Dateline NBC - Secrets Unmasked

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

The death of 25-year-old Ohio mom Regina Hicks at the bottom of a pond remains a mystery for nearly a quarter century, until a key witness has a change of heart. Keith Morrison reports. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight on Dateline. This was a very well-thought-out plan. The video of the fire is just insane. Betrayal, lies, manipulation, death. The female, she's got a hood on. She lets her long, curly, blonde hair hang out of the hood. Later on, we will learn a wig is purchased and that a mask is purchased. He is dressing somebody up in a disguise to look like you.

It's devastating. I had nobody to protect me. I do a little more digging. I started reading about the death of Regina Hecks. A young mom, a young wife. They found her, and she was in her car. She was crumpled up on the passenger side of that car. Someone drove her into that pond.

There was a man, a secret witness. Did you tell your wife or anybody about this? No. Never? No. I'm sorry I didn't come forward. It's like your heart's jumping out of your chest. all that darkness comes to light.

A mother murdered, a mysterious fire, a mass disguise. Just how devious could one killer be? I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Keith Morrison with Secrets Unmasked. There is a town. Little place planted firmly in the wide, flat farmlands of north central Ohio, called Willard. Railway Town, among other things. Sort of place where rumors travel fast and truth doesn't always catch up. This is where it started a quarter century ago, the trouble and the gossip.

And if somebody had said a true thing about it way back then, might all of it have been prevented? All 24 years of it? Well, who knows? It is just mind-boggling how one person can be responsible for all of this drama, this heartache, this death. It's hard to wrap your mind around it. And get away with it for so long. Silence for so long. That day, when it started, the year was 2001. It was an October evening past sunset.

25-year-old Regina Hicks was due around 8. to pick up her four-year-old son, Montana. The boy was with his dad, Regina's estranged husband, Paul. They'd arranged to meet at a friend's house. Paul said he started calling her when she didn't show up, left her a message. Hey, it's me, Paul, just want to know if you're going to come get him tonight or what. Should you be here at 8.8.30 and I, give me a call. I'll have a cell phone around. Bye.

And when Regina didn't arrive at her mom's as expected later that evening, Her mother got on the phone and called Regina's brother, Chuck Roe. She said, have you seen Regina? She was supposed to be here like two hours ago. Mm-hmm. And I was like, no, I haven't seen Regina. Then the whole family began to panic. Regina's uncle, Carl Patrick.

What happened? We just couldn't find her. We was losing her mind. I mean, where was she? I've got seven brothers and sisters. Why didn't somebody in the family know where she was at or contacted her? This is Regina's cousin and best friend, Jennifer Donanworth. I knew she didn't run away.

She would never leave her son. She loved him more than anything. Family and friends left messages on her cell phone and on her answering machine. When they said that they couldn't locate her, all of our cousins, and all of her brothers, her stepdad, everybody went out looking for. for her. Next day, the family called the Willard Police Department, filed a missing person report. So the police and the family, all of them, went looking for Regina. But they couldn't find her. Not that day, or the next day, but the frantic day after that. And then...

My ex-wife calls me and tells me, hey, they found a car in the pond, and I went there as fast as I could get there, and I watched them fish her car out of the pond, and they said, yes, there's a body in the car. My mom said they found her, and she was in her car. She's not in with us anymore. An incalculable loss, certainly, to the family, to that little boy of hers. That'd be an awful day. There's no way to explain it until you experience it yourself.

Probably not a moment you'll forget. No, you never forget. I ain't forgot it in 24 years. Dane Howard remembers too. Dane was the sheriff's investigator back then. You can see it still. That woman in the car in the pond. How she got there?

Well, who knew? Early in the investigation, we had no idea. We didn't have be facts. We didn't know what happened to her at all. The autopsy didn't help much, showed the cause of death was drowning. The method, undetermined. So they could have chalked it up to an unfortunate accident.

But Ohio Assistant Attorney General Dan Kassaris explained. She had marks on the top of her head. She had marks underneath her shoulders as if she was dragged. And she had marks on her wrist. But there was no doubt about it. She was alive when she went into the pond. Possibly unconscious, but alive. She's unconscious, right.

And this was strange. She was found on the passenger side of the car. So maybe someone made sure she went into that pond. She didn't drive the car into the pond by herself. Someone drove her into that pond. But who could have done it? She had suspicions. But she couldn't prove it either?

She couldn't prove it either. And then, years later and nearly 200 miles away, like the Twilight Zone. I don't even know what you're talking about. I don't even know what the hell is going on. And she's like, his house burnt to the ground. And I'm like, what? He came in and he saw the video and said, that's her hair, that's her face, that's her body shape.

Regina Hicks had been dead a long time before investigative reporter Karen Johnson, the WLWT TV heard a thing about her. But pretty soon, she was hooked. What did you learn about Regina? So Regina was a 25-year-old woman. She wanted this happy life with someone she loved, with her child, with her family. Oh, very close, that family. Tell me about her.

She was a very fun, loving girl. She never really met no enemies. She was seven years younger than me. I brought her up a little rough like a tomboy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At the local watering hole, they could be 50 people in there. And when she laughed, you could hear her over to music, and I'd be like, there's my sister right there. She was so warm and loving and kind and just such a beautiful, beautiful soul.

She was my best friend. She was my hero. Regina and her husband, Paul, had been a couple since high school. It was a love affair at first sight. They were together constantly. she was head over heels in love with him. She just knew that this was going to be her future. How did he treat Regina?

At first, they got along great while they was in school. But marriage is quite another matter, and theirs unraveled. So when investigators found out that Regina and Paul had recently separated, well, of course they talked to him, along with a bunch of other people. I think we worked all through that night the next day interviewing. folks connected to Regina. So we interviewed the husband, Paul Hicks. You're up here, you're cooperating.

Man, that's really good. Thing was, though, they had not yet revealed the fact that they've found Regina's body. I think you know where she is now. You know what I'm not alive. I mean, I've had five or six people call that's buddies with the fire department

and saying you guys pulled a camaral with 30-day tags are in. I'm not stupid. I can put two and two together. How does it make you feel? You love her? Love it all my heart. I've always loved her.

She knows him. And, last he knew, she was supposed to pick up their son at his friend's house. But... She never comes to pick up my house. She never shut up. That friend was Steve Gates. They came to you that police did, didn't they? Multiple times.

Yeah. They came to a lot of people. Steve told investigators he was at his farm house. with Paul, playing around with a bulldozer. We were kids, you know, with a dozer. Let's go push some dirt around. And Steve said what Paul said. They waited at his house, waiting for Regina.

But she didn't show up. In there somewhere is when the investigators found out that Regina was dating another man now after her split with Paul. So they brought that guy in, too. Any sexual partner, any tip that they would have had, anybody who had access to her that night, like her boyfriend, boyfriend's buddies.

But that was pretty much a dead end. The boyfriend said he last saw Regina when she left to pick up her son, and there was no way to disprove it. It all became, well, little like social media is now these years later. Lots of conspiracy theories. Truth and lies, indistinguishable.

When Regina went missing, I think there was a lot of speculation. There was a lot of whispers around town. There were stories about drug runners and Mexican cartels and friends and family. One of the big problems early in this case was the rumor mongering, and it would just be a dead lead. And worse, said an investigator Howard, Regina's death was not officially ruled a murder. Our county coroner refused to, listed as a murder, said it was an undetermined manner of death. That's a major hiccup. in this case.

Meaning Howard was hamstrung, couldn't intensify the investigation the way he wanted to. And as the months went by and the investigation seemed stalled, Regina's mother contacted local TV stations to drum up interest in the case. I stay in touch with the detectives that are working on it. I just try to keep it alive as much as possible.

On the first anniversary of Regina's death, she told how she paid for billboards and offered a reward for solid information. My mother put up a lot of money that she was going to pay out of her pocket. No one ever come through. Nothing ever happened. And it went on like that for years.

Did you give up hope that this would be sold? No. Every time I went somewhere, I carried her picture of my billfold still got it there. I thought about it every time I got up. Every night I went to bed. So did you and your family push for answers over that whole course of years, or did you give up on it?

What happened? No, we never gave up on it. I mean, we had our lives to go on with, and it seemed like nobody give a crap. But no, said Detective Howard. Wasn't like that. Everybody cared. He said, they never gave up.

I mean, the case file has hundreds of pages in it from different interviews and different things. We turned over every leaf, and we did everything we could do. Then, 14 years after Regina's death, her mom died. Her mother passed away in 2015. She died with a broken heart. I think in Regina's mom's heart, she knew who was responsible. She had suspicions.

But she couldn't prove it either? She couldn't prove it either. But they could practically feel it. Feel. They were sure him. It's like slime oozing through a screen. Like, he just gets through things. They lived in a strange sort of limbo, Regina's family, that is.

For years, they wanted to bring her killer to justice. They thought they knew who did it. And Investigator Howard agreed. I went with the late Regina's mother to the prosecutor. We met with him, and she pleaded with him to take the case. And he refused. He said it just wasn't enough there. And that's his prerogative.

It's like slime oozing through. screen, like he just gets through things. She is talking about Regina's estranged husband, Paul. In fact, one of Regina's uncles told investigators he had seen her car at the house where she was supposed to meet Paul on the night she went missing, which, if true, would put the lie to Paul's alibi. It was obvious to me. It was obvious to everybody in the community.

Everybody knew that he did it. But through the years Paul resolutely maintained his innocence, maintained custody of their son Montana too. At first, he allowed Regina's family to visit, but that didn't last. And then eventually Paul left the boy with his own mother. His job took him back and forth to Southern Ohio, far from Regina's family and the rumor mill. And there he met a new woman, this woman, Kelly.

Did he tell you what happened to his wife? Yeah, I believe it's our second time. hanging out, I believe. And he actually told me that she died in a car wreck and he cried. For privacy reasons, Kelly asked us not to use her last name. I just turned 23 and he was 33. He had his life together. He seemed like a great guy. He knew what he was doing. He acted like he wanted to take care of me and be good to me. But you were in love?

Lust. They moved in together and had a son. Paul worked on the railroad and Kelly was a practical nurse. But as time went by, Paul became more and more controlling, said Kelly, and manipulative. I've heard some people describe those kind of relationships as when it's good, it's very, very good, and when it's bad, it's awful. That's more when I get more to know him, to when the true Paul Hicks comes out. She and their son put up with it for years, she said, until finally she asked him to get out, leave. I was just done at that point. And he kept saying, um, I'm going to do something that's going to hurt you the most.

They were in a bitter custody battle at that point. Paul had moved into a new place, and one day in June 2015, Kelly was dropping off her son at this supermarket for visitation with Paul. Before we knew it, both doors were open, and we had taser guns pointing out our head from Claremont County Sheriff's Department.

What's it like to have taser guns pointed at you by cops as you were pulling out of a parking lot? Shock? I don't know. When you're really in a moment like that where you're just so surprised, you just don't think you just go with the moment. Yeah.

You know, you can't really describe it. It just, it's like your heart's jumping out of your chest. A deputy arrested her. My head comes like a criminal. I have no record at all. She's like, do you know what happened to Paul's house last night? I'm like, no. I don't even know what you're talking about.

I don't even know what the hell is going on. And she's like, his house burnt to the ground. And I'm like, what? What? Did you hear anything about what happened? No. No? No, I was at home.

You know who he's pointing the finger at? Well, he could prove it at me, pointing at me only once. I got... Where we're yet right, right? I was at home with my mom and my son watching TV. It was as if Kelly had been forced into an ultimate universe in which she was the criminal, chief suspect in an arson investigation,

arrested because she had an outstanding warrant for damaging a hot tub at Paul's house. This is video of that incident, and it looked like her, but she swore to those cops. She was never there. It didn't help. And were you actually charged with crime? Criminal damaging.

And they used that to take me and to question me about the fire. In this interview, her face is obscured. Investigators showed her security camera photos of a woman who set fire to Paul's house. Well, I want to show you some pictures of actually the woman who came in. for the arson. Paul claimed it was Kelly. She's rather large. Oh, my God.

Paul also accused Kelly of harassing him the night before the fire. 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. What in heaven's name was going on? How did you find out what happened?

What really happened? The insurance, they dug really deep into it. And they couldn't believe what they found. Have you ever seen a case like this one before? No, this was the wildest case that I have ever seen. Paul Hicks House burned to the ground in an arson fire. But something was very off. I am an attorney, but I have a specialty cases that involve fire investigation.

Zach McCune was brought in when Paul filed a claim with the insurance. company. What made them suspicious about the claim and what made you suspicious about it? Paul Hicks reported that he was three hours away from the residence where the fire occurred when it happened. He drove down the morning of the fire and reported the law enforcement that he had surveillance footage of the fire because it was stored inside of two fireproof gun safes. That seemed odd, said McCune. Hard drives of video recordings and fireproof gun safes? But then the content of the video itself was odd too. Not just odd. Brazen.

The arson by a man and a woman was as blatant as can be. And the female, she's got a hood on. She also lets her long curly blonde hair hang out of the hood and be displayed for the cameras. And she also looks at some of the cameras kind of directly with her face right to the camera. They bring in multiple cans of gas and pour them and ultimately light them. Somehow the cameras were placed right in the perfect spot to capture everything.

Paul told police he had no idea who the man of the video was, but he certainly recognized the woman. And he's saying, wow, that's my ex-girlfriend. Had to be Kelly. Exactly. he came in and he saw the video and said, that's her hair, that's her face, that's her body shape. Those were the images the police had shown Kelly. At the time, her hair was curly. But to McCune, it all seemed a bit too convenient, as did this. Paul Hicks had been posting to his Facebook

account, all of his Facebook friends, he'd been using screenshots from his iPhone that made it appear, Kelly was stalking him and harassing him and calling him like initially 60 times and then 90 times, and then more than 100 times. Lo and behold, a few hours later, there's this arson fire that she's blamed for. So McCune started digging. He actually handed over his cell phone to us, which was analyzed. And one of the contacts in his cell phone was a company called Spoof Card. What is that? Spoof card. Spoof card is a company that allows you to buy minutes with them. And when you use them,

I could call you and make it look like it's someone completely different calling you. So all those messages from Kelly were fake. Then more digital evidence led to a phone, Paul shared with another woman. Her name was Terry Sweet. When McHugh looked at those phone records, he found receipts from a company with a strange name. That's My Face.

We find out that That's My Face as a company that makes custom wearable masks of anyone's face. To create the mask, you have to have pictures of the person's face from front angles and side angles. The mask looked like this. So the person in the video wasn't Kelly. It was someone wearing a mask to look just like her. Kelly was being framed.

Was she a victim in all of this? She's the main victim in all of this, yes. And that wasn't all. Paul made false accusations about her using drugs and harming her son that resulted in her losing custody. You set me up for the arson

and took my son. That's the only thing that could hurt me. It's like cutting off your leg, taking your heart out. All I want to do is be a mom and he knew that and he took him. Once they learned about this scheme, prosecutors dropped the hot tub charge against Kelly

and she was never charged for the arson. But who was the female arsonist wearing the face mask if it wasn't Kelly? Well, McCune was pretty sure. It was Paul's friend Terry Sweet. She denied having anything to do with the fire, but she shared that phone with Paul, the one used to order the mask. So, of course, McCune wanted to ask her all about it,

but when he tried to set up a deposition... So we call over to her family, and we find out that she died the previous day. Unbelievable. Was there any investigation of that death? Not that I'm aware of. We were told that she was an alcoholic and that she was told if you don't stop drinking,

there's a chance that you could die. McCune was never able to identify the man in the video. After a two-year investigation, he turned over his findings to the police. In 2019, four years after the fire, though he did not torch the house himself, Paul was charged. They arrived at ultimately charging him for arson and insurance fraud and counts of perjury.

Paul denied it, denied it all, denied committing arson, denied framing Kelly, and pleaded not guilty. However, by then, investigators trying to solve Regina's case got wind of the bizarre arson claim. We were hoping he would get convicted of some felonies, and receive some incarceration, go to prison. Because if that happens, then we can go to these witnesses now and talk to these witnesses, and he's in prison. So since he's in prison, maybe you'll be more likely to talk to us. But that didn't happen.

Instead, after three more years of legal starts and stops, Paul got a plea deal. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor. Never went to jail. What? What? Wait a second. I like rewind, say that again. Paul Hicks, who's charged with aggravated arson,

who's accused of creating this elaborate scheme to frame his ex-girlfriend, pleaded no contest, and he's not convicted of any of the serious crimes, just a misdemeanor. But that old case, Regina's death at the bottom of the pond, that was quite another matter. That was escalated to the State Attorney General's office in the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. What happened?

Well, for one thing, Casares and a team of investigators met with the coroner and asked him to take another look at the case. He did. And that's when he changed the manner of death from undetermined to homicide. And suddenly, after 24 years, a very big break. There was a man, a secret witness who said he knows what happened to Regina. This young woman was suddenly, was killed almost in front of you. For a 20-year-old kid, that's got to be a pretty horrific thing to see. Or was it?

He has a life-threatening kidney disease, and he said he wanted to clear his conscience. That's why it happened. Of course, it might not have happened at all, except 24 years after the murder of Regina Hicks, the investigators tried one more round of questions. And? This man. finally unburdened his soul. Did you tell your wife or your family or anybody about this?

No. Never? No. Nobody? No. Steve Gates, remember him? For all those years, he denied knowing anything about a murder. But with mortality staring him in the face, he said it was time.

When you denied knowing anything about it, What was going on in your gut? Very uncomfortable. I knew it was wrong. I knew that that wasn't the way it should have played out. It happened here, said Steve, on his farm in Willard. He was just 20 at the time. And Paul, Regina's estranged husband, was there with him.

Paul was his buddy, though older and taller and a bit intimidating. So Steve was really more... follower, who happened to have the toys Paul liked. So take us back there. What actually happened that night? Well, we hung out that day. I had a dozer and tractor and scuffed around in the mud. At around 8 in the evening, he said,

Regina pulled into the driveway, intending to pick up her son, Montana. And right away, she and Paul started arguing. I remember she showed up, and all they did was fight, whether it was about money or who was in charge or who's going to get a job. It was always something. How much of that can you take? I just, I'm tired of it.

So, Steve said he walked away for about 15 minutes. And when he returned to her car... It was like twilight dark. And I remember seeing the dome light of the car. When I got over there, she was crumpled up in a ball on the floor. It was already done. She was, you know, dude, you know, she's hurt. She needs help.

Let's call 911. He said Paul snapped back at him. Dude, she's effing dead. And I just, you know, come on, follow me. I guess I didn't really know at the time where we were going. But Steve said he did what he was told. Started up Paul's car with four-year-old Montana sleeving in the back seat. Well, Paul drove Regina's car with her in the passenger.

seat beside him. He took her in her car, and I followed him and his car. I didn't know where we were going. And then he went down the road. There's a little driveway that goes into a pond, and when I pulled up, he kind of had her car blocking the whole thing, and I went down to turn around, and when I come back, I just remember seeing the car up in the air. He put it into the pond, and he came out, and, you know, I'm involved. I did this. He said. Whatever he said, Yeah, that makes sense to a 20-year-old kid. I didn't touch her. I didn't drive the car in the pond.

I didn't know anything to do with it. I didn't tell the truth about it. Some people were saying, well, why didn't you call 911 from the other car? You wouldn't have known that you were calling. Yeah. That's a good idea. I don't know.

This young woman was suddenly, was killed almost in front of you, and then the cover app happens almost in front of you. For a 20-year-old kid, that's got to be a pretty horrific thing to see. Or was it? Or was it? What do you mean? Well, I'm asking you. I mean, I don't know. I don't know what you felt.

It wasn't comfortable at all. It was terrible. Terrible and yet. He did not say a word about it for decades. What made you come forward after 24 years? Finally, after all that time, what was it? What was the deciding factor? There was a lot that decided against it. I was tired of the threats. I was tired of looking over my shoulder. waiting for to see where he's going to be. Was it like that all those years? I mean, look over your shoulder? Watching out for him, yeah.

Really? He always had an angle. I didn't do very well documenting the threats with law enforcement, but there was threats. What could have happened to you? My life. He threatened your life? Many times. Didn't have to be directly, he said.

Sometimes he heard about the threats through the grapevine. It's a tiny little town. everybody knows everything. It's a small town and just everybody knows everybody. Steve, are you saying that then that this little town, kind of they all knew that he did it, and they all knew that you saw that he did it, and they all knew that you were not saying anything because of threats against you? No, I don't think that they knew the whole truth. I think they knew that I saw it, but I think they thought I was involved. I think they thought that I helped perform the act. I think that's what the town thought.

Because some people still think that you were involved in this in a direct way that you participated in murder. I never touched that girl. I never did anything with that girl. His attorney, Bernie Davis. When this happened, Steve was a very young guy. And I think he was intimidated by Paul Hicks to the point where he believed him

when he said you're involved in it, and he kept his mouth shut. And one more thing. In 2015, 14 years after Regina's death, Steve was called in for questioning yet again, and he said he was willing to talk, but Investigator Howard saw it differently. He sat down there, he was defiant, he was not, he's not cooperated at all. He handed in the card of his attorney, and that's the last we heard of him. Steve said he wanted investigators to talk to his attorney first, and after he gave them the attorney's card, nothing happened.

It's fair for Steve to say, hey, I tried to come forward in 2015 and no one listened to me. That's the reality of what happened. You can't sugarcoat it. When he finally spoke in 2024, Steve Gates could have been charged with obstruction of justice. Instead, he got an immunity deal. To testify against Paul. Based on Steve's sworn testimony, Paul was indicted by a grand jury. He was arrested in April 2025, charged with murder and kidnapping.

Paul, I don't know if they told you, we got a warrant for your arrest. But what a jury believed? The state's star witness? We called him a liar. Paul Hicks pleaded not guilty when he went on trial. for the murder of his wife Regina in December 2025. All right, please. But Regina's family felt confident.

I thank God that these prosecutors finally got the right people to testify. Were you sitting in the courtroom watching him? I never took my eyes off from him. I bet you were boring a hole through the back of his head with your stare. Yeah, he might have looked at me three times the whole time. Co-prosecutor James Sitterly asked the jury to remember what this case did to the entire area.

But then all started when the defendant Paul Hicks 24 years ago launched his wife's coffin in the shape of a 1994 Camaro into the wet stone pot. Prosecutors presented phone records, which they said showed Paul staged a voicemail message for Regina, left when she was already dead. Hey, it's me, Paul. Just want to know if you're going to come get him tonight or what? Should you be here at 8, 8.30? It's nine.

Give me a call. I have a cell phone around. Bye. He says to Regina, you know, you were supposed to be here at 8 o'clock. You're not here. Here at Steve Gates's house. While Hicks was telling people and in the police that I left at 8.30. But it's five after nine when he's telling Regina.

on her voice mail, hey, why aren't you here, here at Steve Gates' house? I said that looks like there. The prosecution also put on the stand that uncle of Regina's, who saw her car at Steve's place. He drives by Steve Gates' house, and he sees Regina's Camero parked on the property. So Paul Hicks' story is Regina was never here. And this might sound familiar, the alleged motive for murder? Who put Regina in the... the pond. Well, who had the motive? The defendant. Who benefited from her death? No custody dispute,

no child support. She's dead. The defendant. The state alleged Paul knocked Regina unconscious while Steve Gates was inside his barn. Of course, Steve was the star witness, though he asked his testimony not be recorded. What was it like testifying in court? Very easy. He was sitting there in the court looking at you as you testified. You still found it easy? At that point, I didn't care. I don't care about him anymore. Steve told the jury the same story he told police and us.

He saw Paul Hicks drive the Camaro into the pond, with Regina crumpled in the passenger seat. Steve, unaware, she was still alive. The defense obviously is going to call Steve a liar. Were you prepared for that? Did you expect that? We called him a liar. We got out in front of it.

I told the jury that he lied, and we fully knew that defense counsel was going to do that. Any defense attorney would. And as expected, defense attorney Jay Anthony Rich attacked Gates' credibility. If lie was an Olympic event, that guy wins, the gold, the silver, the brands. Yet the government is asking you to take a huge leap of faith in a witness, who they have acknowledged was lied

for 25 years. They had nothing. Nothing linking Paul to the murder, said the defense. Zero forensic evidence linking Paul to the alleged crime scenes. Zero. Not.

It was six days before Christmas when the jury took the case, and just three hours later, A verdict. The jury finds a defendant guilty of murder and unflashified felony. Guilty on all counts. That's the only emotion he showed during the whole trials when they said he was guilty,

and he threw his head back like, I can't believe it. What was that moment like for you when they said guilty? Oh, you can't describe that. I mean, if you ever had the best moment in your life, times that by 10. I felt it all the way to my toes. Like, my soul knew what was going to happen. I felt her with me.

I just knew it. The jury believed Steve Gates, the man who finally told the truth after all those years. So when you think of Steve Gates now, what do you think? What do you think about him? Mad, madness. I'm glad it came forward finally, so we got justice. But you could have done it 24 years ago. My sister, Regina's mom, could have seen justice.

What you'd say to the family? That's clearly something that you're still dealing with, aren't you? Have you talked to them? I haven't talked to him in 24 years. Would you like to? I don't know what I would say. There's nothing to say. Except what?

I'm sorry I didn't come forward. I'm sorry I didn't help with the resolution. for your mother. And Kelly? Eventually, Kelly got full custody of her son. But even now, the trauma lingers. Would you classify him as a type of predator? I would say so, yeah.

He prays on weak or young. He punished me and got away with it. But he didn't get away with Regina, thank God. A representative read an impact statement from Regina and Paul's son, Montana. He's in his late 20s now. Montana asked the judge to show mercy. But the judge had seen Paul Hicks, had seen what he did,

and sent him away for 25 to life. His case is under appeal. And Regina's family takes what comfort it can from its memories. Of a woman who, once upon a time, was as alive as a person could possibly be, Regina. Her laugh was beautiful. It was loud. It was contagious. It was amazing. I missed the sound of her laughter. It was my favorite part of her. That's all for this edition of Dateline. And don't forget to check out our Talking Dateline podcast, in which we'll go behind the scenes of tonight's episode.

Available Wednesday in the Dateline feed wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you again next Friday at 10.9 Central. I'm Les Holt for all of us at NBC News. Good night.