After nearly 24 years, there may be some closure in a Sandusky cold case homicide that left more questions than answers.
Today, the Ohio Attorney General's Office announced that 50-year-old Paul Hicks of Sandusky has been charged with three counts of murder and one count of kidnapping for the death of his wife, Regina Rowe Hicks, 25.
Hicks was secretly indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday. Court records state that the two "had a violent, turbulent relationship which resulted in separation" before the woman's disappearance.
The AG's Office said that on the night of Oct. 18, 2001, Rowe Hicks left her boyfriend's house in her 1992 white Chevrolet Camaro to pick up her son but did not show up.
According to the indictment, Rowe Hicks and Hicks met up on Townline Road 12 in Huron County the night of her disappearance. Hicks allegedly knocked her out, causing bruising on her head and body, and put her in the passenger seat of her car with the driver's side window rolled down, put the car in gear and then drove it into the pond near Section Line Road 30 in Willard where she drowned.
The indictment states that Hicks filed for divorce on Oct. 19, a day after Rowe Hicks went missing.
The case was investigated by the Huron County Sheriff's Office, the Ohio BCI, and the Ohio Attorney General's Special Prosecution Section.
Hicks had an arraignment today where he pleaded not guilty and his bond was set for $2 million.
Hicks is due back to court in May for a pre-trial.
