The murder of Regina Rowe Hicks
Willard, Huron County, Ohio · 2001
Overview
Regina Rowe Hicks, 25, left her boyfriend's home in Huron County, Ohio, at about 8 p.m. on October 18, 2001, to pick up her four-year-old son and never arrived. Four days later her white Camaro was found in a pond in Willard with her body inside. The autopsy showed bruising on her head and authorities did not believe it was an accident. Her estranged husband, Paul Hicks, had filed for divorce the day after she was reported missing and told police he thought she had killed herself. Investigators found no direct evidence and he made no admissions; a polygraph did not go forward. Regina's mother spent about a decade on billboards, rewards and ads, and died before the case moved. Eventually a cold case team from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation re-interviewed witnesses, including a friend of Hicks who was granted immunity. Hicks was arrested on April 22, 2025, and a Huron County jury found him guilty of three counts of murder and one of kidnapping on December 19, 2025. A state analyst testified there was no physical evidence tying him to the death; the case rested largely on the friend's testimony. He was sentenced to 25 years to life and is appealing.
How it was solved
This was not solved by a laboratory. Regina Rowe Hicks died in October 2001, and for nearly 24 years investigators had a car in a pond, a husband who filed for divorce the day after she was reported missing, and no direct evidence. A polygraph of the husband did not go forward after he said he had taken Xanax and whiskey, and a state agent later told ABC's 20/20 there were no admissions and nothing that definitively linked him. The turn came when a cold case team from the Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation took over, at the request of the Huron County Sheriff's Office, and began re-interviewing key witnesses. One of them, a friend of Paul Hicks who owned the property where Regina had been going to collect her son, was granted immunity in exchange for testimony. Prosecutors said he had lied to the sheriff's department for 24 years. At trial he testified that he saw the couple arguing outside her car, found her crumpled in the front passenger seat with her husband outside, and followed him as he drove the car into the pond. His account was supported by circumstantial evidence: the divorce filing on October 19, 2001, a sister who found muddy clothes in her bathtub, a former girlfriend who described his interest in beating polygraphs, and testimony about a pattern of abuse. A BCI DNA analyst told jurors that five items from the car held too little DNA for comparison, and the defense argued the case was speculation resting on a witness who had lied for a quarter century. The jury convicted Hicks on December 19, 2025. He was sentenced on January 9, 2026, and is appealing.
Sources
- Arrest Made Following Indictment in 2001 Cold Case (April 23, 2025)
“Paul Hicks, 50, of Sandusky, was taken into custody by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service Tuesday afternoon after the indictment was filed in Huron County Common Pleas Court.”
- Ex-Husband Found Guilty of Murder in 2001 Cold Case (December 19, 2025)
“According to witnesses, on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2001, at approximately 8 p.m., Regina Rowe Hicks, 25, left her boyfriend's residence in her white Chevrolet Camaro to pick up her son. But she never arrived.”
- Ex-Husband Sentenced to Prison for 2001 Murder (January 9, 2026)
“Paul Hicks, who was convicted of murdering his ex-wife, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison today”
- Estranged husband indicted in murder of woman who was found dead in 2001 (April 23, 2025)
““Recent developments have opened a door and led to at long last an indictment. Now it’s up to us to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt beyond a court of law,” Yost said.”
- Day two of trial for Sandusky man accused of killing ex-wife in 2001 (December 10, 2025)
““He sees the defendant drive the car into the pond. Over the hill and into the pond,” prosecutor Dan Kasaris said in court.”
- Sandusky man sentenced to 25 years for killing ex-wife in 2001 (January 9, 2026)
“A DNA expert testified Monday that prosecutors have no physical evidence linking Paul Hicks to his ex-wife’s death in a 24-year-old cold case murder trial.”
- 'We can breathe': Sandusky man found guilty in wife's murder (December 2025)
““The government is asking you to take a huge leap of faith on a witness who they acknowledge has lied for 25 years.”
- Sandusky man sentenced to life for murdering estranged wife, Regina Rowe Hicks, in 2001 (January 9, 2026)
“The judge’s decision was 25-years to life with the possibility of parole.”
- OH v. Paul Hicks: Drowned Wife Murder Trial (January 9, 2026)
“Paul was sentenced to 15 years to life for murder and given the maximum sentence of 10 years for kidnapping, to be served consecutively to the murder charge.”
- Regina Hicks' murder: Estranged husband convicted decades after body found in pond (May 1, 2026)
“The Regina Hicks murder case remained unsolved for decades until a cold case team from the Ohio Attorney General's Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation took over and began re-interviewing key witnesses.”
- 'I'm never giving up': A community coming together to help solve 23-year-old cold case (October 2024)
“The autopsy showed bruising on her head. Authorities didn't think it was an accident and opened a murder investigation.”