He watched her last moments in 2001. 24 years later, he helped solve her murder.

Steve Gates carried a dark secret for more than two decades.

Steve Gates carried a dark secret for more than two decades. In the fall of 2001, he witnessed the last moments of Regina Hicks’ life. He saw her crumpled body on the floor of her Camaro. He saw her estranged husband — his friend — drive that Camaro into a pond in rural Ohio with her inside. Prosecutors would later say that she was unconscious.

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