Friday, July 28, 2017

UPDATED::Ronnie Hyde pleads not guilty in grisly death of Nassau County teen 2 decades ago | Jacksonville News, Sports and Entertainment | jacksonville.com

 

UPDATE::  Youth pastor charged in teen’s dismemberment slaying wants his guns back while he awaits trial
A Florida youth pastor charged with the cold-case murder of one teen and the sexual abuse of others wants his guns back while he awaits trial.

Ronnie Hyde pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and child pornography charges in March related to the 1994 slaying of 16-year-old Fred Laster, whose dismembered body was found in a Dumpster.

Laster’s decapitated torso was found behind a trash bin near Lake City, but the remains went unidentified until a DNA test in 2015 matched the slain teen to his twin sister.

Police said the 61-year-old Hyde befriended the runaway teen more than two decades ago as youth pastor at Strength for Living Church in Yulee, prosecutors said.
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The man accused of killing and dismembering a teen before dumping his torso among an assortment of household items and bloodied knives in Lake City in 1994 was told Tuesday that he faces a maximum 180 years behind bars if found guilty of murder and 12 pornography charges.

Sixty-year-old Ronnie Leon Hyde was soft-spoken and polite during his arraignment hearing in Judge Angela Cox’s courtroom. During the brief hearing, he pleaded not guilty to the 13 charges. Hyde is being represented by criminal defense lawyer Ann Finnell, a death-qualified attorney who served on Casey Anthony’s legal defense team. To date, the state has not filed paperwork seeking the death penalty.

Hyde, a former youth pastor and counselor, is accused of befriending Fred Paul Laster of Yulee, killing him and cutting up his body. Only Laster’s torso has been found. Laster was reported missing for more than two decades. Records state a sibling told police in Jacksonville that Laster was last seen with Hyde, his youth pastor from Strength for Living Church in Jacksonville. There are no records of Hyde ever being questioned by police in the mid-1990s.

Ronnie Hyde pleads not guilty in grisly death of Nassau County teen 2 decades ago | Jacksonville News, Sports and Entertainment | jacksonville.com

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