Christian Counselor Charged With 1994 Murder of Teenage Boy Found Dismembered at Gas Station
Ronnie Leon Hyde, a 60-year-old Christian mental health counselor from Florida who works with Crosswater Community Church in Nocatee has been charged with the murder of 16-year-old Fred Laster, whose dismembered body was found at a Lake City gas station 23 years ago.
A News4Jax report said investigators announced Tuesday that they were able to identify Laster, who had been reported missing from Jacksonville in 1994. The FBI and Jacksonville Sheriff's Office began searching Hyde's homes on Fourth Street in Jacksonville Beach and Thelma Street in Jacksonville's Talleyrand neighborhood on Tuesday as well.
Until last February, law enforcement officials did not know the identity of the teenager's body found outside a dumpster at a BP gas station at the U.S. 441 exit off Interstate 10 in 1994. Using DNA technology they were able to confirm the body was Laster's.
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The arrest affidavit cited by News4Jax said Hyde was reported to be the last person to see Laster. The boy's sister told officers last year she thought Hyde had something to do with his disappearance. DNA taken from Hyde's trash last year matched DNA found on a flannel shirt found in the dumpster near the place where Laster's body was found.
Investigators believe Laster was killed in Hyde's Jacksonville Beach home and dismembered there using kitchen knives, two of which were found with the boy's torso at the Lake City gas station. The report highlighted that Hyde had taken nursing courses and had knowledge on how to dismember a body.
Reacting to the investigation, Crosswater's lead pastor, Jack Millwood, said he has spoken with the FBI and was cooperating with the investigation.
"We've obviously had a lot of questions and phone calls concerning the recent news reports regarding Ron Hyde and the FBI, Sheriff's department investigation," said Millwood in a recorded statement posted online. "As the lead pastor of Crosswater Community Church I have spoken to members of the FBI regarding Ron Hyde. We are working, cooperating fully with the FBI with the investigation of Ron Hyde. I am personally not aware of any victims of Ron Hyde that involves anyone associated with Crosswater Church, if any person or persons has any information regarding potential victims of Ron Hyde, please contact the local FBI office directly."
Hyde, according to the affidavit, met the Laster family sometime in the 1980s. Laster's sister told investigators that Hyde was youth pastor at Strength for Living Church, which the family attended. Hyde lived in a bus behind the church at the time.
She said in 1993 she and one of her siblings stayed the night with Hyde at his Jacksonville Beach home and she woke up to find Hyde nude that night, trying to wake someone up.
The last time Laster was seen, the report said, he was at his sister's apartment in Jacksonville. He was upset and trying to get her to go away with him. When she said no, he told her that Hyde was coming to pick him up.
When they last spoke over the phone later, Laster said he was with Hyde. His sister said he "sounded distant, emotional," so much so that she asked him if he was OK, according to the arrest affidavit.
"The dedication and professionalism of the initial team of investigators all the way through the present team has enabled the family to have some closure," Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter told News4Jax. "Fred's immediate surviving family has been notified of this arrest, and they are in our thoughts and prayers."
As a counselor, Hyde likely had "extensive access" to other children over the years, said the FBI which urged anyone who might have been victimized by Hyde to call 904-248-7000.
"This is a reminder that justice has no expiration date, and my office intends to continue the hard work of our law enforcement partners to deliver long-delayed justice," said State Attorney Melissa Nelson, whose office will prosecute Hyde.
