The estranged husband of a woman found dead in a submerged Chevrolet Camaro in 2001 has been indicted almost 25 years later.
Paul Hicks, of Sandusky, Ohio, is facing three counts of murder and one count of kidnapping in the cold case of Regina Rowe Hicks. He has pleaded not guilty and is due to stand trial.
Regina Hicks was last seen on October 18, 2001, after leaving her boyfriend’s home in her white Camaro to pick up her son.
The 25 year-old never arrived, and days later on October 22 the car was found ditched in a pond at Section Line Road 30 in Willard.
Her bruised body was found inside the car but for decades no one was charged and the crime remained unsolved.
On Wednesday, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office revealed that her former husband Hicks, now 50, had been indicted.
Investigators allege the suspect met his ex at a spot in Huron County on the day she vanished and “rendered her unconscious”, according to charging documents seen by ABC News.
Hicks dragged her through the mud before placing her in the passenger seat of the Camaro, it is further alleged. He is then accused of plowing the vehicle into the pond with the driver’s side window fully down. Regina died from drowning.
According to the indictment, Hicks had filed for divorce the day after the victim went missing. Charging records filed on the day her body was recovered, and seen by ABC News, stated that the two had a “violent, turbulent relationship.”
Hicks reportedly had a previous run-in with the law. Clermont County Sheriff’s Office alleged that Hicks coordinated a plot in 2015 to set his own house on fire and frame his ex-girlfriend as the culprit to claim insurance money.
He was indicted on multiple charges over the incident, ABC News reports, but later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor insurance fraud charge while aggravated arson charges were dismissed.
Regina’s younger brother Chad Rowe told ABC News last year the family refused to give up on finding out what happened to their loved one.
“It was like ripping a piece of your insides out, and you aren’t going to get that back,” Rowe told the outlet in 2024.
And the victim’s mother, Lacella Holbrook, spent thousands of dollars over the years to find out what happened to her daughter, buying up newspaper adverts and plastering billboards with her photo, ABC added.
Huron County Prosecutor’s Office is leading the prosecution with the assistance of Yost’s Special Prosecutions Section. Hicks is due back in court on May 19 for a pretrial hearing.
