Pennsylvania State Police have arrested Charles Ray Hicks, 33, in the murder of 36-year-old Deanna Maria Null, a woman whose dismembered remains were recently found scattered along interstates in Monroe and Lackawanna counties.
According to court documents, Hicks’ arrest came after a neighbor of his contacted the police last week and told them that Hicks’ car was a match to the publicized description of the vehicle Deanna was last seen getting into prior to her disappearance. Police also learned that Hicks matched the description of the man who was seen driving the vehicle.
When police looked into Hicks’ record, they discovered he had moved from Texas to Pennsylvania in January. A criminal background check revealed Hicks had been arrested multiple times since 2002 for charges that included sexual assault, aggravated robbery and possession of controlled substances.
As a result of the tip and the information they uncovered, state police investigators obtained a warrant to search Hicks' car, at which time they recovered a boot with suspicious red stains. Investigators were able to determine the stains were blood and on March 7, they obtained a warrant to search Hicks' rented ranch house, which is located by Interstate 380, just 200 yards from where Deanna's severed head was found.
Investigators were not far along in their search of Hicks' home, when they made a startling discovery hidden inside a wall of the residence. There, wrapped in socks and bundled in newspaper, they found a pair of decomposing human hands. The socks had been soaked in laundry detergent, in an apparent attempt to stifle the pungent odor of rotting human flesh.
Investigators have yet to positively identify the hands; however, when Deanna's remains were recovered, investigators were able to account for all of her body parts, except for her hands.
Following the discovery of the body parts, investigators charged Hicks with homicide, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. During questioning, Hicks told police he knew Deanna and allegedly admitted to having sex and smoking crack cocaine with her, but denied having anything to do with her murder.
"These guys are telling me I did something I didn't do," Hicks told Poconorecord.com at his arraignment, adding, "They got the wrong guy."
Despite Hicks’ claims of innocence, investigators are now trying to determine whether he might be connected to other unsolved murders.
"Certainly something like this is a bizarre case and there may be potentially other cases out there, so we're more than willing to share our information," Lieutenant Robert Bartal of Pennsylvania State Police told WNEP.com. "We're trying to put together a timeline not only of his time in Pennsylvania but back to where he was living in Texas and his route of travel to Pennsylvania."
Hicks is currently being held at the Monroe County Correctional Facility. His preliminary hearing is scheduled to take place sometime today. Anyone with information about this case should call the Pennsylvania State Police at 570-839-7701.
For more information, read:
State Police Identify Dismembered Remains Found Along Pennsylvania Interstate.
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