While investigators were looking into Regina's boyfriend at the time, Mikey, turns out he had an alibi and was cleared of any involvement in Regina's murder. Paul Hicks is at the top of the list for officials who are digging into this. They're hearing from family members of Regina who say that there were troubles in their relationship. There are also red flags that investigators are seeing when it comes to that custody battle. Paul Hicks did not want to have to pay child support for Montana once the divorce went through. You're about to custody of your boy?

Yep. So if you give me joint custody, I give them everything you want, the furniture, everything. She said, okay, I'll do that. She decided to change my mind. She's not going to give me a joint custody. Somebody told her she's not going to get child support if I get joint custody. It's been a pretty nasty affair, huh? Yep.

Two days after Sheriff's deputies sat Paul down for an interview, they ask him to come back in, this time for a polygraph. First of all, I guess I'm going to ask, are you willing to take the examination? Yeah, I want to ask you something. Sure, absolutely. Does it matter if you get drinking or if you have pills? Well, it depends what type of pill you're taking? Three, uh, three, uh,

Number 10. Xanax is damaged. I want to have a break today. A couple of shots of being. The polygraph examiner immediately determines that he's not going to be able to actually do the polygraph test because the inebriation would invalidate the results. And as the investigation moved forward, everything continued to lead to Paul Hicks. But there was nothing to definitively link him to the crime. to the crime.

No admissions, no DNA. So it's a hard case. And then as time passed, we would stop getting information. That's why Lacella kind of started doing more of the investigating herself. Regina's mother, Licella, is desperate to find answers. Lacella put up all kinds of billboards

and talked to news stations. We just want justice. Somewhere, somebody knows something. It's just a matter. Is the people afraid to speak up? She full-heartedly believed that Paul murdered Regina. Paul's mother also spoke to the media. I know Paul didn't do this. I raised Paul. I know what kind of child Paul is. Licella was also trying to get custody of Montana. Montana legally went to live with Paul.

But he was actually living with Paul's mother. Paul's mom raised Montana. Licella would buy birthday presents and Christmas presents for Montana every year, hoping she would be able to get to see him and give them to him herself. And it just never happened. Tell me about your mom. She used to buy me toys a lot. You miss her, huh?

Lyselope was strong. She wasn't going to give up until she got justice for her daughter. She just ended up getting cancer before that happened. I mean, she was pretty sick. She only only weighed about 87 pounds. Lacello told me to never give up on finding who did it to Regina, who killed her. I mean, even until she died, she kept fighting. She never got the answers that she was so desperately thinking for.

And this case goes cold. There's not any development in it for over a decade. I was assigned to the Special Investigations Unit. The Huron County Sheriff at that time asked us to, take over the Regina Hicks cold case homicide. So BCI, we accepted that request and then started the investigation. The sheriff provided us with all of the investigative material. We had boxes and boxes of investigative files that were all transported back to our office here at BCI. In this world of investigations, we tend to look at patterns with Paul's relationships after Regina's

passing, there's that consistent pattern there of mental and physical abuse. He finds women, he pays them attention, maybe buys them things, and then when he's done, he moves on to the next adventure and still wants to control their lives as he did with Regina. When you heard about those details, broken relationship, you know, domestic violence, a custody battle, did you start to think that this is a real pattern with this man? Oh yeah. It's all control. In the seven years that passed between Regina's death and Paul meeting Kelly, she says rumors

swirled around him. Did people talk? Did people say anything to you about... Oh, he would leave the room and people would come up behind me like, you know, he killed his wife. I'm like, what? People would say to you that he killed his wife? And what did you think?

I'm like, what the hell? And then, you know, you'd be like, oh, people just, they're just jealous of me. That's all that is. That was Paul's story, but BCI was actually. looking into him for Regina's murder. And then he's indicted on arson charges for that Claremont County fire back in 2015. I actually thought, well, if he doesn't go to prison

for killing Regina, at least he'll go to prison for arson. Paul Hicks eventually pleads to an insurance fraud and he's sentenced to probation. It's a break for Paul. The perjury and arson charges are dropped. He just has to pay back the insurance company that he defrauded. And it was a huge letdown.

How'd you feel? I just shot down, broken, again, waited for so long, and nothing. Paul wasn't being held accountable for everything that Paul was doing, and people were getting tired of it. But things are about to change. Someone new steps into the picture, who's going to shine a light on Regina's

cold caves. Regina deserves somebody to fight for her. I'm Regina's cousin. We grew up together. We'd have, you know, slumber parties, get-togethers, and we would just have so much fun laughing and talking. When Regina would laugh,

it would just light up a room. I miss that sound. Knowing the person that you love is murdered and that everything seems to be pointing to her husband, but there's no evidence. It's frustrating and it's hard. Good evening. Welcome to Allegedly with Ashley Ford. Ashley Ford is a podcaster.

And for some reason, you either really love her or you just don't like her. My podcast is called Allegedly with Ashley Ford. I have no criminal justice background. I have no law enforcement background. I don't like when things are unfair. If I see something that's solvable, I can't leave it alone. You know, I'll take a look at this. She's someone who looks closely at unsolved cases.

Ashley Ford calls herself a troublemaker. And she's someone who is controversial, especially to law enforcement. She goes further than just talking about it on her podcast. She calls out people. One of my friends was like, wow, Ashley's really riling people up. And I'm like, Ashley who?

And she's like, Ashley Ford. So she's like, you got to check it out. People started asking me to look at Regina Roe Hicks case. Going to Ashley Ford, we had nothing really to lose. Because nothing was happening. What would it hurt? Getting somebody talking about Regina, Regina deserves somebody to fight for her. Regina's mom, Lacella Holbrook, had a massive file of everything that she could get her hands on for 15 years.

I looked at the files and I looked at the files. I agreed with him. It was enough. It's been 24 years since Chad Rowe got a call his sister, Regina, was found dead in a pond. And now local podcaster Ashley Ford wanted to help find out. I wanted to see if we could get some attention to a cold case that definitely deserves justice. I think most of the family felt like finally somebody's listening, opening doors. I'm investigating a case that is 23 years cold, and it makes it a little bit difficult, specifically for the main reason, I wasn't there. In the beginning, Ashley was pretty much recapping everything we had already known.

This is one of the more intricate and information-laden cases that I've ever done. It didn't start getting more interesting until later on when she was doing more. more digging. Everything kept coming back to Stephen Gates. He was Paul's good buddy during the time. He was his BFF back in the day. They were as tight as you could get. Regina was the post who picked up her son

from her estranged husband at Stephen Gates' home. She was also going to pick my son up. She called me at 7.53. That's what my cell phone said. I don't know exactly what she exactly said, but she goes, I'll be there. It was Stephen Gates and Paul Hicks' testimony. in 2001, she never showed up. I pulled every report I could find that mentioned Paul Hicks

and Stephen Gates. And she finds something pretty interesting, a sheriff's report from just weeks before Regina went missing. We have to consider this tip that was called in like 30 days before Regina actually was found dead. In September of 2001, Regina Hicks is pulled over by Willard police. They search her car and they find marijuana and pills. She says she believes that they were planted by her estranged husband to try to set her up. Regina is never charged. I realize that Stephen Gates called in a tip that Regina was coming back with a load of drugs, told them exactly where she was. It looked to me like they were trying to get her arrested. And remember, Paul had mentioned this to investigators when he first

talk to them. She had marijuana and she was going to Kentucky. She got blessed with dope. No. Well, she got busted here in Willard. Stephen Gates is the property owner of property that Regina was headed to when she went missing. If it were my daughter, I would want to expose whoever had to be exposed to get to justice. And she doesn't back off of sharing his name publicly in a way that hadn't been shared before. I found that releasing the information about Stephen Gates brought more information for them. Behind the scenes, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation there in Ohio, they are also simultaneously working on their own criminal investigation. We had a very long list of individuals that we wanted to interview or re-interview to include Steve Gates.

We needed to ask the tough questions. Did you see her there? Can you tell us if she was there? But he hasn't said anything all these years. Why is he suddenly going to top now? Well, we felt that he would. We had a try. I called Bernard Davis, his lawyer, talked to him on the phone,

set up a meeting. Steve had been holding this in for 24 years. He said, I'm ready and I need to tell you everything that happened. At that point, he becomes very emotional. Hey, it's Nikki Glazer. My new stand-up special Good Girl is now streaming on Hulu. Every single woman loves Good Girl. And guys don't want to say it because they're like, it sounds like I'm her dad.

And it's like, exactly. Okay, just be my dad. At Starbucks, this girl came up to me and she was like, are you? And I was like, yeah. And she was like, aware there's a Band-Aid in your hair? Don't miss Good Girl. streaming on Hulu. Terms apply. In 1987, a newborn baby is abandoned in a remote spot.

Nobody goes down that lane. Why would you think anyone would have picked me up from there? For decades, Jess has searched for answers. Why didn't that person want me? But as she gets closer to the truth, things spiral out of her control. I think I'll always be angry. Could it have ended differently? From Tortoise Investigates and the Observer, this is foundling. Light's always come out, don't they? Skeletons are always going to come out eventually.

Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. There was a date and time that was set up for special prosecution, our investigative team, to meet with Steve Gates in Mansfield, Ohio. When we arrived there, there was somewhat of a hesitation of how the meeting would go. What is he going to say? One of the first things he said is, I'm ready and I need to tell you. you everything that happened. He wanted to give us information

of what actually happened that I had of the incident, which is what we've been waiting for and praying for, I guess, the whole time for it actually to come was pretty exciting. His lawyer told us, look, my guy's going to give you, Paul Hicks, but he wants immunity. After 24 years earlier, he told them her Camero never arrived on his property.

Steve Gates wants to make sure that he has immunity so that he doesn't get charged in any way for lying to police in the initial investigation. What does he tell you? So they made an arrangement where Regina's going to pick Montana up. He had just turned four. So Regina drives to Steve Gates' property, parks her car, and immediately gets into an argument

with Paul Hicks. The two were yelling at each other. He tells us that he had seen and heard so many arguments between the two of them. He didn't want to get involved in it. So he walked into his garage. He turned on WIOT and was turned on his tractor and was working on his tractor. Eventually he came out of the barn and he noticed Regina Hicks's white Camaro was now parked in a different area of the driveway closer to the road.

According to Steve Gates, he said he's seen the dome light on. He's seen the passenger side door open and he's seen Paul Hicks standing next to the passenger side door. He noticed that the driver's side window was down. He looked in, he's seen Regina, he questioned what was wrong with her. And according to him at that time, he was told that she was dead. When he gets to that point in his interview, the emotions really hit Steve. And he becomes very emotional. Steve Gates, he immediately says, you've got to call 911, we got to get her help.

Paul Hicks says no. They get into a little argument. Paul told Steve, you're now involved, and we need to get rid of this. Paul Hicks gets in Regina's car. Steve Gates gets in Paul Hicks' car with Montana in the backseat sleeping. According to Steve Gates, he eventually followed Paul Hicks to the pond location. We're, according to Steve Gates, Paul Hicks drove the white Cameroon. into the pond. So he drove her into that pond, jumped out of the car, escaped the car himself, left her there to die. Correct.

And then got back in the car with Steve Gates. On the way back to Steve Gates's house, Paul Hicks calls Regina. Hey, ask me, phone. I just want to know, should you be here at 8, 3830 and 9. Steve Gates said, I couldn't understand why he took his phone out and called Regina Hicks' cell phone. Well, that would make sense why her phone right. why her phone records indicate a call after the time she was supposed to pick her son up. What was Steve like revealing all of this?

Very remorseful, emotional, remorseful. And then I said, well, who else have you told? He said, well, other than my lawyer, I haven't told anyone. He lived with this information all these years. Correct. And never shared it. Correct. I said, did you tell your wife?

He said, no. I said, you're going to tell her tonight. So he had been carrying the information that he knew, within himself for decades, out of concern for his own safety and well-being, out of fear for his family, for his children. And then I come around the corner. Okay. And that's when I was like...

As a condition of this immunity deal, Steve Gates has to provide investigators with a tour of his property where Regina Hicks would have been hurt. They were like standing maybe here somewhere. I just remember this little swale. They were in this little, and they were like, they were like yelling at each other. And you were over there. So when you came out of the garage, where were they at?

Down there, down by that fence or behind the dump trailer. I just remember being, like, amped up and just not thinking clear at that point, because I'm like, right. You know, you're involved and everything else, you know, and just... How long you do you do? I think you were standing by the car with hits. Minnets. And then you get in his car and follow.

He was very specific, and we were able to corroborate that. The Attorney General Dave Yost and Prosecutor Sirley got together, had a discussion. The agreement was made that we would give him immunity. Nothing he could say to us could be used against him unless he lies to it. I'm glad Steve Gates came forward. And I think it did take. take some courage to say, yeah, I sat on this and here's the truth. And he gets points for that. But it wasn't courageous to ask for an immunity deal. It wasn't courageous to say, talk to my lawyer.

He was a witness. Steve Gates was the key to solving this case all these years. Correct. And once he gave you his story, everything changed. Everything changed. All right, we're lighting them up. And now after two decades, 24 years, everything is about to change for Paul Hicks. Come on, step out. I've been a rest of the floor. Walking the streets.

We're going to go right over here to the cruiser. He's been vacationing in Hawaii with a girlfriend, vacationing in Florida with a girlfriend. He's been living his life for 24 years while Regina's been encased in a coffin outside of Willard, Ohio. April 22nd, 2025, he's indicted. Paul, I don't know if they told you, we got a warrant for your arrest. Okay, nobody's told me enough. So, so what am I arrested for? There was an indictment.

So Paul Hicks is finally arrested. Finally. What did you think? I had a panic attack because I was excited and terrified at the same time. Charged with the murder of his wife. You file for emergency custody, by the way. Oh, the very next day. And I went straight up there and got Daniel. Oh.

I don't think he saw it coming. And I think it was a surreal moment for us at that point. Paul was ultimately transported back to the Huron County Sheriff's Office. And myself and Chris attempted to interview Paul. No, no, disrespectful. Can we cut the . Yeah. And get what you need to do and show me the charges so I can make my call.

Do you want to know what the indictment is? No, I want to make my phone call. OK. Yeah. So we would like to talk to you about what that happened. And I never made a sign. I don't want you to talk me about nothing. So you don't have anything to say?

I have nothing to say to you. I have my phone call. They were supposed to bring my phone, which I know is a lot. I'm not going to. Well, you'll get your phone call when you get into the jail. Oh, I'm not in the jail? No, this is an interview room. Oh, my, I'm in the jail.

So, yeah, you're cool with you. So, yeah, you're going to go. You're not running the show here. Well, I'll remain silent. Well, then that's fine. You don't get to you when they get time to get to you. Oh, I know. I sit in the car and sweating.

Well, we don't get it. We then had first-hand knowledge on how he treated people because he didn't want to hear what we had to say either. It was all about the control for him, which was what I expected to go in there. Correct. Paul Hicks is accused of killing his ex-wife and the mother of his child, Regina Roe Hicks. The day after his arrest, Paul Hicks pleads not guilty to the murder and kidnapping charges. 24 years later, what was that moment like for you to come in and now make this kind of a leap in a long cold case? I made arrangements for two of Regina's family members to meet with them.

They were emotional and that something's finally been done. At least now we're in the system. At least now, she's been charged. Now a jury is finally hearing a case over what happened to Regina Hicks. 24 years is a long time to wait for a case and a trial to get some. started. There's a big question that hangs over it of what's different now. This was a case that was made without any forensic evidence. No DNA or anything like that. No DNA, no fingerprints, no hairs, straight witness testimony, and some circumstantial evidence.

What was your biggest worry going to trial? Cooperating what Steve Gates told us. The jury almost had to believe Steve Gates. All rise, please. Right out the gate during the opening statements, the prosecution lets the jury know that their star witness is a known liar. Steve Gates discussed what happened on October 18, but he lied. And he's gonna get upon the witness stand and he's gonna admit to you that he lied.

He lied to the Sheriff's apartment. He lied for 24 years. The prosecution laid out for this jury the potential motive for Paul Hicks to kill Regina. He had lost his job, had blown through a lot of that insurance settlement money that they got from the fire. at their home and he was getting closer to having to pay some steep child support

payments to Regina the defense doesn't make an opening argument correct it was the first time in 37 years I've experienced that all right there was a lot of information that came to light in regards to Regina Hicks and Paul Hicks's relationship what was controlling as far as her relationship what yes like she would only talk to her mom and he wasn't home and she was kind of on end things because she reads Lugiaz and he pretty much sort of that nobody had wondered if he could have a nobody filled. A lot of witnesses, a lot of family and friends

that had first had knowledge and had seen not only these domestic altercations, but the emotional abuse that they say Regina Hicks endured throughout this relationship. He was always yelling at her, fighting with her. Did you witness an incident like four or five months before her death that turned physical? Yeah, he pulled her hair and smithers of her house.

Prosecutors have got a witness contradicting Paul Hicks' claim that Regina never arrived at Gates' place. Jimmy Patrick, Regina's uncle, he had saw Regina's car at Steve Gates' house around 8 o'clock on that Thursday evening, October 18th of 2001. I was driving by Gates' house. I just glanced over. I looked and I said, that looks like her. car. When you'd seen that car, you said it was getting dark. It does be dark. At the time,

Jimmy Patrick's statement couldn't be corroborated by investigators. So Crystal Hicks. So Crystal Hicks, that is Paul Hicks' sister. So she was very reluctant to speak with investigators. Getting off of work the night of the 18th of October 2001, she actually got home earlier than what she had anticipated. Paul was living at her house at the time. And I came home to a mess in my house and I was headed to the bathroom and he tried to cut me up. Who's he? My brother. And he said it was a mask I would be mad.

And when I proceeded to go to the bathroom, anyhow, his muddy clothes were floating in the bathtub. We've been trying to clean. And how much mud was in the bathroom? A lot. Did you ever see that much mud before? No. And who was at your house when you came home? Steve Gates and my brother.

And what were they doing? Steve was sitting on the couch. See, he was sitting on the couch, and like I said, I think I surprised them both because I got off earlier than normal. Did you notice anything about the defendant's face or neck area? He had scratches on his head or part of his face somewhere in this area. He said a tree had fallen in him. At the time Regina disappeared, Paul Hicks had moved on. He had a new girlfriend, and she's about to tell the jury something unusual.

She remembers him telling him. her. He told me that there were ways to beat a lie detector test. A once cold case out of Ohio. Courrooms can be really intense places. You had a packed gallery of people who were supporting Paul Hicks and Regina's loved ones. They were all there in the same space waiting to see if there was going to be justice one way or another. It's day three, of testimony and the jury is hearing from Jansen Phipps, Paul's girlfriend at the time of Regina's disappearance, and she remembers some strange things from that night. What happened after you went to bed? I went to sleep. I woke up and Paul was gone, but I didn't

didn't get anything of it and I went back to sleep. What did you tell you about money boots? that he had a pair of money boots from the day that Regina went missing because they were digging the pond and he put him on his sister's back porch and somebody stole him. He gets up in the middle of the night. He does something with the boots. She also testified to what he did that weekend. They went to a dance. They were together Friday night, Saturday. Even though his estranged wife is missing. Correct. Janzen Phipps on the stand told this jury that she remembers, conversation from Paul Hicks, or he said that he could beat a polygraph examination. Did you talk to you about things like breathing techniques, things like that? Yeah, he had a book.

I feel in my memory like it had a yellow covering. It was a softback, it wasn't a hardback book. Um, but yeah, it was how to beat a lie detector. Told me he was just trying to protect himself. Did he also watch crime shows? We watched a lot of like forensic files and just shows about how people would get rid of evidence and things like that. During cross-examination, the defense was able to highlight the things that the prosecutors lacked. There's nothing that you found when you reviewed the DNA to implicate Paul Hicks.

Isn't that true? There's nothing at all that I can compare to anybody. It's just simply not sufficient for comparison purposes. You didn't find any DNA of Paul in the car. I didn't find any DNA of anybody. Nothing to implicate Paul in regards to the testing of the soil samples. That's correct.

Okay. There was no DNA linking Paul to this case. Yes, sir. You would agree with me that there were no hair samples that linked Paul to this case. That's correct, sir. During the cross-examination of the sheriff, The defense asked a lot of questions about why there are all of these other potential suspects who were not investigated further.

You testified you're trying to rule people out. You got her best friend telling you she's having sex relations with four guys and you don't send anything to BCI in regards to those four men. We did not send anything in regards to those four men. That's right. So then as you sit here today, you didn't rule out those four potential men as suspects in this case. nothing led us to believe those four people were suspects. The defense was really suggesting that these investigators had tunnel vision when they walked in on Paul Hicks. Paul, I don't know if they told you that.

We got a warrant for your arrest. Okay. Nobody's told me this. The state conceded that Steve Gates has lied for 24 years. Is that your position? That's what I've been told you. And you can't rule out as you sit there that he is going to, who lie tomorrow?

I can't. No, sure I can't. State's next witness? Steve Gates, who does not want to be recorded in any way. All right, no audio, no video for this witness. In the state of Ohio, they do allow cameras inside of the courtroom, but if a witness wants to opt out of being shown, the court will grant that.

So this guy comes to court, and he's lied to law officers before. and now you are asking a jury to believe him. You have to have credibility with the jury. You can't pull punches or try to pull a wool over anyone's eyes. And that's what we said about Steve Gates. Look, he's a liar. He lied in 2001, he lied in 2002. I'm not going to sugar-coded.

But he's not lying now. Sitting in the courtroom, I was, that was the one testimony I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear from Steve's mouth what happened. And we would get answers. we would know. Gates tells jurors exactly what he told investigators that Regina did in fact come to his home to pick up her son and that she and Paul got into an argument.

He said he saw Regina's body crumpled on the floorboard of her Camaro. Stephen Gates said Paul Hicks told him that she is dead. Gates doesn't mention that he in any way was involved in Regina's death, but he does say that he followed the instructions of his friend and that he did keep his mouth shut. He gave the bare minimum information, but it was more of what he left out. It's like, you know, where was Montana at during this time that they were fighting? I mean, you're not going to ask what happened. What did you do?

He could have gotten help. Somebody could have called 911. Mr. Gritch, are you ready to get your phone? Yes, sir. I can make your team. The defense highlighted that he had multiple opportunities over the years to tell the truth to police, and that he continued to say that Regina was never there. Their whole case was based upon speculation and conjection.

The defense spoke to the jury for the first time during their closing arguments. He said the prosecution's case is full of holes and did not have any substance. Remember back in the 70s or 80s, where's the beat? Where's the beat? But let's get to the beef in the case. Zero forensic evidence linking Paul to the alleged crime scenes. More importantly, far more importantly, zero forensic evidence to corroborate the scientifically unverified fiction of Charlottes and Gates.

If the line was an Olympic event, that guy wins the gold. the silver and the brides. Thank you, brother. Thank you. You. Are you? Uh, yes, Your Honor. The state in their closing argument

wanted to make sure that the jury understands that everything in this case points to Paul Hicks and no one else. If not Paul Hicks, then who? Motive? Motive. That's what's about here. Regina's independence. Regina Wynchance.

Regina want a childson. for Regina Ron custody. Regina fought back. You won't fight back against Paul Hicks. At this time then, we will take a time for the jury to begin their deliberation. When everything is in the hands of the jury, it's one of those anxious moments,

because you never know. All right, please. All right, folks, we have breaking news out of Ohio. The jury has reached a verdict in the murder trial of Paul Hicks. There are some cases where, Jury deliberations can take days, weeks, but in this case, this jury came back within three hours.

All right, please. The emotions that you have as an investigator when you're sitting there waiting for the verdict, I truly can't explain. In the state of Ohio versus Paul Daniel Hicks, the jury finds the defendant guilty. That was a great moment. When they said guilty,

It was a huge weight lifted, a big sigh of relief. Finally, we got justice. And Paul's reaction was priceless. He just threw his head back, like he couldn't believe it. The Roe family have suffered immensely. They've gone so many years without answers. To be able to watch them get that verdict, It seemed like justice.

It was like probably the best Christmas present ever. My sister Lacella and Regina loved Christmas. And after Regina got killed, Lacella never celebrated Christmas. So for them to do it and they were playing Christmas music outside. It was kind of like perfect. What was that moment like for you? You're winning, finally. My baby's home.

We're safe. He's where he belongs. He's going to be where he belongs. For Kelly, life is finally moving forward. Though amazingly, to this day, investigators haven't definitively determined who the two people were that set that fire. After the verdict comes down, then is the matter of sentencing. This is the opportunity for the victim's loved ones, Regina's family.

to be able to address the court and share some things that they haven't been heard publicly on for over two decades. I made sure I made eye contact with him. I would lean in so he would know. I was talking to him. Regina was intelligent, far more intelligent than you. She had a rare kindness and a heart that would have only grown stronger with time. I wanted Paul to know how angry.

horrible all this was. She would have made a real impact on this world. During sentencing, Paul and Regina's son, Montana, is offered an opportunity to speak. He doesn't come in person. He gives a letter to a victim's advocate to read. When he gives his victim impact statement, he reminds the court that he is the victim who lost the most here. I can't escape this. To me, there is no justice as to lack of evidence.

Nothing has been solved and nothing will be until the truth comes out about who really did this to my mother He also says that now I have to hear what has to be decided for my dad. Do I feel like he should be punished? No, but anyone who committed a crime should pay I lost my mom and now I'm losing my dad. I'm glad that it was solved. I'm glad that people are talking about Regina again But I just hate that her son is learning all the things that he's learning and in so much pain. You know, I think we need to realize what Montana's been through throughout this entire, not only this entire process, but the last 24 years and what he's going to have to live with for the rest of his life. There is no reason for any leniency in this case. The defendant had the benefit of roaming free for the last quarter of a century.

century before facing justice here today. Paul Hicks sentenced to life in prison with a possibly parole after 25 years. 15 years for the murder and 10 years for the kidnapping. I want her to be remembered as Montana's mom. She loved him. She would have loved him deeply. She would do anything for anybody. She was just caring and she loved her family.

I want people to remember that she was a human, not just a victim. And there's so much that she could have accomplished. And Ben, had Paul not taken that from her. So many lives altered David by the acts of one man. Regina Hicks would have celebrated her 50th birthday this year. It's so hard for her loved one. She's been gone 25 years now. And we should note tonight that since his conviction, Paul Hicks has filed a notice of appeal with the court.

That's our program for tonight. Thanks for watching. I'm David Muir. And I'm Deborah Roberts from all of us here at 2020 and ABC News. Good night. Road to the NBA Finals is happening now on ESPN and ABC. It's make a break now. Best on best now. Watch him sit with his chest now. Greatness is up for grabs. And the world is watching. Just win.

on the home of the NBA finals. All the work, all the sacrifice. The NBA playoffs presented by Google continued from ESPN and ABC.