Fred Laster: The Torso Lake City Murder

On June 5th 1994, remains of a male were found behind a petrol station in a bin in Lake City, Florida. They were unable to identify the victim as the head, legs and hands were missing leaving behind only a torso. Several items related to the apparent murder were found close by which included a blood-soaked flannel shirt, a mattress cover, bathtub safety pads and bloody knives which were thought to have been the murder weapon.

Police managed to collect DNA samples from the victim and killer from the scene but they were unable to identify either. On June 29th further examination of the torso put the victim to be 16-19 years old. It wasn’t until May 13th 2014, that Columbia County Sheriff’s office reached out to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children- an organisation that had been in existence since 1984- that they managed to the information they needed to solve the case. A spokesperson from the county office admitted that they were unsure about why they had not contacted the NCMEC (National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children) before which caused questioning from the media and the public about whether or not they had investigated this thoroughly when they found the body.

In 2015, police managed to identify the victim as 16-year-old Fred Laster, after DNA testing his twin sister. She had actually filed a missing-persons report back in 1995.

After revealing to police that the last person her brother was seen with was a mental health counsellor and youth pastor by the name of Ronnie Hyde. He had met the teen in the mid-80s and formed a relationship with his family. He also served as a foster father to him and two siblings. Police managed to gather enough to obtain a search warrant for his home in 2017.

They found his property to be in squalid and disarray. An FBI agent who testified during the trial stated that they could not follow the typical protocols for collecting evidence due to the state of the property. In court, he joked about the mess at his home and said “I’m a bit embarrassed about that, If I knew you were all coming over, I would’ve cleaned up a bit.”

At his property, they, managed to find knives and an egg crate-style mattress sheets that matched similar objects to the crime scene, along with a red long sleeved- flannel shirt and orange gloves, both blood-stained. There was evidence of child pornography and a homemade display of sex offender mugshots from the local area. When Police revealed they were arresting him due to the evidence, Ronnie said:

“There’s evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kenny, but that don’t make it true.”

Around the time of the murder, police found a witness that said they saw a charcoal-coloured sports car backing up to the bin of the petrol station that morning. Police discovered that Ronnie Hyde drove a Camaro in the same timeframe. After being legally obliged to hand over a DNA sample, he was a positive match from multiple specimens taken from the scene.

On April 1st 2022, at the age of 62-years-old Ronnie Hyde was convicted for the possession of child pornography. He maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming he last saw Laster when the teen was upset over an argument with his sister and that he left his vehicle when they were on the highway and disappeared.

He was accused of luring children into his home to abuse them, however his defence managed to clear the charges from the murder case in court which means he is going to stand a separate trial for these other 25 charges. He received a mandatory life sentence with time served for 1851days (5 years).

After the verdict, Fred Laster’s family released a statement which read;

“The entire family lost someone who was loved dearly, our grandmother died without ever getting closure because he was identified until 2016. On her deathbed, she questioned what happened to Freddy. She literally died hours later not knowing. We have our brother and sisters who wondered what happened to Freddy, not knowing what happened. But more than just the immediate loss, we lost a future with our brother. We lost a brother we don’t get to call on the weekend. We never gave up hope. This has been a long and emotional road and we are grateful there is finally justice for Fred.”

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