Following Arrest in Cold Case of Missing Boy, Ronnie Hyde Facing 12 New Child-porn Charges
By Eileen Kelley
A dozen child pornography charges have been added to a murder case involving a former youth pastor charged in the death and dismemberment of a 16-year-old boy who went missing in 1994. Ronnie Leon Hyde, 60, of Jacksonville Beach was arrested on March 7 on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Fred Paul Laster, a boy he befriended in Yulee when Hyde was a youth pastor at Strength for Living Church. Hyde was to be in court Wednesday, though his arraignment date has been changed to April 11. Monday’s new charges relate to 12 different pieces of pornography that depict a child in a sex act. Each of the 12 forms of evidence has at least 10 or more images, to include movies, of sexual performances by a child, according to a statement from the State Attorney’s Office. According to court records, many of the titles of the evidence collected were a jumble of letters and numbers, though three contained names the Cindy, Steven and Paul. FBI officials were not speaking publicly about the matter Tuesday other than to acknowledge additional charges had been filed against Hyde. Coupled with the murder charge, Hyde now faces a maximum sentence of life plus 180 years if convicted of all charges. To date Hyde has only been connected to the death of Laster, whose decapitated torso was founded discarded behind a trash bin near Lake City 23 years ago, though law enforcement sent a clear picture that they fear there are more victims when they plastered Hyde’s face along eight billboards in Jacksonville seeking information. “There is always that fear,” said Toni Chrabot, a former assistant special agent in charge for the FBI. “There’s always that fear when you are looking at a case like this. There is that risk that there is going to be more than one [victim] when you look at the act, the murder he is accused of committing and they way he is alleged to have done it and you couple that with all his years of being around children.” Hyde who until his arrest had offered counseling services to members of the Crosswater Community Church in Nocatee, had previously been named in an international child exploitation case. Chrabot said depending on what the evidence is, there is likely going to be many challenges ahead regarding identifying and protecting possibly other victims who may have been depicted in the images that resulted in the new charges. Where the images were found — video, computer and or phone — wasn’t clear Tuesday. Law enforcement spent four days removing items from Hyde’s dilapidated beach home this month. A week later, the city of Jacksonville Beach cited Hyde with numerous property violations and has threatened to fine him $250 a day until the eight pages of problems listed are corrected. Hyde’s home had no running water and he was using the bathtub as a toilet, according to documents on the matter. Mildew covered the walls and there were rodent droppings throughout. “Upon entering the dwelling the stench was foul. Structure is dilapidated, abandoned and unsanitary. No running water, clutter, filthy,” according to the documents. Laster was known to frequent Hyde’s home and his brother even lived there for a time, records show. Records say that Hyde’s sister told authorities that she last saw her brother with Hyde. The discarded torso in Columbia County wasn’t confirmed to be Laster until 2016. Aside from informing family, authorities guarded that information closely as they closed in on Hyde after surreptitiously collecting his DNA when sorting through his garbage. In March authorities announced Hyde was being linked with Laster’s death. Eileen Kelley: (904) 359-4104
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