JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – New court filings indicate the State Attorney’s Office is anticipating more charges to be filed against a Jacksonville Beach man accused of killing and dismembering a 16-year-old boy in 1994.
Those documents point to evidence against Ronnie Hyde that prosecutors said could link him to abuses involving other boys.
Police said Hyde, 61, befriended runaway teenager Fred Laster, murdered him, cut his body into pieces and left the torso outside a Lake City gas station dumpster.
Hyde is awaiting trial for the murder, which he was linked to four months ago through DNA evidence, police said.
Hyde’s lawyer filed a motion asking that items seized from Hyde's Jacksonville Beach house, including his car, a guitar and amp, his cellphones and two guns, be returned. Hyde's attorney argued that the evidence was illegally taken by police from the home, which was later torn down.
But in its response to that motion, the State Attorney's Office said the phones will not be returned, because they are being processed by the FBI, and “the state anticipates the phones in question will contain images of child pornography and child erotica.”
Police said child porn was found on computers at Hyde's home, leading to 12 counts of child porn possession against him.
The state also said “no” to returning the guns, saying they have value as evidence.
According to prosecutors, after Hyde’s arrest in March, a man came forward, telling the FBI he was sexually exploited by Hyde when he was a runaway in 1992. The man said Hyde mentored him, brought him to his house and used the guns as part of “the grooming process” to sexually assault him.
Investigators said Hyde used the guns to impress boys, got them to watch pornography and eventually abused them.
“Just looking at this, it appears that, obviously, they have evidence or at least suspicions that these firearms were used for another purpose, and they have some relationship to what they were investigating or what they're charging,” said attorney Mitch Stone, who is not associated with the case.
But Stone said the state must prove that is the case or prosecutors will have to return the guns and phones.
A judge has yet to rule on Hyde's motion for the evidence to be returned.
Both sides declined to comment Monday.
Hyde's attorney has requested separate trials on the child porn and murder charges.
Hyde is scheduled to be in court again at the end of August.