Pond recovery dominates testimony in Hicks murder trial

NORWALK — Firefighters, witnesses and family members took the stand Thursday as testimony in the Paul Hicks murder trial focused on the discovery of estranged spouse Regina's Hicks' 1994 Camaro, the condition of the vehicle, and the final hours before she disappeared. Paul Hicks is on trial for the Oct. 18, 2001, disappearance of 23-year-old Regina, who was later found dead in her vehicle, found submerged in a Willard-area pond. Hicks faces three counts of murder and one count of kidnapping. David Urie, a Willard firefighter and member of the department's dive team, described the recovery of Regina's Camaro from the murky retention pond. Urie said divers entered the water with almost no visibility. "It was very murky. You couldn't see even if you had a powerful flashlight," he said. While searching, by touch, the interior of the vehicle through an open window, Urie testified that he believed he felt "something" in the driver's seat. He then surfaced and requested his dive partner search the seat to confirm the find. The other diver, Mark Smith, did not confirm Urie's suspicion. Urie then moved to the passenger side of the vehicle where he made contact with what would later be discovered as Regina Hicks' corpse. "I felt an arm," Urie testified, adding, "then I also felt a shoulder." Smith then verified Urie's findings and surfaced, telling the deputies on scene there was a body in the vehicle. The car was pulled from the water by a chain attached to the rear axle on the driver's side. What stood out most, Urie said, was the lack of visible damage. "The car didn't have much damage," he said. "It feels like it was placed there." On cross-examination, he agreed with defense attorney Anthony Rich, that he did not know how the vehicle entered the water, and acknowledged a car landing flat at a high rate of speed could show little damage. He said the Camaro was close to shore when recovered. Pond owners describe discovery Richard Whetstone, who first spotted something unusual in the pond while riding his four-wheeler, testified he initially thought it might be trash or a jet ski. He said he saw something in the water about "30 or 40 feet" off the bank of the pond. He went to tell his father, but his father was busy and told Roger they would go look at it "later." According to Roger, it rained that night, and they decided to check on the object "first thing in the morning." The next morning, he returned with his father, Roger Whetstone, the owner of the pond, and he noticed the object had floated out a bit further. The pair then borrowed a small rowboat from a neighbor and returned to the pond. Roger testified that he went out in the boat while Richard stayed on shore. When he attached a tow strap to the spoiler of the Camaro and began pulling the object toward shore, the trunk "popped open," he said and described seeing Regina's purse and other belongings float to the surface. "There was stuff floating in the pond," Whetstone said. He told jurors he never saw tire tracks going into the water and, on cross-examination, said no accident reconstruction or testing was ever done. Mother describes Hicks' relationship with Regina In a continuation of testimony concerning the state of the relationship between Paul Hicks and Regina, Juel Hicks, Paul Hicks' mother, told jurors that her son and Regina had "ups and downs like everyone else." She said the relationship did not strike her as unusual. Juel also testified she dropped Paul off at friend Steve Gates' house before she left that night for a trip to a casino in Canada the night of Regina's disappearance. Dustin Patrick, Regina's cousin, said she seemed happy the day she disappeared following a date with Mike Perkins, her new boyfriend. According to Patrick, Regina invited him to attend karaoke the night of her disappearance. When Regina did not return home and did not answer her phone, something he said was unlike her, family members began searching the next day. Roommate speaks Derek Hall, the cousin and former roommate of Mike Perkins, testified about the hours surrounding Regina's disappearance. Hall lived with Perkins in 2001 and said Regina had agreed to return around 4 p.m. so she could give Hall a ride to work. She needed to stop first to pick up her children from Paul Hicks' residence. "She never returned," Hall testified. Hall said Perkins repeatedly tried calling Regina when he got home from work and quickly grew worried. "It's not like her to not respond," he told jurors Perkins had said. When Regina still hadn't returned the next morning, Perkins began driving around and calling people looking for her. Hall described him as crying and very upset when he learned Regina's body had been found. "He said, 'They found Regina,'" Hall told the court. Carl Patrick, Regina's uncle, testified she had given him $2,500 for a pizza shop they planned to start together. He said she was excited about the project. When she disappeared, he searched for her for two days and said he saw nothing to indicate she had been forced off the road. Kenneth Ross, a retired forensic drug chemist with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, testified that he analyzed 12 bags of plant material recovered in the case, all of which tested positive for marijuana. He also examined multiple tablets, identifying oxycodone, Valium and alprazolam through chemical testing. Ross said he has performed thousands of tests over his career and testified as an expert more than 4,000 times. When asked if he retested any evidence in 2025, he said no Donna Cox, who was dating Hicks at the time, testified that he called her to tell her Regina's car had been found. Cox described their relationship as casual, saying they went out "once or twice a week, whenever he was available." Testimony resumes Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Court will resume at 8:30 a.m. on Friday with the prosecution continuing to present its case.