Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences.
Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advice.
Speaker 3: Can you understand that there's evidence also also the President Kennedy?
Speaker 4: But I don't make it when we're talking about a
Kennedy assassination, we're talking about you foot a sixteen year
old boy in a dompster.
Speaker 1: You know, listening is a choice, right, some of you
idiottack like you're doing your civic duty by censoring me. Anyway,
this is season twelve, episode two ninety seven of Sword
and Scale, a show on a reverence show that proves
that the worst monsters are real. We're making a few
changes around here, you know, moving the furniture around and whatnot,
making Sword and Scale television a little more Sword and
scalely because we know what you're like. Anyway, check it
out if you have it, if you're already subscribed to
Sword and Scale. Plus, it's just another ten bucks to
fund our television making project, I guess you would say.
And we've got about I don't know what fifteen episodes now,
so you could just pop in there and check them
out in like a couple of days if you wanted
to the place to go is Swordandscale dot com, or
you can just download the app on your Android device
or your Apple device, or whatever kind of device you'll
want a device with. And I guess that's it. I
guess that's it. I said I was going to keep
these short, and I lied. I'm a filthy, dirty liar,
and you should never ever believe anything I say or
any other podcast post says, because we're all a bunch
of filthy liars.
Speaker 5: Enjoy.
Speaker 1: On the afternoon of June fifth, nineteen ninety four, a
woman noticed her car making a funny noise while driving
along the Interstate in Lake City, Florida. After pulling into
a BP gas station to have a mechanic take a look,
she decided to kill some time by walking her dog
around the property.
Speaker 6: I was working that morning.
Speaker 7: The lady, I can't remember if she was towed in,
but another car was.
Speaker 6: Broken down and we were working on her car, and
she walked her dog.
Speaker 4: And so she walked her dog out in that field
that was beside the station, and a dog picked up
on the sand.
Speaker 1: While walking toward the back of the business, the woman's
dog started to pull on its leash toward a nearby dumpster.
Not exactly a great sign. At first, she thought her
dog had tracked an animal like a raccoon that may
be rummaging through the trash. As the hair on the
canine's back stood up up, she noticed a stench of
bleach and then rot, becoming more pungent with each step
she took. Moments later, the dog stopped in his tracks
and started barking uncontrollably. He was clearly fixated on something
behind the dumpster. As the woman inched her way to
get a closer look, she could see a partially opened
black contractor bag on the ground. She could see that
something was hanging out of the plastic, but wasn't sure
what until her dog snout moved the bag just enough
to reveal the gruesome contents inside.
Speaker 6: She turned back and thinking it was like a mannequin
or something.
Speaker 8: I just yeah, dogs, it was crazy, so I decided
I would go look.
Speaker 1: The gas station owner's first reaction upon scope out the
scene was one of frustration. He thought the dark colored
stains on the side of the dumpster and the concrete
were transmission fluid, and that one of his lazy employees
had simply made a mess. That is until he peeled
back the trash back to get a closer look.
Speaker 9: I want to stray around the edge and lived there
and could see.
Speaker 1: After notifying the police, deputies from the Columbia County Sheriff's
Office promptly arrived on scene, only to be met by
the dismembered torso of a young white male.
Speaker 2: The body was laying his white inside. One arm was
u there was no hand.
Speaker 4: The other arm the left arm stand to the side.
Speaker 6: There the.
Speaker 1: As it was they had. Hands and feet were all
missing from the scene. The man's arms had been cut
at the elbow, while the extremities were severed just below
the pelvic bone, leaving only the penis and genitals intact.
Speaker 6: What a scene.
Speaker 1: The victim also had a mole located on his lower
right chest. One of the first things investigators noticed was
how precise the cuts were, almost surgical. There were no
defensive wounds visible on the body, and the remains looked
like they had been scrubbed clean. There was very little
blood on the corpse itself, with no signs of decay
or rigor, indicating that whoever this person was, he hadn't
been dead for very long. As more detectives flocked to
the gas station parking lot. It became apparent that the
killer attempted to hide the remains in the dumpster, but
may have had some trouble lifting the bag.
Speaker 4: It was like a cuddle of blood blood air in
the stained lift of puddle in one around.
Speaker 6: The backing told tell something and been drilled through the user.
Speaker 1: Blood smears on the upper part of the trash compartment
indicated that someone had tried to toss the bag torso
in the trash but had missed. The drag marks of
blood and dirt visible on the asphalt trailing behind the
dumpster supported this theory as well. Inside the dumpster itself,
detectives found several black garbage bags. In them were a
blood soaked foam egg crate, mattress topper, orange latex gloves,
and two Ginzu style kitchen knives a great buy one
get one free value. One of them was an eight
inch serrated blade, while the other was a small standard
stake knife. On the blade and handles of both instruments
was the presence of a white powder like substance that
appeared to be some kind of bleach like ajax or
comment brightly colored floral shaped bath decals A non slip
mat and a red, bloodstained flannel shirt were also recovered
from the inside of the trash backs. While crime scene
texts sifted through the trash collecting evidence, deputies interviewed the
few witnesses there were, including the gas station owner, in
hopes of learning who might be responsible.
Speaker 6: Is there anything I hadn't asked you about? Did I
need to ask you? Or something you think about the
bothers you or anything about it?
Speaker 4: By that top deal that I wish I'd never had
to see it.
Speaker 6: Us sir.
Speaker 1: The next day, on June sixth, the torso was transported
to the District for Medical Examiner's office in Jacksonville, Florida,
where seasoned forensic pathologist doctor Margherita Arusa conducted her examination.
It was determined that the male had traces of over
the counter cold or flu medicine in his system, suggesting
that the victim may have been immobilized or incapacitated before
the dismemberment. The autopsy also revealed that the male victim
was likely between fifteen and twenty two years old, stood
around five foot eight inches tall, and had light brown hair. Unfortunately,
at the time, there weren't any missing persons in the
NCIS database fitting this description. After the items found in
the dumpster were processed, forensic analysts were unable to lift
any usable fingerprints, having said that a strand a hare
was found on the latex glove and the bloody flannel
and mattress topper had the obvious presence of DNA. Unfortunately,
due to the lack of resources back in the mid nineties,
the items were ultimately sheltered in an evidence locker somewhere
in Lake City, Florida, where they would remain indefinitely, kind
of like in the final scene of Indiana Jones. As
the investigation slowly unfolded, the small town of Lake City
buzzed with whispers and rumors. Gossip about a truck that
had been allegedly sighted and the gas station parking lot
started to circulate. Some claimed that it was a van
they saw leaving the area before the gruesome discovery was
made of van. Police followed up on these leads, but
they were all dead ends. The first substantial clue came
shortly after the story broke, when a witness came forward
with new information. Around seven am on June fifth, nineteen
ninety four, a man was driving past the BP gas
station on his way home after working the night shift.
Speaker 2: This is when he.
Speaker 1: Noticed a suspicious car parked at the scene hours before
the body was found.
Speaker 3: Yes, the car to the dumps it large car land
short call at in was like a fire.
Speaker 2: Way hood was slammed.
Speaker 6: Now it appeared to be dark. Jay's actually colored a
dark color leading.
Speaker 1: The sleek sports car would have turned heads anywhere in
Lake City, Florida, but the fact that it was seen
backed up to a dumpster in the early morning hours
made the vehicle that much more. The witness told investigators
it looked like someone was in the process of finishing
up unloading something from the two door coup. The driver's
door was open and the back hatch was up. The
witness said that he could see someone in the driver's seat,
but was unable to get a good look and couldn't
really make out his or her physical description. It wasn't
long before the case of the unidentified John Delle made
national headline news, and the story was picked up by
programs like Crime Stoppers and America's Most Wanted. Meanwhile, investigators
worked tirelessly pursuing leads, but despite garnering widespread attention, authorities
had little to go on. Months eventually turned into years,
and public interests fizzled out. The people of Lake City
eventually carried on with their lives, and before the year
was over, the case had officially gone cold. Years went
by and the case faded from the spotlight into obscurity.
The unanswered questions surrounding the torso behind the dumpster seemed
destined to remain that way. As for law enforcement, the
case was never far from their minds. Authorities held on
to this slim chance that the evidence now collecting dust
might one day reveal the truth. Perhaps someday in the future,
you know, when the cars are driving themselves and we're
all living like the Jetsons, we'll be able to solve
this strange and obscure case. Well, that chance ultimately came
in twenty ten, when the bloody flannel shirt and orange
gloves were pulled from storage and sent back to the lab.
Nearly sixteen years after this mysterious crime occurred, advancements in
DNA testing led investigators to re examine the items from
the crime scene. Two partial DNA profiles were located, but
neither matched any known offenders in the NCIS database. It
was progress, but not enough, and it wouldn't be for
another five years until investigators truly started connecting the dots.
In twenty fifteen, the cousins of a young man named
Fred Laster were researching cold cases online. Fred was only
sixteen years old when he went missing back in nineteen
ninety four, but when his family came across a John
Doe poster for a male victim whose torso was behind
a dumpster twenty one years before, the description was hauntingly familiar.
The height, the specific physical features. They all matched Fred,
who had disappeared without a trace around the same time.
The poster, provided by the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children website, also included a photo of the red
flannel shirt and bathtub decals that had been inside the dumpster.
Fred's cousins then contacted the missing teens brothers and sisters
who remembered having seen these items before.
Speaker 9: Found a shirt he was wearing at the time, and
I found my cousins described the the skid things in
the bathtoe.
Speaker 1: Fred's siblings revealed a disturbing connection to investigators over the phone,
which was a family acquaintance named Ron Hide. Ron Hyde
had been a trusted figure in their lives. The family
knew Ron Hide very well, and all of the children
had been inside his home many times. The missing teen's
family went on to inform investigators that Hide was known
to drive a dark colored Camaro, resembling the vehicle spotted
near the crime scene in nineteen ninety four. This little
revelation prompted detectives to take a closer look into Ron
Hyde for the first time since the torso was found
over two decades ago. In the early morning of June fifth,
nineteen ninety four, a woman made a horrible discovery behind
a bp gas station off Interstate ten. Not sure what
kind of discovery you would make behind a BPA gas
station that was anything but horrible, But I digress. I
digress a lot these days. It's starting to become a
bad habit. Anyway. There was a dismembered torso, stripped of
identifying features, wrapped in bloodstained plastic behind that BPAK gas station.
In fact, it was behind a dumpster behind that BPA
gas station. The gruesome vind sent shockwaves through the small
Florida community, but despite extensive forensic efforts and witness tips,
the case hit one dead end after the next, the
investigation went cold, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions
and a nameless victim. It wasn't until two decades later
that Fred Laster's cousin stumbled upon a flyer featuring items
recovered at a nineteen ninety four crime scene related to
a John Doe. When the family alerted authorities in twenty fifteen,
they shared another chilling detail. Fred was last heard from
while in the company of a trusted family acquaintance named
Ron Hyde. Fred's family also revealed that Hide drove a
dark colored Camaro similar to the one spotted at the
crime scene. According to the family's statements to police, in
the early summer of nineteen ninety four, Fred packed a
bag with a handful of clothes before leaving his sister's
apartment and getting into Ron Hyde's vehicle, who had come
to pick him up. At the time, his siblings believed
Fred was preparing to leave on tour with his band
in the following days. He was supposed to do a
short stint of shows down the Florida coastline, but when
Fred's siblings received a phone call from him hours later,
they knew something wasn't right.
Speaker 8: He's a friend, and she's like, he's a year and
really told to you and.
Speaker 10: She's like, and he's a year.
Speaker 1: Fred's sister told police that her brother sounded strange over
the phone and not like his normal self. He sounded distant,
both emotionally and literally. According to Fred's sister, it sounded
like he was outside when he called her. When she
asked Fred what was going on, he told her that
he had just called to tell his family that he
loved them. A short time later, after this new information surfaced,
investigators followed up Fred's siblings to collect swabs of their DNA.
The results ultimately came back as a match to the
blood found on the red flannel shirt, confirming that Fred
had been murdered. Roughly one year later, on April twelfth,
twenty sixteen, a trash poll was conducted at Ron Hyde's
Jacksonville Beach, Florida home. Two garbage backs were removed from
a bin he had placed by the roadside. At the
top of the first trash bag was a piece of
the suspect's male as well as a red solo cup
that contained several used zycam nasal swabs. After those items
were sent off for DNA testing, they came back as
a match to a second profile discovered on the bloody flannel.
In addition, the strand of hair located on the orange
bloody gloves found at the dumpster matched Ron Hide's de
check mate. On March sixth, twenty seventeen, officers surrounded hides
Jacksonville Beach home. He was taken into custody without further incident,
and investigators executed search warrants on his two Florida properties.
Speaker 5: Pretty much all day.
Speaker 11: We've been seeing people in hazmat suits.
Speaker 1: We saw guitar cases.
Speaker 5: Being brought out.
Speaker 1: There's a wheelbarrow tractor.
Speaker 6: They're bringing out evidence left and right.
Speaker 1: It looks like utilizing heavy machinery. Authorities started digging up
Hide's yard and while recovering Fred's limbs and skullwar among
the top items of interest, there was no telling what
he had back there.
Speaker 10: That had to be very careful about that to make
sure they don't damage any remains that may be there,
to see if there remains of other people. There may
be some other children who may have been involved, who
are associated with Highe.
Speaker 6: They may have been point of missing, had never located,
so it's.
Speaker 10: Going to take some time. To do that, to be
very careful and checked the backyard front yards of all
the properties that Hide either owned or lived at.
Speaker 1: As far as the interior goes, Hides Jacksonville Beach home
rivaled Annie Dwelling shown on the television show Hoarders. You've
seen that show, right, It's pretty horrifying. The condition of
Hyde's home was so putrid that the crime scene texts
and authorities alike were forced to wear respirators while navigating
through piles of garbage. Perhaps the most crucial discovery made
was the impression of floral decals located in the bathtub.
The outlines of dirt and grime definitively matched those of
the decals found inside the gas station dumpster over two
decades prior, the ones that were, you know, near a
body and stuff. The following day, Ron Hyde was brought
into the interrogation room, at which time investigators asked him
about his Oh, I don't know, preferences. Is that the
term we're using these days for things like porn?
Speaker 6: And it's a little embarrassing.
Speaker 4: I don't want me and tell anybody, but you watch
forgraphy or anything, use any websites?
Speaker 6: Sure? Okay?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 6: All right, I don't need particular details of it. Well,
it's not.
Speaker 12: For me.
Speaker 7: What are some common search terms that you use? And
again I apologize, I'm not trying to embarrass you, but
people tend to like, or you know, go towards certain
certain types of adult pornography.
Speaker 2: Is there certain stuff that you search for?
Speaker 7: We're just trying to cross that gap and figure out,
you know why your name's come up?
Speaker 2: No cheerleaders or you.
Speaker 12: Know, guys.
Speaker 6: Chatter bay.
Speaker 4: Okay, Fat, I don't know about the website called fab.
I know what the term fat means. I mean there
may be a side by that just might be one.
I have a scene yet, because there's only yeah, sure
sure ex hamster, ex hamster.
Speaker 6: Ex videos.
Speaker 1: Okay, So, if you're listening to this with your partner,
as a lot of our fans do, this is the
point in the story where you feign ignorance and pretend
like you've never heard of these websites before. You have
no idea what is that ex hamster? I have never
never even heard of that. I'll just go ahead and
let you sit there in your awkwardness for a minute.
Oh boy, do you and your partner have things to
talk about? That's what we do here at toward scale
relationship counseling. Anyway, you might be asking yourself, why the
hell is this relevant. We'll get to that, but for now,
investigators are trying to keep things light, so they ease
into the conversation by asking Hid about his relationship with
the victims family.
Speaker 3: Try to us Jay last year as l a sc
r okay, and how do you know him?
Speaker 2: Is he through through work or do you see conto
something else?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: I met him years ago in church. Really are where such?
Really where he's from?
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 2: Stretch for a living Baptists no longer.
Speaker 1: Detectives are already aware of this man's entire background before
they even walked into the room, including how he was
once an employee of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Get this.
Back in the seventies, Hyde worked as a mentor to
teenage sex offenders within the Department of Corrections. Years later,
Hyde earned his psychology degree from the University of Florida
in nineteen eighty one. He also took classes to become
a nurse, at one point studying human anatomy. Hyde was
familiar with joints, bone structure, and the placement of internal organs,
leading investigators to believe that he may have some knowledge
of surgical procedures or dismemberment. Upon looking into his background
further authorities learning that Hide also attempted to secure a
sixty thousand dollars grant to open a counseling center for
abused teenagers. That plan fell through. Thank god, he became
a licensed youth counselor and mental health professional instead, a
field he worked in for roughly sixteen years. I've said
it again and again, if you want to find out
where the predators are, go where the prey is. During
his interview, Hyde explained his work history a bit more
in depth to detectives, starting with his quote unquote teaching methods.
Speaker 2: Versus using the assistance.
Speaker 3: Lost or lost something we want to find it. Okay,
of course, the idea is to be able to see
the child away from the parents.
Speaker 6: Okay too.
Speaker 4: So where he's doing more in terms of like people
who were abductors, like strangers that have children.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, well I'm just trying.
Speaker 6: I'm asking you know where your program's gear tickets. Now,
I'm not kind of interested in it.
Speaker 3: Is essentially teaching the fifteen different lures as an under
use to the parents to hope to keep it gets
safe and help parents recognize that and you know, keep
your kids away from people.
Speaker 2: Well, yes, it is simply to be aware of it.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And actually during the presentation, I actually demonstrate.
Speaker 6: One of the worst.
Speaker 2: I tell them that design, I'm going to demonstrate it,
and then halfway through the program.
Speaker 3: I stopped and make an excuse is I'm sorry I
left something in my room. I just seeing up and
stretching all your fat. And I always go to the
smallest child in the room and ask them if.
Speaker 6: I really just about every time they said, oh yeah, sure,
one has never failed. It's fine you use them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you've watched enough of these interrogations, you start
to see the strategy. At one point, the male detective
deliberately exits the room in an attempt to see what
else Hide will offer up.
Speaker 7: Again, I don't want to push you on the spot
with anything, and I didn't know if it was uncomfortable
to talk about in front of Jimmy.
Speaker 2: But what's your sexual orientation? Do you what's your preference?
Speaker 7: Do you swing one way or the other? And again
I apologize, I'm not asking you to embarrass you, I
wasn't sure if this was maybe uncomfortable in front of
another fella.
Speaker 3: Sure, sure, So I mean predominantly hood or sexual Okay,
that's my preference.
Speaker 2: Maybe some curiosities and.
Speaker 5: Stuff for.
Speaker 13: I'm a therapist, okay, okay, And so part of my
training is in sex theory, okay, okay, And so.
Speaker 2: I have to be somewhat.
Speaker 3: Comfortable being able to talk to men about men's issues,
definitely gay issues, all of those kind of swinging issues
or whatever it might be. I mean, if i'm if
i'm because you haven't worked with the with the sex
offender population, not only adult also adolescent sex offenders.
Speaker 2: And there's a special special CEUs that.
Speaker 3: You get in order to learn how to work with
them so that you were able to talk with them
such that it's it's not sexually stimulating understands as a
child or a teenager.
Speaker 2: And and then so as a result of that, yeah, I.
Speaker 3: To try to keep an open mind and.
Speaker 2: You know, desensitize myself. I guess you might say to you,
I mean, I'm not afraid of the penis as a disturbing.
Speaker 6: Them all.
Speaker 1: And way back to what brought this dirty old man
here in the first place. Hyde also volunteered at Crosswater
Community Church in Jacksonville. Are you surprised? He later became
a youth pastor at Strength for Living Church, which is
where he met Fred's older brother Travis. It was around
this time that Hide started living a double life. The
church's pastor, doctor Ed Stallnecker, had previously been investigated for
financial fraud and other shady activities. Stallnecker was a known
drinker and allowed people to smoke in church while hosting
a local gospel talk show with his wife on the side.
Beware of false prophets, they say. Under the guise of
helping low income children through maritime programs, the church ran
donation scams, misleading people into giving away boats and other
high ticketed items for the local Boy Scouts. In return,
donors were supposed to receive tax credits. The laster children
were drawn to the church's music scene, and Hyde often
picked them up for weekend services, building trust within the family.
These outsiders, these strangers that kind of work their way
into your home, into your family's home, into your children's lives.
They know exactly what they're doing. It's a dance of
polite manipulation and a lot of people are too stupid
to notice it. Fred Laster was drawn to music and
all the shiny instruments, as young people often are. He
particularly enjoyed playing in the church band. Before long, Hide
was spending an abnormal amount of time with all six
of the Laster children. He acted as their mentor due
to the fact that Fred's mother and father weren't in
the picture.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm assuming the parents are not great people.
If they were living with Grandma and grandpa, or were
they in jail.
Speaker 3: Or was it something else?
Speaker 2: Something else? The parents is worse and.
Speaker 3: The father.
Speaker 2: Don't know where he was, so it was another with
his children living there with the grandparents.
Speaker 1: Investigators also learned that Hyde had been claiming Fred and
his siblings as dependents on his tax filings for years.
In fact, he continued to do so long after Fred
was killed. Well, some of the children went off on
their own, others lived with their grandmother. They essentially had
free reign, and as a result, Hyde was allowed to
take Travis, Fred and the others on routine trips and outings.
Speaker 7: So you met Travis at that church, Travis's guy and
a promo snow shoes.
Speaker 3: For a long time, Yes, Yeah, yeah, no problems.
Speaker 6: Children holler their children. Really, that's nice. How long have
you known this? And since he was a kid or
just after he got into his garden? Yeah? Age, no, No,
he's younger.
Speaker 1: Travis eventually grew up and started a life of his own,
which is when Hyde started to spend more time with
his little brother Fred. During the twelve months leading up
to his disappearance, Fred was couch hopping between his grandmother's
and sister's apartment before moving in with Hyde full time
four years after Fred's murder. Heide earned his master's degree
in education in nineteen ninety eight and later applied for
a job as counselor for a so called nudist organization.
He belonged to have.
Speaker 4: Any any nudity stuff, any nudists, naturists, anything like that.
Speaker 6: Is that something you would look up or anything?
Speaker 3: Yes, okay, I'm a member in your association news recreation.
Speaker 6: They had an association, Yes, sir, okay, how long have you.
Speaker 3: Enjoying that's a Now it's a nationwide organization.
Speaker 4: Is it possible then maybe he came across pictures of
kids like of course, look at that.
Speaker 2: They have a website and does have a website, and.
Speaker 3: There are other websites that have Nature's videos, yes, sir,
And of course it does include children, okay, new children
because they're not in US. There's no sexual okay, but
nobody supposed in a sexual position of the news.
Speaker 2: Just chiming, swimming or their families or swing.
Speaker 6: Okay said nothing nothing sexualized about it. Just people basically recreation.
They just happen to be new.
Speaker 1: Naturist. That's a term that you might want to check
for in your boyfriend or husband's search history. If you
find it, your next call should probably be to a lawyer.
And if I have to explain why, then maybe perhaps
you should just never breed.
Speaker 4: You know, ransom database searches just to see who come
up with. And I ran your name and Iran Travis's
name just to see even came up.
Speaker 6: I didn't see.
Speaker 4: Anything on Trevis, you know, a thread lesser, his brother, Okay,
his name came up, and then it had your name
in the report for him being missing.
Speaker 6: Okay, do you own.
Speaker 2: Twenty years ago?
Speaker 6: Okay?
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's an a whole lot to that record they
had in that girl that father report said you picked
him up from the house.
Speaker 6: And I didn't see where anybody talked to you? Did
anybody ever call to you about that?
Speaker 2: Or do you remember anybody the police?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Okay, so you know about him being missing fairly, he
still listen missing, okay? So why was first of all
you knew we're finding Okay?
Speaker 1: The torso was found roughly a month before Fred was
first reported missing. On July first, nineteen ninety four, Fred's
sister and brother visited with the local police and the sheriff,
informing them that Fred was last seen several weeks before
in early June, but for whatever reason, authorities at the
local branch and the Sheriff's office failed to document this
initial report, and there was no actual paper trail indicating
that Fred was missing at all. Early on days after
she last spoke with Fred, his sister called Hyde to
ask him what he had done with her brother. According
to her statements to police, Hide laughed and told her
that he had no idea where Fred was before hanging
up the phone. Sometime later, Fred's family confronted Hyde again,
at which time he offered a completely different story. Hyde
told Fred's family that he must have forgotten that he
actually had been with Fred. On June fourth, nineteen ninety four,
the day before his body was found at the gas station.
During that conversation, Hide told Fred's siblings that he'd come
to his home that morning to help with the garage sale.
Hides PayPal account ultimately verified profits made that day. But
what wasn't adding up was when Hyde claimed he had
given Fred a ride back to his grandmother's home later
that evening, and that he was reluctant to leave.
Speaker 6: He said, and.
Speaker 2: He grabbed a steering wheel and pulled the car over off.
Speaker 14: The Rose side of the road and got out of
the car and ran and actually actually ran across the
Rose Chilean.
Speaker 3: Highway and just sat out of the car and ran
across the street and was going down the other side,
actually going back to where we were had come from
from Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: According to this new and improved version of events, Fred
exited the vehicle that fateful night, took off on foot,
and was never seen again. Convenient from that point forward,
Hyde's explanation for Fred's disappearance shifted, constantly claiming he dropped
him off near a bridge at a park, back at
his grandmother's and who knows where else.
Speaker 14: It was a try.
Speaker 3: SOB I mean, I just see the lights in the
review mirror. I saw, I saw him saw, and I
assumed that I didn't actually see that. All I saw
was the truck coming past me and about where he was.
They stopped, and then and then.
Speaker 12: On and.
Speaker 1: Each new version. Only deep in the family abisis. Of course,
they were left feeling helpless and seemingly without the help
of law enforcement.
Speaker 3: There were people talking about seeing him in the area,
like there were a couple of other people to assign
a different places us after that day, Brian, do you.
Speaker 4: Remember who any of those people are and we could
ask some about it, if they saw him or anything.
Speaker 2: No, probably say that, probably Dawn my sister in fact,
that he was.
Speaker 6: On the poloard.
Speaker 1: Roughly eight months after his disappearance, Fred's sister filed yet
another missing person's report in February of nineteen ninety five.
This was the first time Fred Laster's name was entered
into the NCIS database as a missing person. Sadly, it
wasn't until she called the number on the cold case
flyer in twenty fifteen that investigators even looked at Ron
Hyde as a suspect years after the murder. By this
stage of the interview, Hide is still unaware that the
female detective, strategically playing the role of a quote unquote
good cop, is actually an FBI agent. Roughly an hour
and a half into his interrogation, she asks Hide about
the vehicle he was driving back in nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 2: What kind of car did you drive at that time?
Speaker 4: Nice read?
Speaker 6: Okay, Well, that's that's my second favorite, because do you
still drive.
Speaker 2: I didn't see your car this morning. Do you still
have a nice ascle car?
Speaker 6: Yeah, you got out of the Yeah. For the community,
you need to go out.
Speaker 12: No.
Speaker 6: Sorry, Oh, he's quite a flucture nowadays. It would be
what he was eighty and actually like this.
Speaker 1: Investigators already knew that the Camaro was registered to Hyde's father,
News of the dark colored vehicle witnessed backing up to
the dumpster was never released to the public, and Ron
Hyde had just inadvertently placed himself at the crime scene.
Speaker 6: Oops.
Speaker 1: After a few more minutes of small talk, the male
detective or quote unquote bad cop established is that they're
done playing games. He informs Hyde that they know much
more than they've been letting on. This is the oh shit,
I'm in trouble moment of the interrogation.
Speaker 4: So I'm going to tell you this, and I just
one should understand. We identified the body of Bread last year.
Oh yes, sir, and so we do know where his
body was found going back that timeframe.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 4: So again that's one of the reasons I'm asking these questions.
Wh I'm trying to see if you know anything about
that hermon.
Speaker 3: Where was he found?
Speaker 6: He was found over in Columbia County over by Lake City. Wow,
have you ever been over there before? You know where
that is? Well? I know where Lake City is, Okay. Well,
along with his body, we found a.
Speaker 4: Lot of items of evidence as well, and those items
of evidence have been tested over for some many years,
twenty four years, and we were able to recover fingerprints
and DNA from that evidence. Now I will tell you
that we were able to get a call sample of
your DNA several months ago, and your DNA matches the
DNA from that Parmesey.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 4: So what I'm here to tell you today is I
know how Fred Paul Aster got in a dumpster and
leg see, and I know who put him there, and
I know that that person was you. And I will
tell you that I have plenty of evidence to back
that up, including your car backed up to that dumpster,
and all the DNA evidence, the fingerprint evidence, the stuff
that was left in there that was thrown away with
that body. I know all those things. So the reason
I'm here to talk to you about is today is
I want to give you an opportunity to explain, you know,
what really happened there. Now, you can try to deny
these things if you choose to, but evidence doesn't lie.
And that's what I'm trying to tell you, as I'm
not here today, just to try to simply get to
the point of what happened there as far as that goes.
Speaker 6: I know what happen up in there, but I don't
know why this happened.
Speaker 4: I don't know exactly how this happened as far as
because I wasn't there in the room going to happen.
Speaker 6: And so those are some of the things I'm trying
to get into today, and I want to give you
an opportunity to explain this.
Speaker 1: And one would think this is where the interview ends
and hide asks for an attorney, but guess what, people
are really dumb, so of course he doesn't. Instead, he
digs his heels and denies any involvement in the murder
of Fred Laster because he thinks he's smart enough to
talk his way out of this.
Speaker 2: The last was even that's the last time you saw
that long.
Speaker 4: The last thing he saw for it was when you
were pushing and trying to push his body into the
dumpster and then it fell down and then you dragged
it behind the dumpster.
Speaker 6: So but that's what I'm telling you is all the
evidence as all. You understand that.
Speaker 2: There's evidence also for the President of Kennedy, but I
don't make it.
Speaker 4: We're talking about the Kennedy assassination. We're talking about you
put a sixteen year old boy in a dumpster that
wouldn't be said what it was?
Speaker 1: A broken clock is right, at least twice a day, right,
I mean the Kennedy assassination. Let's just not get into it. Anyway.
Despite his irrelevant theories about Kennedy, the evidence was stacked
against him, and the fact becomes even more clear when
authorities reveal that they know about his disturbing secret involving
Fred's brother.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Travis and I know about things that between Travis
when he was a young boy. Okay, you know what
I'm talking about there.
Speaker 6: Don't you.
Speaker 9: So, man?
Speaker 2: But what are you referring to?
Speaker 4: See he came in this game mark he hear, and
tell me what you're referring to, because you know what
I'm talking about. Inappropriate things that happened with him when
he was a young boar was fitted that way, sexual
acts that had him with him when he was under
the age of eighteen.
Speaker 6: Why would you transliding about that?
Speaker 1: I at a loss, I know, surely in fear of
his own life. It took Fred's brother, Travis nearly two
decades to come forward and reveal that Hyde molested him
when he was young, But Travis hadn't been his only victim.
Speaker 4: He told me about the other boy that you were
lesson before he met you, and the church is strength
for living.
Speaker 1: According to Travis's statements to police, Hyde had been grooming
and praying upon young boys from the church for years,
using his role as a counselor to conceal his vile exploits.
Travis told investigators to believe Hyde killed his brother out
of fear of finally being exposed.
Speaker 4: So again, if this is something where Fred was blackmailing you,
bread and ruvealed these secrets and stuff like that.
Speaker 6: I can understand it, that makes some sense.
Speaker 4: But just telling me none of this happened, I mean something,
cut it, man, nobody's going to Nobody.
Speaker 6: Reasonable is going to believe. That's sort And that's what
I'm trying to tell you.
Speaker 4: Of course, So again, I just want you to tell me,
you know what happened to the kid upset you as
a kid blacking out, if he did something to you,
Just telling me, honestly, tell me where I could find
her so so I can give that actress family.
Speaker 6: That's what I'm trying to do.
Speaker 3: I don't know, Okay, I had no idea. It was
a surprise to need to find the news.
Speaker 1: In early June of nineteen ninety four, a mutilated torso
was found discarded behind a gas station in Lake City, Florida.
The victim's head and limbs had been meticulously removed, leaving
police with no way to identify the body. For years,
the case was stuck in limbo as investigators hit one
dead end after another. Then in twenty fifteen, Fred Laster's
family recognized items shown on a John Doe flyer and
alerted authorities, suspecting it might be their missing relative. As
detectives re examined old evidence using new DNA technology. They
were eventually led to Ron Hyde, a sixty one year
old youth pastor and trusted figure in the community. After
matching DNA from the nineteen ninety four dumpster two items
recovered that were left outside of Hyde's home. Victims of
Hyde started coming forward alleging that he had sexually abused
them as kids. In twenty seventeen, twenty plus years after
Fred Laster was murdered, authorities finally had enough to take
the perverted old man into custody. The following day, Hyde
was brought in for a lengthy interrogation where his story
unraveled peace by peace Again.
Speaker 4: You can try to say, oh, it was me after
everything that says it was. We have your DNA, we
have all of this said that's leaking you to the scene.
And does this sound reasonable you? I mean, I'm trying
to give you my perspective of us.
Speaker 2: I understand what you're saying.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm ensure that boy.
Speaker 1: Hyde continued to deny allegations throughout his interrogation. After leaving
him to ponder over whether or not to take a polygraph,
he eventually invoked his right to speak with an attorney.
Following a nearly six hour interview, Ron Hyde was asked
to stand placed into handcuffs and arrested.
Speaker 6: I'll let you know that currently you are unarrested. You've
ever turned rounded?
Speaker 4: Would you like me to explain why you're un arrest yes,
so you have a murderer warm for your arrest right now.
Speaker 1: In the days that followed, authorities used billboards to call
upon the public, pleading for anyone with information about the
nearly twenty three year old cold case to come forward.
To their surprise, tips came flooding into the FBI hotline.
Former coworkers of Hyde reported that he'd openly spoken about
sleeping in bed with underage boys wearing only his underwear.
Other witnesses said Hide admitted to visiting a local golf
course to meet young men. I'd also allegedly visited his
local YMCA not to work out, but so lead a
shower nude while looking at boys in the locker room.
You know that song, right, YMCA? You know the cultural
significance of it, right?
Speaker 10: You know what they're.
Speaker 1: Doing there at the state funded facility. Not sure why
some moms like to side with the gaze rather than
their own children. Oh and before you send in that
angry email standing for a child molester, what do you
think about it?
Speaker 6: A little bit?
Speaker 1: Also, I don't give a shit, so keep it to yourself. Yeah, anyway.
Following Hyde's arrest, several former juvenile inmates came forward alleging
that Hyde sexually abused them in his office during his
tenure with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department. It is indeed fun
to stay at the YMCAI here anyway. Before the murder
of Fred Laster, Hyde had no prior criminal history, but
he was written up for sexual harassment in nineteen ninety
eight for making inappropriate comments to a female coworker. In
twenty thirteen, Hyde's name also popped up in a three
year international child pornography investigation out of Toronto called Project Spade.
Speaker 15: In October twenty ten, undercover online officers with the Child
Expectation Section of the Toronto Police Service made contact with
a male on the Internet who is sharing very graphic
images of young children being sexually abused. Through investigations, the
officers were able to trace the Internet connection to a
male living in Toronto. The investigation revealed that this individual
was running an exploitation movie production and distribution company from
an address within the city of Toronto.
Speaker 1: The investigation resulted in the rescue of nearly four hundred
children and the arrest of three hundred and forty eight
adults worldwide. The Toronto based company, run by a man
named Brian Way, distributed child exploitation videos through a website
called azovfilms dot com. I know you're probably gonna check
your browser history when you get home. Make sure your
partner isn't looking at that website and if he is,
maybe down nine one one immediately, especially if your partner
is on Reddit a lot. Oh boy, am I going
to get a lot of emails. The operation involved extensive
cooperation with the US Postal Inspection Service and led to
the seizure of forty five terabytes of illegal material. Those
arrested included teachers, medical professionals, clergy and law enforcement personnel.
Think about that for a second. It's almost like every
group of people assigned to protect children has been infected
by pedophilia. Ron Hyde's name was once on that long
list of suspects, but at the time authorities lacked enough
evidence to make an arrest. Here's what Hyde had to
say about Azov films when it was brought up during
his interrogation.
Speaker 6: So familiar, So you're familiar with asof films is so active?
Do you know why it's not active?
Speaker 2: Because some of these idiots were considered non pornography?
Speaker 6: Okay, really okay?
Speaker 1: Oh is right. During the search of his home, authorities
located six writable discs. On them was a vast collection
of child pornography, buried among heaps of trash. Investigators also
recovered a digital camera. Apparently, when Hyde wasn't busy looking
at children being sexually abused, he was out taking less
vulgar photos documenting a life of leisure outside of his
filthy Jacksonville Beach residents. If you can call it that.
The pictures showed him smiling at baseball games, flipping burgers
at cookouts, hitting up a racetrack, and so much more.
I mean, he really lived a full life.
Speaker 6: This guy.
Speaker 1: It's a bitter, pilled swallow. Knowing that Fred's family was
searching for answers while Hyde was out enjoying the simple
pleasures of life as if nothing ever happened, and while
DNA advancements finally brought him to justice, It's impossible not
to question why it took law enforcement so long to
zero in on him. All of the signs were obviously there,
a suspicious connection, shifting alibis, and a dark past hiding
in plain sight. So how is this man able to
evade justice for decades? Quite frankly, what the fuck is
wrong with us that we didn't see it? While that
question remained unanswered, Hyde was finally charged with first degree murder,
to which he entered a plea of not guilty. Following
the FBI raid of his Jacksonville Beach property. The home
was condemned, boarded up, and demolished less than a month
after his arrest. Roughly five years later, ron Hyde would
finally see his day in court along delay.
Speaker 11: Jacksonville trial is underway for a man charged with murdering
and dismembering a sixteen year old boy back in nineteen
ninety four. We want to warn you the details are graphic.
Ronnie Hyde was arrested in the death of Fred Lasser
after the teen's body was identified through modern science in
twenty sixteen. Prosecutors say there is DNA and other evidence
that links Hide to the murder, but the defense contends
there is nothing that proves Hyde killed Lasser.
Speaker 1: In late March of twenty twenty two, the long awaited
murder trial of Ron Hyde finally took place, drawing a
curtain back on a mystery that had haunted investigators and
Fred Laster's family for decades. The prosecution presented a damning
case against Hyde, using new DNA evidence that directly linked
him to the dismembered remains found behind the BP gas
station in Lake City back in nineteen ninety four. The
bloodstained flannel shirt found near the torso contained both Fred's
and Hide's DNA. The state's key witness, who described seeing
Hide's dark colored Camaro the morning of the discovery, took
the stand as well. In addition, the state presented entries
from a journal found in hides Jacksonville Beach home, written
in twenty fourteen. He expressed regret and pens a vague
apologies directed at both Travis and Fred Laster.
Speaker 12: I feel depressed, lonely. I'm struggling to stay alive. I've
been thinking about people from whom I need forgiveness. David
d Jasmine and Ginger for being a bad father, Joey, Christian,
Travis and Fred Fred's name was the only one underlined
in Hide's journal entry. Joey and David are the two
others who came forward alleging sexual abuse at the hands
of Ron Hyde when they were young boys. According to
court documents, Hyde allegedly carried out acts of sexual abuse
with the aforementioned children while using a video camcorder. These
incidents are believed to have occurred around the same time
that Hyde was abusing Fred Laster. Adding to the disturbing
narrative were Hyde's personal Facebook posts made in the years
following Fred's disappearance. On social media, he presented himself as
a staunch advocate for ending child abuse and supporting suicide prevention,
a jarring contradiction, of course, when juxtaposed with the accusations
now leveled against them. Fred's sister took the stand and
delivered a powerful testimony recounting her memories of Hyde's Jacksonville
Beach home. She vividly recalled seeing the same type of
knives and non slip bathtub decals found at the crime scene.
The forensic anthropologist testified about the knives as well, where
she described the multiple blades used during the dismemberment.
Speaker 8: There were twenty five sharp force trauma in ass with
a total of seventy.
Speaker 2: One cut marks.
Speaker 1: Hyde's lawyers argued that any traces of Fred's DNA found
at the crime scene were easily explainable given that Fred
had lived with Hyde for a year before his disappearance.
They attempted to cast doubt on the connection between the
evidence and the murder itself, suggesting that the prosecution's case
was built on circumstantial links rather than direct proof. They
painted Hyde as a family friend who had simply become
entangled in the tragic coincidence, not the cold blooded killer
the prosecution claimed. He was the most impactful moment a
trial came during Travis Laster's testimony. He spoke of the
trust his family placed and hide and the deep betrayal
they felt once the truth slowly started to surface.
Speaker 6: We lost the future with our other.
Speaker 4: We lost a brother that we don't need to call
when he kids and asked, hey, did you see the
law days.
Speaker 6: Dictly on Mile. Do you regret about being here for
your brother? It is probably the biggest regret I ever
have in my life. Kay very interest.
Speaker 1: In a ballsy move by the defense, Hyde also took
the stand the sixty five year old smirked during the
questioning and recounted one of the many stories he'd told
before regarding the last time he saw Fred alive.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, about the second bridge. That were actually before
the second bridge concrete.
Speaker 2: Bridge creek Uh he uh. He grabbed a wheeled car
and pulling the side and got out.
Speaker 1: Is that Fred Laster's head and limbs were never found.
The state alleged at the body of water hide mentioned
in his testimony may have been where he discarded the remains.
The creek he described as part of Florida's Inner Coastal Waterway,
which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Though it's never been proven,
it's possible that some of Fred's body parts may have
ended up in the sea before Hyde drove his torso
to the dumpster a short distance away. During the cross examination,
the defendant continued to proclaim his innocence regarding both the
murder and dismemberment of sixteen year old Fred Laster.
Speaker 6: The friend was over there. We had a very very
short amount of THI the friends murder dismember Germany in place.
Speaker 3: Sure are you responsible? No, I wasn't responsible for the
dead last I never heard of.
Speaker 1: That Following a four day trial, the jury deliberated for
only a few hours before returning with their unanimous verdict.
Speaker 6: Be the Germany five and guilty of first murdered.
Speaker 1: Immediately following his murder conviction, Hide asked to be sentenced
right away. The judge agreed. He was sentenced to life
in prison without the possibility of parole, ending multiple decades
of illusion, deception, and sexual abuse. Hyde's true victim count
may never be known, and his ability to hide behind
the guise of a community leader serves as a chilling
reminder that not only are the worst monsters real, but
they are oftentimes the ones we least suspect. It's a
real gut punch to think that someone you trust with
your children could be there intentionally to harm them. Hyde
used his status in the church to disguise his disgusting
sexual interest in children. He flew under law enforcement's radar
for roughly twenty three years. As far as his let's
call it media collection, It's possible that he filmed his
sexual exploits with children and sold these recordings for a profit.
It's possible and more than likely that that's what his
involvement was with the child porn sting Project Spade. Following
his sentencing for the murder of Fred Laster, ron Hyde
was charged with twenty five additional counts related to child porn.
One major revelation that came from his separate trial was
Hyde's purchase of child porn videos from two thousand and
eight to twenty ten, where he spent a total of
seven hundred and forty five dollars. In January of twenty
twenty three, he pleaded guilty to three counts and was
subsequently provided an additional seven years in prison to run
concurrently with his life sentence. Members of the various churches
Ron Hyde was affiliated with have either declined on this
case or claimed to have no knowledge of sexual abuse
having ever occurred prior to his arrest. Sure we all
believe that no reason not to write. Despite authorities digging
up Hide's backyard in search of other victims, no additional
human remains wherever found. But let's not breathe a sigh
of relief just yet. Given his predatory history, it's hard
not to wonder if Fred Laster was Hide's only victim.
Usually there's not just one. As for the church he
called home, there's silence over the years, speaks volumes the
strength for living Church, with its shady financial dealings and
questionable leadership, wasn't exactly a beacon of transparency. It's unclear
if they were too busy running their own cons to notice,
or simply chose to look the other way, as we
often do when we see something uncomfortable. Secrets, though, have
a way of festering and becoming infected, eventually killing the host.
So hopefully you'll apply some antiseptic and clean your wounds.
You know, and you know, next time the choice is
between protecting children or your precious institution, maybe then you'll
pick the right one. For the boomers in the house,
this style of music is called a vapor way. That's
reminiscent of the mid eighties, a time that I'm sure
a lot of our listeners remember because they're all old.
That's a great way to get listeners calling Mole.
Speaker 10: What are you doing, Mike.
Speaker 5: Must Stott story st