The After Show: The Secret in the Water

Picture yourself alone in the middle of nowhere, and somebody's following you.

On Deadly Nightmares, a podcast from ID, you can hear real stories from ordinary people who were stalked by predators. On each episode, survivors describe the moment they sent something was wrong and how they managed to escape. Then investigators and family members speak to the details of each case sharing exactly what happened.

These terrifying stories are the stuff of nightmares. And they're all completely real. Listen to Deadly Nightmares wherever you get your podcasts. Hello everybody, welcome to 2020 The After Show, so good to have you with us. I'm Deborah Roberts, and today we're going to talk about a story that I have to tell you I haven't been able to shake.

“And I think it's going to be hanging around with you for a while too after you hear the details.”

I'm going to take you inside my reporting of a story that just aired on Friday night for 2020 called The Secret in the Water. I traveled to Willard, Ohio to learn more about this unbelievable story, one that took two agonizing decades for the family involved to finally see some sense of resolution. In this piece, we told you about 25 year old Regina Hicks.

A young mom who was on her way to pick up her son from her estranged husband, but was never heard from again.

Well, as you might imagine, her family was desperate to find her. They were calling her phone all that night and the next day and nothing. Sadly, just four days later, Regina's body was found submerged at the bottom of a pond. Only a few miles from her home. And of course, the big question was, what happened?

Did she lose control of her car?

“There were a number of theories swirling in this small town, including one that maybe she had taken her own life or”

that maybe somebody deliberately and calculatedly murdered her. Well, this case went unsolved for quite a while, police were investigating, but there were no arrest. And the big question was, how and why? Well, we're going to take you through it all today. You're also going to hear a lot more from the people that I interviewed who were in this episode.

We're going to bring you some new details. And some new sound that you didn't hear on Friday night. So joining me now to unspool it all is Court TV legal correspondent Julia Jenay, who reported on this story with us. And she joined us in our 2020 episode as she has for a number of them. Julia, good to see you.

That very good to see you. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Yeah, I wish you were here with me. So you and I could talk a little bit more about our roots. We're both Georgia girls.

Well, that's right from the heart of Georgia. Yeah, from the cater to Georgia. And I went to school that you far from where you grew up. Yeah, yeah, a small town Georgia for me. And I went to the University of Georgia.

And I'm just viewers might be very curious about you. You've reported on these kinds of true crime cases for very long time. And I'm curious what captivates you about these cases because they can be pretty dark. They can be dark and you definitely have to stay grounded in order to be able to cover some of these stories. I just feel for those investigators who have to go in and see what happened right after it happened.

“But I think something that really captures my attention about these is usually there is a struggle for justice in these cases.”

It's unfortunate that victims have to not only go through the loss of a loved one, they have to get people to help them sometimes to get the case solved. We have to work together with other people. So watching that all unfold and play out that is the truly interesting part of these cases. Let's talk about the case of Regina Hicks because when this was presented to me by the producers, I was just fascinated not only by how long it took to resolve the case, but the man who was involved in this case, Paul Hicks, who was her estranged husband.

How he was implicated in this case, what were your first thoughts when you heard about it?

This case that stranger and stranger, the more that she learned about it, it was already so a typical that there had been this length of time that Regina Hicks's family is looking for justice. And then you have the person that people believed all along may have been involved with essentially hiding and playing sight. And just the way that she died, her body being found in a pond underwater in this car that she loved. And it just seemed like at this point in her life, she had gotten a new lease on life.

Things were really looking up for her and it just adds to this mystery of what happened to her and why did it happen like this? Yeah, yeah, and we'll talk about that car in a minute, but let's talk about the two of them. These two were high school sweethearts, the relationship sowered.

They had a pretty tumultuous relationship, so they had this meeting point where she was supposed to go pick up her son from Paul.

“They were separated at the time and she didn't nobody heard from her after this and of course there were alarm bells with her family.”

They knew that that was unlike her or not to show up. What would their immediate fears in the beginning? What concerns is that this was very unlike her. She would not just disappear and lead without her son that she loved so much. She had firm plan that day to go pick up her son, taking to her mother's house and then go on a date with a new guy that she was dating. But her two in this very small window of time go from on her way to meet up with Paul Hicks to then not being heard from again.

Everyone was really caring that something very bad had happened and that this was not something not that's voluntary.

Yeah, they were suspicious of him because their relationship as I said had been tumultuous. She had moved out. She was sort of moving on. He was moving on and had a new girlfriend, but they had had a bad relationship fighting money troubles.

“So they tell us a little bit more about their relationship that we didn't really get into in the past.”

And really had started to disintegrate after the birth of their son and they were edited fighting a lot and there were these issues with them fidelity. There was also problems with money. Now, their house burned down, not too long before Regina disappeared. And this was a situation where most of the stuff inside of the house belonged to Regina. This was devastating for her to lose all of her things.

And because their relationship was already so fractured, she decided this was the time to make the break.

That was settlement money. That was it. That was the straw breaking the candles back and she took the settlement money that she split with Paul and was able to get her new car get a new business with her uncle. But she also was going to be getting child support payments from Paul and that was coming up due very soon. So she bought this new Camaro white Camaro. She was proud of the car. Her relatives talked about how people knew that was her car. That was kind of her baby. She was very excited. Then things kind of take a heartbreaking turn. Of course four days after her disappearance.

These two farmers and I got a chance to speak with the dad when I was out there. These farmers see something in their pond. They get a chain and they try to pull it out and eventually discover that it is a car, a white Camaro. They find her body in the car. Initially they're thinking an accident. But then they see something kind of strange. And let's talk about that. She's in the passenger side of the car. And it's horrifying scene already.

“But how in the world was she been in the passenger side of the car?”

That thoughty position was one of the biggest red flags for investigators. Because you're thinking if someone's robe into the car, whether accidentally or intentionally, they would be secure to the driver's side. They'd potentially be buckled in. And that would be where you find their body. And here she's on the passenger side. And it's not in a position where the medical examiner thinks she was trying to get out. It's just that that's the side that she was on when she went into the water.

So that raised a lot of alarms for people in terms of she could have gone in by herself. They're likely with someone on the driver's side. Yeah. And what was so surprising to me when I was out there talking to folks is that, you know, the idea that, I mean, it raised red flags. But it didn't point to anybody in particular. People suspected Paul might have been involved. But he offered an alibi. And so time goes on. And no arrester made.

And her family is just, you know, despondent. They're upset. They have a funeral, but they have no answers. And then years go by. And of course, as I said, the state gets involved with these new investigators. And I had a chance to speak with a BCI agent Doug Burke who took me to that pond to tell me a little bit about what they saw. All these years later. And he's pointing out how he thinks the car might have gone into the pond. And he was convinced. Either someone drove it there or jumped out and made sure it was pushed into the pond.

He was convinced that that was how it happened. And what really shocked me, Julia, was he took me to an impoundment lot. And showed me something that was pretty chilling, the actual car, which is still preserved all these years later. I got a chance to see this car. He opens the door. There's all this mud there. You know, this mold in it now, as you might imagine. But it's still kind of intact. I mean, it was almost like a, of some kind of a tomb. You know, they're magazines in there. They're all the things that were there when she had the car.

So they began looking and this is what gave me goosebumps. He shows me the imprint of her shoe that would have scraped the side of the door.

But that was that was critical because that showed them that she was placed inside that car.

“And that was critical in this investigation, wasn't it?”

You know, as devastating to the all that information, it just hearing that it was so well preserved is it goes to what this case is. It was preserved all of these years, 20 years later, for them to finally get to justice. But yeah, just hearing about the mud and where it was in the car, the medical examiner found that mud inside of her pants and inside of her undergarment. So they got all of these details, but that airtight alabane that her husband had just left them with no sense. Yeah, with more questions, and please head questions at the time.

And then we fast forward to later, as you said in 2001 or so, at that time, but then later on when the new investigators get involved, they of course now pick up with those questions left off. And they still questioning people who had been closest to him. Paul had this really good friend and they questioned those folks, but Paul as we said had an alabane.

But one thing that was interesting, he had filed for divorce and custody full custody of their son, just 24 hours after Regina was missing.

I mean, that had to have been suspicious to everybody, right? It had to, but you know, it had to have been to Regina's family. If you hear that someone just a day after they disappeared, they're falling for divorce, that is pretty shocking. But I do look at this even as a lawyer and I can see both sides. Most of these family law cases, they take time to develop their relationship was deteriorating.

They were talking about divorce. And here on this day where she doesn't come to pick up her child, she could have had these excuse that. It's time for me to go ahead and make this final, this is the straw for him, the final straw. So I can see how that may not have been definitive evidence for investigators at that point.

Of course, everybody was asking questions, who would want Regina dead?

Once they knew that she looked a little unusual, the way she was placed in the car. But there was no DNA evidence, no security camera footage, no tracking devices to help connect the dots. Well, when we come back, you're going to want to hear more. We're going to give you in-depth details into this investigation. So stay with us.

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Again, that's abcsecretsavings.com/2020. ABCsecretsavings.com/2020. Hello, welcome back to 2020 The After Show. I'm speaking with Court TV Legal Correspondent Julia Janay who helped us with our report on our most recent 2020 episode called The Secret in the Water.

Okay, so this goes on. Her mother is just advocating.

“Her mother gets sick and even passes away.”

She never gets any answers.

Then, in another town, a small town about 150 miles away, there's a major house fire. Well, firefighters were immediately suspicious of this scene. But guess what? The house was owned by Paul Hicks, who had been married to Regina Hicks, the woman who was found dead in that pond all those years before.

His home catches on fire and he is certain that it is an arson. He calls police, and I'm a victim of intentional igniting of my house. Intentional burning down of this place that I live sometimes. He didn't live there all of the time, but it was a home that he owned. One thing that was kind of interesting is that Paul actually showed up at the scene

and he helped police retrieve that security video from the DVR system.

And this is the part that really got me because when our producers told me about this, this video.

And he can see these people and there's a woman in the video who seems to look like another one of Paul's ex. He had a child with her by the name of Kelly. And it's appear to be two arsonists here in this video. And, you know, he's right away identifies this woman, Kelly. He tells authorities that Kelly was trying to get revenge on him after a breakup.

And this is back in 2015.

“We had to always remember today. We're looking at cameras all over the place.”

Or valus cameras all over the place, but this is 11 years ago, things were a little different then. The right, 2015 things just weren't as clear. It's kind of hard to believe that things have gotten so much better in a short amount of time. But the way our cameras are now, the way we can see things on ring and different home videos. That wasn't the case back then.

You didn't have a ring camera on every door. And surveillance videos didn't really give you that crisp video. But this video that he did provide to police. He helped them to download it from his system. It shocked me. I couldn't believe how deliberate it seemed that the woman in the video was.

She wasn't trying to hide her face. You know, talk about that. She was looking at the camera. Looking dead at the camera. I mean, both eyes face a visit. She knows the camera is there. And you think these were two people who were trying to be superstitious in the way that they got into this house and littered on fire that they'd be avoiding cameras.

Or at least at a facility, something to cover their face. That wasn't the case. You have this woman with this, you know, really bold curly hair. And she's again looking at the camera. Yeah. And she looks like Kelly, um, his ex. And so police are predisposed to believe Paul. He seems to be giving this this true story. So then they go after Kelly.

They arrest her at a grocery store in town. Brought her in for questioning. Kelly was arrested for alleged damage of Paul's hot tub. But it wasn't connected to the arson. She's terrified because I had a chance to speak to her in our piece. And she talks about this ordeal that is still very devastating for her. I mean, this is a woman who's trying to move on, you know, with her life.

She's been dating this man and now she's broken up with him. He's the father of her child. She's almost like terrified and traumatized by him anyway. And then she's arrested. Oh, arrested for something. She is completely unaware of. So she's telling them. It's not me. It's definitely not me. But they say we've got this surveillance video of someone that looks an awful lot like you.

And you've got all these reasons to potentially be upset with your ex because they are going through child custody issues. And Paul Hicks is about to come up due for child support payments. Well, she talks about how, you know, ultimately she had an alibi thankfully. You know, she's with her mother, but she also talked about her relationship with Paul. She kind of shed a little light on the two of them in our exclusive interview with us.

She told us how she got to know him. And I'm going to play a little bit of some of the interview that you didn't get a chance to see in Friday's episode.

Here's what she had to say about the night she first met Paul.

Did he talk about his life before?

“Did he talk about previous relationships, girlfriends, wives?”

Actually, on our first date, he told me about his wife that passed away. He told me she passed away in a car accident. And would you think about that? It was sad because he actually started crying. So, of course, I was sympathetic. Like, you know, my gosh, that's horrible. You know, it's like this great guy.

He lost the love of his life and the mother. That's when my thinking was at that time. So, he led you to believe that he was a guy who was recovering from heartache. Yes. And he's now out in the world again.

Did he present himself to you as somebody who you said he seemed to have his life together. But, you know, how did he carry himself when he's talking and all of that with you? You would think he knows how to talk to somebody and to where you could believe everything he's talking about.

And people believe him.

“So, he sort of exaggerated him both a big time.”

So, according to Kelly Paul seemed to have this other side to have. I mean, she talked about him being charming. But he was sort of boastful. It would take two years, of course, for this investigation to go on after this fire had happened. And during that time, Paul had temporary custody of their son, which is heartbreaking.

And many people were asking why. That's because she's arrested. And it looks like she's a danger, I guess, right? Yeah. And that can, to a family court, say that she's not the better parent for the child to be with. And until you can get these charges dropped or no charges, but just this cloud of suspicion around her. She's in that tough situation.

And that's so hard to know that she dealt with that when it came to her child and all of it. And it took so long for the investigation to play out. It actually really deepened because Paul sued his insurance company for denying his claim. And those civil investigators really went deep into this case for their insurance company.

But ultimately it helped with what happened.

“The claim was denied and the civil court deemed that he didn't have a claim.”

For our son, he denied that he had any involvement in it. But they were able to determine in terms of being criminal investigators that Kelly was not the one who was responsible and they cleared her of all charges. They did charge a poll with our son initially. But they did drop those charges in exchange for a plea deal where he received probation for insurance fraud. Yeah, yeah, he denied the allegations he was charged with aggravated arson perjury.

And as you said insurance fraud. So in this case, yes, he did deny those allegations and he actually took a plea deal. He didn't serve any time. He pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor count of insurance fraud and was sentenced to three years. As you said, those charges dropped does no time.

And I want to talk with you more about that Julia. Don't go anywhere because you've heard that expression where they're smoked. There's fire. Well, this arson investigations sparked a whole new prescriptive on Regina's murder 20 years later. This cold case was about to heat up. So when we come back, this case lands in court.

And the testimony would change everything. We're going to tell you more about how politics wound up in court and what happens. Don't go anywhere. Whoa, you need some water. I need a martini. Yeah, I love just son of cooking.

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Welcome back to 2020. The after show. I am here with court TV's Julia Janay. Taking you through. I mean, what can only be described as twist in terms of our latest 2020 episode.

“The secret in the water that aired on Friday night.”

Julia, I was struck by prosecutor Dan Cassaris. He talked to me about how the case was circumstantial. When they were looking at it, they didn't have anything to absolutely convict Paul of Regina Hicks murder. But there was Paul Hicks friend Steve Gates. And I had mentioned that he had a friend that he was with the night that Regina disappeared.

And Gates had never really offered much.

That would help police when they were investigating. But now here we are 20 years later. And he's got some things to say, right? He got some major things to say. We're talking case altering thing.

Steve Gates was the alibi witness. He said that all was with him at the time that Regina would have disappeared. And that Regina never showed up at their house to pick up the sun that Paul shared with Regina. So when you can't crack that alibi, that's really the reason that police stalked in this case. Couldn't go any further.

And Steve Gates now, 20 years later, is contacted. And he says, I will tell you what I know if you give me immunity. And that's what changes everything. The prosecutor told me that he felt like Gates had just been eaten up by all of this. You know, it was just so hard.

He had carried this for so long.

He finally unburdened himself.

Tells everything he knows. When he complicate's Paul Hicks who then is arrested, April 22nd, 2025, he's arrested for the murder of Regina. He charged with three counts of murder, one count of kidnapping.

Tells about him in the courtroom.

So he starts to tell everything he knows. Tells about that courtroom appearance. Through this entire trial, the big question is what would Steve Gates say? Because he is the one change in evidence that prosecutors really have from all of those years ago.

“This is the only thing that's different about the case.”

And he takes this stand and he ops out of being on camera. So many people are unable to see what he said in the public. But we were able to get the documentation from inside of the courtroom to know that he tells a completely different story than he did 20 years ago. He saying now that Regina did show up at his house where Paul was with his son. And that he noticed them out by the barn arguing.

She's in her car, she gets out, she's talking to Paul. So he leaves and doesn't go around them for a little bit. But when he comes back, Regina is crumpled in the bottom of her car on the passenger side. And that Paul is telling him she's dead and that they have to get in the car and drive away. Steve Gates gets in the car with the sun and drives behind Paul with what he believes is Regina's dead body inside.

Steven Gates testified that he was driving in the car behind Paul Hicks and he saw him drive Regina's car into the pond. And then he saw the tail lights go up, Paul getting out, he was completely muddy. And then he got into the car with them and told him better keep your mouth shut during bulk. And he makes a call to Regina's phone, leaves her voice message saying, "Where are you?" And unbelievable type of testimony in front of this jury.

Yeah, yeah, he covers his tracks there and he was able to do that for many years. But of course, even though Gates had lied previously, the jury believed him. And in December of 2025, they found Paul Hicks guilty on all four counts related to Regina's murder. He was sentenced to 25 years to life. This man finally was held accountable for this murder.

Kelly actually had an emotional reaction to how all this played out. Here's a little bit more of my interview that he didn't get a chance to see him Friday night. And then when you heard the verdict, guilty.

Oh yeah, that was, thank God, that was amazing.

What was that moment like for you? Winning, finally. My baby's coming, my baby's home, we're safe. He's where he belongs, he's going to be where he belongs.

“Was there any hint of sympathy for Paul in your heart?”

I mean, with all of this going on, this is the man who's the father of your child. Any sadness at all about this conviction or were you simply just relieved? I was relieved, but the only small bit was of the person I thought he was, but then I know that's not him. So, he's where he belongs. He's a threat to everyone on the street.

So, and tell me about that. The person you thought he was versus the person you discovered he was.

Oh, I thought he was one of the first minutes amazing. I said fun, charismatic.

And then come to find out what he became that I knew him as controlling. So, dark. Jugi, there were so many people impacted by the story over the years. And as we said, Regina and Paul's son, Montana, he's now a grown man. To have his mother murdered by his father, his victim impact statement was read in the courtroom.

He didn't want to come personally. He had it read by a victim advocate. And he was a guy who seemed to be sort of walking the line saying that he didn't believe his father should be punished, but whoever did this should be punished. What a difficult place for this young man. He's lost his mother. And now, of course, he's lost his father.

It's impossible situation for him to be in. And he's lived his entire life being raised by his father. And it's father, no doubt saying your mother went into the pond on her own.

“That's what Paul has told the investigators.”

So, it's likely that that's what he believed for a good portion of his life. His impact statement, though, was really touching. He made sure the court knew that he was the most impacted victim in all of this, losing his mother in that way, and you could tell it was still devastating to him through his words. And he said that he wanted the judge to sentence his father to mental health treatment if anything.

And that, of course, did not happen, but very interesting that he chose that language in his impact statement. Regina's family really seems to be, I guess, relieved, still crushed, but relieved that they did find justice after all these years, as you said. Julia, it's a fascinating story. You brought such depth and insight into this story.

You're doing that and for being with us here, and maybe one of these days,

“you'll be here in the studio, and we can sit across from each other.”

I hope so, and look forward to it, Deborah. And thank you all for being with us for this podcast episode.

You can watch all of our 2020 episodes, of course, the latest ones on Friday nights on ABC,

and you can stream episodes like this one any time on Disney Plus and Hulu.

“Hope you have a good day, and thanks for being with us.”

In the suburbs of DC, a woman fails to show up for work, and is found brutally murdered.

"Now, well, what do we do with emergency?"

"We just walked in the door, and there's blood in the foyer." For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved, until new technology allowed investigators

“to do what had once been impossible, a new series from ABC audio and 2020.”

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