JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Beach man charged in the 1994 death of Nassau County teenager Fred Laster pleaded not guilty to all charges Tuesday morning.
Ronnie Hyde, 60, was arrested last month on charges he killed and dismembered the 16-year-old and left his remains behind a dumpster off Interstate 10 in Columbia County. Hyde is charged with second-degree murder and 12 counts of possession of child pornography.
"This triggers his presumption of innocence, which we all should believe at this time since there has been no case in court," said Hyde's attorney, Ann Finnell.
Finnell is currently trying to find out what evidence the state has against Hyde and is interested in speaking to anyone who has relevant information about the case.
Hyde's next court appearance was set for May 16.
Investigators believe Hyde befriended the teenager while he was a youth pastor in the 1980s. Laster's remains remained unidentified until 2015. Investigators narrowed their search to Hyde, and when blood on a flannel shirt found with the body matched Hyde, he was arrested.
Early last month, the FBI and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office conducted exhaustive searches of Hyde's homes on Fourth Avenue North in Jacksonville Beach and Thelma Street in the Talleyrand neighborhood of Jacksonville.
More charges against Hyde could be coming. FBI agents are investigating Hyde for possible international child sex trafficking, which is why detectives have asked for anyone with information about him to come forward.
The cold case
Columbia County investigators have worked the case since the body of a young man was found outside a dumpster at a BP gas station at the U.S. 441 exit of I-10. Using DNA technology, the remains were identified last February as those of Laster, who was reported missing in 1994.
Hyde, who worked for decades as a mental health counselor, became a suspect after Laster's family said that the last time Fred was heard from, he was with Hyde, the man he knew as his pastor.
Hyde was arrested in the early-morning hours of March 7 and charged with murder.
Hyde's family said it's just still too difficult for them to talk about things right now and they continue to ask for privacy. But they do hope people remember Laster and they hope people with information about what happened to Fred come forward.