Episode 297

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Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

You understand that?

There's evidence that Lee Harvey also killed President Kennedy, but that don't make it.

We're not talking about the Kennedy assassination.

We're talking about you talking about putting a 16-year-old boy in a dumpster.

You know, listening's a choice, right?

Some of you idiots act like you're doing your civic duty by censoring me.

Anyway, this is season 12, episode 297 of Sword and Scale, a show, an irreverent show, that proves that the worst monsters

are real.

We're making a few changes around here, you know, moving the furniture around and whatnot, making sword and scale television a little more sword and scaly, because we know what you like.

Anyway, check it out if you haven't.

If you're already subscribed to sword and scale plus, it's just another 10 bucks to fund our television making

project, I guess you would say.

And we've got about, I don't know, what, 15 episodes now?

So you could just pop in there and check them out in like a couple days if you wanted to.

The place to go is swordandscale.com, or you can just download the app on your Android device or your Apple device or whatever kind of device you want a device with.

And I guess that's it.

I guess that's it.

I said I was going to keep these short and I lied.

I'm a filthy, dirty liar, and you should never, ever believe anything I say or any other podcast host says, because we're all a bunch of filthy liars.

Enjoy!

So when I started this podcast, I didn't realize I was actually starting a small business.

Yikes.

There's nothing small about a small business.

You're working all of the time.

Thankfully, though, I have a partner with all the tools that I need to be successful.

You may have heard of them.

Their name is Shopify.

Shopify's point-of-sale system is a unified command center for your retail business.

It brings together in-store and online operations across up to a thousand locations.

Imagine being able to guarantee that shopping is always convenient.

Endless aisle, ship to customer, buy online, pick up in store.

All these things are made simpler to customers so they can shop how they want.

And staff have all the tools to close the sale every time.

And let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive.

With Shopify POS, you can keep shoppers coming back with personalized experiences and first-party data that give marketing teams a competitive edge.

In fact, it's proven.

Based on a report from EY, businesses on Shopify POS see real results, like 22% better total cost of ownership and benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales on average relative to the market set surveyed.

So if you have a retail or online business, then I'll tell you what, Shopify is a fantastic partner to have on your side.

Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify.

Sign up for your $1 a month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash sword and scale.

All one word.

Just go to shopify.com slash swordandscale and sign up.

You'll thank me later.

You will.

Shopify.com slash sword and scale.

On the afternoon of June 5th, 1994, A woman noticed her car making a funny noise while driving along the interstate in Lake City, Florida.

After pulling into a BP gas station to have a mechanic take a look, she decided to kill some time by walking her dog around the property.

I was working that morning.

The lady, I can't remember if she was towed in,

but I know her car was broke down.

And we were

working on her car, and she walked her dog.

And so she walked her dog out in that field that was beside the station.

And the dog picked up on the scene.

While walking toward the back of the business, the woman's dog started to pull on its leash toward a nearby dumpster.

Not exactly a great sign.

At first, she thought her dog had tracked an animal like a raccoon that may be rummaging through the trash.

As the hair on the canine's back stood up, She noticed a stench of bleach and then rot, becoming more pungent with each step she took.

Moments later, the dog stopped in his tracks and started barking uncontrollably.

He was clearly fixated on something behind the dumpster.

As the woman inched her way to get a closer look, she could see a partially opened black contractor bag on the ground.

She could see that Something was hanging out of the plastic, but wasn't sure what until her dog snout moved the bag just enough to reveal the gruesome contents inside.

She come back in thinking it was like a mannequin or something later.

Yes, sir.

I just...

I just don't.

The gas station owner's first reaction upon scoping out the scene was one of frustration.

He thought the dark-colored stains on the side of the dumpster and the concrete were transmission fluid, and that one of his lazy employees had simply made a mess.

That is, until he peeled back the trash bag to get a closer look.

After notifying the police, deputies from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office promptly arrived on scene, only to be met by the dismembered torso of a young white male.

The body was laying on its back, right-hand side.

One arm was up, there was no hand on it.

The other arm, the left arm, was down to the side.

There was no head on the body.

The

legs had been cut off at the buttons.

The head, hands, and feet feet were all missing from the scene.

The man's arms had been cut at the elbow, while the extremities were severed just below the pelvic bone, leaving only the penis and genitals intact.

What a scene.

The victim also had a mole located on his lower right chest.

One of the first things investigators noticed was how precise the cuts were, almost surgical.

There were no defensive wounds visible on the body, and the remains looked like they had been scrubbed clean.

There was very little blood on the corpse itself, with no signs of decay or rigor, indicating that whoever this person was, he hadn't been dead for very long.

As more detectives flocked to the gas station parking lot, it became apparent that the killer attempted to hide the remains in the dumpster, but may have had some trouble lifting the bag.

Blood smears on the upper part of the trash compartment indicated that someone had tried to toss the bag torso in the trash but had missed.

The drag marks of blood and dirt visible on the asphalt trailing behind the dumpster supported this theory as well.

Inside the dumpster itself, detectives found several black garbage bags.

In them were a blood-soaked foam egg crate mattress topper, orange latex gloves, and two Ginzu-style kitchen knives.

A great buy-one-get-one-free value.

One of them was a 8-inch serrated blade, while the other was a small standard stake knife.

On the blade and handles of both instruments was the presence of a white powder-like substance that appeared to be some kind of bleach, like Ajax or Comet.

Brightly colored floral-shaped bath decals, a non-slip mat, and a red blood-stained flannel shirt were also recovered from the inside of the trash bags.

While crime scene techs sifted through the trash collecting evidence, deputies interviewed the few witnesses there were, including the gas station owner, in hopes of learning who might be responsible.

Is there anything I hadn't asked you about that I need to ask you or something you think about that bothered you or anything about it like that?

Nah, not really botherson.

I was one of those type deals.

I wish I'd never had to see it.

Yes, sir.

The next day on June 6th, the torso was transported to the District 4 Medical Examiner's Office in Jacksonville, Florida, where seasoned forensic pathologist Dr.

Margarita Aruzza conducted her examination.

It was determined that the male had traces of over-the-counter cold or flu medicine in his system, suggesting that the victim may have been immobilized or incapacitated before the dismemberment.

The autopsy also revealed that the male victim was likely between 15 and 22 years old, stood around 5 foot 8 inches tall and had light brown hair.

Unfortunately, at the time, there weren't any missing persons in the NCIS database fitting this description.

After the items found in the dumpster were processed, forensic analysts were unable to lift any usable fingerprints.

Having said that, a strand of hair was found on the latex glove, and the bloody flannel and mattress topper had the obvious presence of DNA.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of resources back in the mid-90s, the items were ultimately shelved in an evidence locker somewhere in Lake City, Florida, where they would remain indefinitely.

Kind of like in the final scene of Indiana Jones.

As the investigation slowly unfolded, the small town of Lake City buzzed with whispers and rumors.

Gossip about a truck that had been allegedly sighted in the gas station parking lot started to circulate.

Some claimed that it was a van they saw leaving the area before the gruesome discovery was made.

Police followed up on these leads, but they were all dead ends.

The first substantial clue came shortly after the story broke when a witness came forward with new information.

Around 7 a.m.

on June 5th, 1994, a man was driving past the BP gas station on his way home after working the night shift.

This is when he noticed a suspicious car parked at the scene, hours before the body was found.

Yes, sir, it was a car backed up to the dungeon.

It looked like a sports car to me.

Sports car back then was like a firebird or a chimera.

The way the hood was slanted down,

it appeared to be dark.

I couldn't tell you exactly what color it looked like, a dark-colored vehicle.

The sleek sports car would have turned heads anywhere in Lake City, Florida, but the fact that it was seen backed up to a dumpster in the early morning hours made the vehicle that much more memorable.

The witness told investigators it looked like someone was in the process of finishing up unloading something from the two-door coop.

The driver's door was open and the back hatch was up.

The witness said that he could see someone in the driver's seat, but was unable to get a good look and couldn't really make out his or her physical description.

It wasn't long before the case of the unidentified John Doe made national headline news, and the story was picked up by programs like Crime Stoppers and America's Most Wanted.

Meanwhile, investigators worked tirelessly pursuing leads.

But despite garnering widespread attention, authorities had little to go on.

Months eventually turned into years, and public interest fizzled out.

The people of Lake City eventually carried on with their lives, and before the year was over, the case had officially gone cold.

Years went by, and the case faded from the spotlight into obscurity.

The unanswered questions surrounding the torso behind the dumpster seemed destined to remain that way.

As for law enforcement, the case was never far from their minds.

Authorities held on to the slim chance that the evidence now collecting dust might one day reveal the truth.

Perhaps someday in the future, you know, when the cars are driving themselves and we're all living like the Jetsons, we'll be able to solve this strange and obscure case.

Well, that chance ultimately came in 2010, when the bloody flannel shirt and orange gloves were pulled from storage and sent back to the lab.

Nearly 16 years after this mysterious crime occurred, advancements in DNA testing led investigators to re-examine the items from the crime scene.

Two partial DNA profiles were located, but neither matched any known offenders in the NCIS database.

It was progress, but not enough.

And it wouldn't be for another five years until investigators truly started connecting the dots.

In 2015, the cousins of a young man named Fred Laster were researching cold cases online.

Fred was only 16 years old when he went missing back in 1994.

But when his family came across a John Doe poster for a male victim whose torso was behind a dumpster 21 years before,

the description was hauntingly familiar.

The age range, the height, the specific physical features, they all matched Fred, who had disappeared without a trace around the same time.

The poster provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website also included a photo of the red flannel shirt and bathtub decals that had been inside the dumpster.

Fred's cousins then contacted the missing teen's brothers and sisters, who remembered having seen these items before.

Found a shirt he was wearing at the time and I found the uh

my cousins described the

skid things in the bathtub.

Fred's siblings revealed a disturbing connection to investigators over the phone, which was a family acquaintance named Ron Hyde.

Ron Hyde had been a trusted figure in their lives.

The family knew Ron Hyde very well, and all of the children had been inside his home many times.

The missing teen's family went on to inform investigators that Hyde was known to drive a dark-colored Camaro, resembling the vehicle spotted near the crime scene in 1994.

This little revelation prompted detectives to take a closer look into Ron Hyde for the first time since the torso was found over two

decades ago.

So, when I started this podcast, I didn't realize I was actually starting a small business.

Yikes.

There's nothing small about a small business.

You're working all of the time.

Thankfully, though, I have a partner with all the tools that I need to be successful.

You may have heard of them.

Their name is Shopify.

Shopify's point-of-sale system is a unified command center for your retail business.

It brings together in-store and online operations across up to a thousand locations.

Imagine being able to guarantee that shopping is always convenient.

Endless aisle, ship to customer, buy online, pick up in store.

All these things are made simpler to customers.

so they can shop how they want and staff have all the tools to close the sale every time.

And let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive.

With Shopify POS, you can keep shoppers coming back with personalized experiences and first-party data that give marketing teams a competitive edge.

In fact, it's proven.

Based on a report from EY, businesses on Shopify POS see real results, like 22% better total cost of ownership and benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales on average relative to the market set surveyed.

So, if you have a retail or online business, then I'll tell you what, Shopify is a fantastic partner to have on your side.

Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify.

Sign up for your $1 a month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/slash sword and scale.

All one word.

Just go to shopify.com slash sword and scale and sign up.

You'll thank me later.

You will shopify.com slash sword and scale.

It's time to head back to school and forward to your future with Carrington College.

For over 55 years, we've helped train the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Apply now to get hands-on training from teachers with real-world experience.

And as few as nine months, you could start making a difference in healthcare.

Classes start soon in Pleasant Hill, San Leandro, and San Jose.

Visit Carrington.edu to see what's next for you.

Visit Carrington.edu slash SCI for information on program outcomes.

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In the early morning of June 5th, 1994, a woman made a horrible discovery behind a BP gas station off Interstate 10.

Not sure what kind of discovery you would make behind a BP gas station that was anything but horrible, but I digress.

I digress a lot these days.

It's starting to become a bad habit.

Anyway, there was a dismembered torso, stripped of identifying features, wrapped in blood-stained plastic behind that BP gas station.

In fact, it was behind a dumpster behind that BP gas station.

The gruesome find sent shockwaves through the small Florida community.

But despite extensive forensic efforts and witness tips, the case hit one dead end after the next.

The investigation went cold, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions and a nameless victim.

It wasn't until two decades later that Fred Laster's cousin cousin stumbled upon a flyer featuring items recovered at a 1994 crime scene related to a John Doe.

When the family alerted authorities in 2015, they shared another chilling detail.

Fred was last heard from while in the company of a trusted family acquaintance named Ron Hyde.

Fred's family also revealed that Hyde drove a dark-colored Camaro, similar to the one spotted at the crime scene.

According to the family's statements to police, in the early summer of 1994, Fred packed a bag with a handful of clothes before leaving his sister's apartment and getting into Ron Hyde's vehicle, who had come to pick him up.

At the time, his siblings believed Fred was preparing to leave on tour with his band in the following days.

He was supposed to do a short stint of shows down the Florida coastline.

But when Fred's siblings received a phone call from him hours later, they knew something wasn't right.

She said, Fred, and he said, yeah.

And she's like, um, are you with Ron?

And he said, yeah.

And like a really different tone, kind of funny tone to him.

And she's like, you're okay?

And he said, yeah.

Fred's sister told police that her brother sounded strange over the phone and...

not like his normal self.

He sounded distant, both emotionally and literally.

According to Fred's sister, it sounded like he was outside when he called her.

When she asked Fred what was going on, he told her that he had just called to tell his family that he loved them.

A short time later, after this new information surfaced, investigators followed up with Fred's siblings to collect swabs of their DNA.

The results ultimately came back as a match to the blood found on the red flannel shirt, confirming that Fred had been murdered.

Roughly one year later, on April 12, 2016, a trash poll was conducted at Ron Hyde's Jacksonville Beach, Florida home.

Two garbage bags were removed from a bin he had placed by the roadside.

At the top of the first trash bag was a piece of the suspect's mail, as well as a red solo cup that contained several used Zycam nasal swabs.

After those items were sent off for DNA testing, they came back as a match to a second profile discovered on the bloody flannel.

In addition, the strand of hair located on the orange bloody gloves found at the dumpster matched Ron Hyde's DNA.

Check mate.

On March 6, 2017,

officers surrounded Hyde's Jacksonville Beach home.

He was taken into custody without further incident, and investigators executed search warrants on his two Florida properties.

Pretty much all day we've been seeing people in hazmat suits.

We saw guitar cases being brought out.

There's a wheelbarrow tractor.

They're bringing out evidence left and right, it looks like.

Utilizing heavy machinery, authorities started digging up Hyde's yard.

And while recovering recovering Fred's limbs and skull were among the top items of interest, there was no telling what he had back there.

They have to be very careful about that to make sure they don't damage any remains that may be there to see if they're remains of other people.

There may be some other children who may have been involved who are associated with Hyde that may have been reported missing and never located.

So it's going to take some time to do that, to be very careful and check the backyard, front yards of all the properties that Hyde either owned or lived at.

As far as the interior goes, Hyde's Jacksonville Beach home rivaled any dwelling shown on the television show Hoarders.

You've seen that show, right?

It's pretty horrifying.

The condition of Hyde's home was so putrid that the crime scene techs and authorities alike were forced to wear respirators while navigating through piles of garbage.

Perhaps the most crucial discovery made was the impression of floral decals located in the bathtub.

The outlines of dirt and grime definitively matched those of the decals found inside the gas station dumpster over two decades prior.

The ones that were, you know, near a body and stuff.

The following day, Ron Hyde was brought into the interrogation room, at which time investigators asked him about his

oh, I don't don't know, preferences?

Is that the term we're using these days for

things like

porn?

I mean, it's a little bit embarrassing.

I'm not going to go tell anybody, but do you watch pornography or anything like that?

Do you use any websites?

Sure.

Okay.

Yes.

All right.

I don't need to know particular details of it.

Well, it's just not child pornography.

No, no, no, it doesn't do it for me.

What are some common search terms that you use?

And again, I apologize, I'm not trying to embarrass you, but people tend to like or, you know, go towards certain types of adult pornography.

Is there certain stuff that you search for?

We're just trying to cross that gap and figure out, you know, why your names come up.

No.

No.

What did I search for?

Yeah, hot cheerleaders or,

you know,

guys.

Chatterbait.

Okay, I'm familiar with chatterbait.

Okay.

Okay.

Fab?

I don't know about a website called Fab.

I know what the term fab means.

Right.

I mean, I just don't recall.

I mean, there may be a site by that.

Right, but you just might be one I haven't seen yet because there's only like what a million of them.

Yeah, sure, sure.

X hamster.

X Hamster.

I know that one.

X Videos.

Okay.

So if you're listening to this with your partner, as a lot of our fans do, this is the point in the story where you feign ignorance and pretend like you've never heard of these websites before.

You have no idea.

What is that, ex-hamster?

I've never even heard of that.

I'll just go ahead and let you sit there in your awkwardness for a minute.

Oh boy, do you and your partner have things to talk about.

That's what we do here at Torton Scale.

Relationship counseling.

Anyway, You might be asking yourself, why the hell is this relevant?

We'll get to that.

But for now, investigators are trying to keep things light.

So they ease into the conversation by asking Hyde about his relationship with the victim's family.

Travis J

Laster, and it's L-A-S-T-E-R.

Okay.

And how do you know him?

Is he through work or DOC contact or something else?

No, actually, I met him years ago in church

up in

Looley area.

What church in

Well, that's where he's from.

It was

Strength for Living

Baptist.

Hyde no longer exists.

Oh, dissolved.

Detectives are already aware of this man's entire background before they even walked into the room, including how he was once an employee of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Get this.

Back in the 70s, Hyde worked as a mentor to teenage sex offenders within the Department of Corrections.

Years later, Hyde earned his psychology degree from the University of Florida in 1981.

He also took classes to become a nurse at one point, studying human anatomy.

Hyde was familiar with joints, bone structure, and the placement of internal organs.

leading investigators to believe that he may have some knowledge of surgical procedures or dismemberment.

Upon looking into his background further, authorities learned that Hyde also attempted to secure a $60,000 grant to open a counseling center for abused teenagers.

That plan fell through, thank God.

He became a licensed youth counselor and mental health professional instead.

a field he worked in for roughly 16 years.

I've said it again and again, if you want to find out where the predators are, go where the prey is.

During his interview, Hyde explained his work history a bit more in depth to detectives, starting with his quote-unquote teaching methods.

For instance, using the assistance lure.

Of course, the idea is to be able to

lure the child away from the parents.

Okay.

So we're thinking more in terms of like people who are abductors, like strangers that abduct children?

Could be, yes.

Okay.

Well, I'm just trying, I'm asking, you know, where your program is geared to, because now I'm kind of interested in it.

It's essentially teaching the

15 different lures that sense offenders use.

Okay.

to the parents to help to keep the kids safe.

And help parents recognize that and try to

keep their kids away from people like those?

Well, yes, it's simply to be aware of it.

And actually, during the presentation, I actually demonstrate one of the doors

for them.

I tell them ahead of the time that I'm going to demonstrate it.

And then halfway through the program, I stop and make an excuse and say, I'm sorry, I left something in my room.

And I

just stand up and stretch, and I'll be right back.

And I always go to the smallest child in the room and ask them if they'll help me.

And I bet they just about every time they say, oh yeah, sure.

One has never failed.

That's why you choose them.

Yeah.

When you've watched enough of these interrogations, you start to see the strategy.

At one point, the male detective deliberately exits the room in an attempt to see what else Hyde will offer up.

Again, I don't want to put you on the spot with anything, and I didn't know if it was uncomfortable to talk about in front of Jimmy, but what's your sexual orientation?

What's your preference?

Do you swing one way or the other?

And again, I apologize.

I'm not asking you to embarrass you.

I wasn't sure if this was maybe uncomfortable in front of another fella.

Sure, sure.

So.

I mean, predominantly heterosexual.

Okay.

You know,

it's my preference.

Maybe some curiosities and

stuff?

Or

I'm a therapist.

Okay.

Okay.

And so part of my training is in sex therapy.

Okay.

Okay.

And so

I have to be somewhat comfortable being able to talk to men about men's issues.

Definitely.

Gay issues.

All of those kind of things, swinging issues, or whatever it might be.

I mean, if I'm.

Because having worked with

the sex offender

population, not only adult, but also adolescent sex offenders.

And there's a

special CEUs that you get in order to learn how to work with them so that you are able to talk with them such that

it's not sexually stimulating, you understand,

to the child or to the teenager.

And

so, as a result of that, yeah,

I

do try to keep an open mind and

desensitize myself, I guess you might say, to it.

I mean, I'm not afraid of a penis.

Certainly.

It doesn't disturb me

at all.

Anyway, back to what brought this dirty old man here in the first place.

Hyde also volunteered at Crosswater Community Church in Jacksonville.

Are you surprised?

He later became a youth pastor at Strength for Living Church, which is where he met Fred's older brother Travis.

It was around this time that Hyde started living a double life.

The church's pastor, Dr.

Ed Stallnecker, had previously been investigated for financial fraud and other shady activities.

Stallnecker was a known drinker, and allowed people to smoke in church while hosting a local gospel talk show with his wife wife on the side.

Beware of false prophets, they say.

Under the guise of helping low-income children through maritime programs, the church ran donation scams, misleading people into giving away boats and other high-ticketed items for the local Boy Scouts.

In return, donors were supposed to receive tax credits.

The laser children were drawn to the church's music scene, and Hyde often picked them up for weekend services, building trust within the family.

These outsiders, these strangers that kind of work their way into your home, into your family's home, into your children's lives, they know exactly what they're doing.

It's a dance of polite manipulation, and a lot of people are too stupid to notice it.

Fred Laster was drawn to music and all the shiny instruments, instruments, as young people often are.

He particularly enjoyed playing in the church band.

Before long, Hyde was spending an abnormal amount of time with all six of the Laster children.

He acted as their mentor due to the fact that Fred's mother and father weren't in the picture.

I mean, I'm assuming the parents are

maybe not

great people if they were living with grandma and grandpa, or were they in jail, or was it something else?

No, something else.

The parents divorced, and

the father, um,

don't know where he was.

So it was another

with the children living there with the grandparents.

Investigators also learned that Hyde had been claiming Fred and his siblings as dependents on his tax filings for years.

In fact, he continued to do so long after Fred was killed.

While some of of the children went off on their own, others lived with their grandmother.

They essentially had free reign.

And as a result, Hyde was allowed to take Travis, Fred, and the others on routine trips and outings.

So you met Travis at that church.

Travis is a good guy, no problems, no issues.

Known for a long time.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah, good guy, no problems.

Married.

Children, we have a father of their children.

Really?

That's nice.

How long have you known him, Sen?

Since he was a kid, or just after he got into Postgard and he?

Yeah,

ever is he your age?

I don't.

No, no, no, he's younger.

I don't know.

Travis eventually grew up and started a life of his own, which is when Hyde started to spend more time with his little brother, Fred.

During the 12 months leading up to his disappearance, Fred was couch hopping between his grandmother's and sister's apartment before moving in with Hyde full-time.

Four years after Fred's murder, Hyde earned his master's degree in education in 1998 and later applied for a job as counselor for a so-called nudist organization he belonged to.

Do you have

any

nudity stuff?

Any

nudists?

Naturists?

Anything like that?

Is that someone you would look up or anything?

Yes.

Okay.

I'm a member of the American Association of News Recreation.

Are you bringing it?

I didn't know they had an association.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

How long have you been doing that?

Enter.

I will have to look that up now.

It's a nationwide organization.

Is it possible then maybe you came across pictures of kids like the course?

Do they have a website?

Enter does have a website, it does.

And there are other websites that have naturist

videos.

Yes, sir.

And of course, it does include children.

Okay.

Nude children.

They're not, they're not, there's no sexual.

Nobody's posed in a sexual position.

Nobody needs

children swimming or with their families or playing.

Okay.

So nothing like, there's nothing sexualized about it, just people basically recreation, they just happen to be new.

Right.

Naturist.

That's a term that you might want to check for in your boyfriend or husband's search history.

If you find it, your next call should probably be to a lawyer.

And if I have to explain why, then maybe, perhaps you should just never breed.

You know, we ran some database searches just to see what we came up with.

And I ran your name and I ran Travis's name just to see if anything came up.

I didn't see anything on Travis, but

do you know Fred Lester?

His brother.

Okay.

His name came up and then it had your name in the report for him being missing.

Right.

Okay.

Do you own...

20 years ago.

Okay.

Yeah, so there's not a whole lot to that report.

They had in there that

the girl that filed the report said you picked him up from the house, and then

I didn't see where anybody talked to you.

Did anybody ever talk to you about that, or do you remember?

Anybody, the police?

Yeah.

No.

Okay.

So do you know about him being missing?

Because apparently he's still listed as missing.

Okay.

So

first of all, do you know where to find him?

No.

Okay.

The torso was found roughly a month before Fred was first reported missing.

On July 1st, 1994, Fred's sister and brother visited with the local police and the sheriff, informing them that Fred was last seen several weeks before in early June.

But for whatever reason, authorities at the local branch and the sheriff's office failed to document this initial report, and there was no actual paper trail indicating that Fred was missing at all early on.

Days after she last spoke with Fred, his sister called Hyde to ask him what he had done with her brother.

According to her statements to police, Hyde laughed and told her that he had no idea where Fred was before hanging up the phone.

Sometime later, Fred's family confronted Hyde again, at which time he offered a completely different story.

Hyde told Fred's family that he must have forgotten that he actually had been with Fred on June 4th, 1994, the day before his body was found at the gas station.

During that conversation, Hyde told Fred's siblings that he'd come to his home that morning to help with a garage sale.

Hyde's PayPal account ultimately verified profits made that day.

But what wasn't adding up was when Hyde claimed he had given Fred a ride back to his grandmother's home later that evening and that he was reluctant to leave.

He said he didn't want to go home at all.

And

he grabbed the steering wheel and pulled the car over off the road, the side of the road,

and got out of the car and ran.

Actually...

Actually ran across the

road.

It was a two-lane

highway A1A there

and just got out of the car and ran across the street and was going down the other side actually going back to where we were had come from from Jacksonville.

According to this new and improved version of events, Fred exited the vehicle that fateful night, took off on foot, and was never seen again.

Convenient.

From that point forward, Hyde's explanation for Fred's disappearance shifted constantly, constantly, claiming he dropped him off near a bridge, at a park, back at his grandmother's, and who knows where else.

There was a pickup truck, kind of like a flatbed pickup truck that stopped.

Flatbed pickup truck.

Right.

I mean,

I just could see the lights, you know, in the rearview mirror.

I saw them stop, and I assumed that they picked him up.

Okay.

I mean, I didn't actually see that.

All I saw was

the truck coming past me and about where he was.

They stopped

and then went on.

And I didn't see him anymore, so I just assumed that they picked him up.

And that was the last time I saw him.

Each new version only deepened the family's suspicions, of course.

They were left feeling helpless and seemingly without the help of law enforcement.

There were people talking about seeing him in the area.

Like, there were a couple of other people that, you know, sign at different places.

Usually

after that day.

Right.

Yeah.

Do you remember who any of those people are?

Maybe we could ask them about it.

Like, if they saw him or anything.

Or if they know where he is.

No, I should probably say that.

Probably Dawn might know.

My sister.

Roughly eight months after his disappearance, Fred's sister filed yet another missing persons report in February of 1995.

This was the first time Fred Laster's name was entered into the NCIS database as a missing person.

Sadly, it wasn't until she called the number on the cold case flyer in 2015 that investigators even looked at Ron Hyde as a suspect.

20 years after the murder.

By this stage of the interview, Hyde is still unaware that the female detective, strategically playing the role of a quote-unquote good cop, is actually an FBI agent.

Roughly an hour and a half into his interrogation, she asks Hyde about the vehicle he was driving back in 1994.

What kind of car did you drive at that time?

Tamara.

Oh, nice.

Red?

No, red, charged, old red.

Okay, well, that's my second favorite, so that would be good too.

Do you still drive?

I didn't see your car this morning.

Do you still have a nice muscle car?

Yeah.

You got out of the.

Yeah, for the commute.

You need to.

You need to go out of the home?

Do you still have the prayer?

Oh no.

No, no.

Sorry.

Oh, but he's quite the collector nowadays.

It would be, what year was it?

87?

87?

Those are not bad.

Actually, I like those.

Investigators already knew that the Camaro was registered to Hyde's father.

News of the dark-colored vehicle witnessed backing up to the dumpster was never released to the public.

And Ron Hyde had just inadvertently placed himself at the crime scene.

Oops.

After a few more minutes of small talk, the male detective, or quote-unquote, bad cop, establishes that they're done playing games.

He informs Hyde that they know much more than they've been letting on.

This is the, oh shit, I'm in trouble moment of the interrogation.

So I'm going to tell you this,

and I just want you to understand we've identified the body of Fred Labster.

Oh, yes, sir.

And

so we do know where his body was found at going back to that time frame.

Okay.

So again, that's one of the reasons I'm asking these questions because I'm trying to see if you know anything about that or not.

Right.

Yeah, where was he found?

He was found over in Columbia County, over by Lake City.

Wow.

Have you ever been over there before?

Do you know where that is?

Well, I know where Lake City is.

Okay.

Well, along with his body,

we found a lot of items of evidence as well.

And

those items of evidence have been tested.

over for some many years, 24 years.

And we were able to recover fingerprints and DNA from that evidence.

Now, I will tell you that we were able to get a

sample of your DNA

several months ago, and your DNA matches the DNA from that crime scene.

So, what I'm here to tell you today is

I know

how Fred Paul Astor got in a dumpster in Lake City.

And I know who put him there.

And I know that person was you.

And I will tell you that I have plenty of evidence to back that up,

including your car

backed up to that dumpster.

And all the DNA evidence, the fingerprint evidence, the stuff that was left in there that was thrown away with that body.

I know all those things.

So the reason I'm here to talk to you about this today is I want to give you an opportunity to explain,

you know what really happened there.

Now you can try to deny these things if you choose to,

but evidence doesn't lie.

And that's what I'm trying to tell you.

And

I'm not here today just to try to simply get to the point of what happened there as far as that goes.

I know what happened there.

What I don't know is why this happened.

I don't know exactly how this happened as far as because I wasn't there in the room when it happened.

And so those are some of the things I'm trying to get to today.

And I want to give you an opportunity to explain those things to us.

One would think this is where the interview ends, and Hyde asks for an attorney.

But guess what?

People are really dumb.

So, of course, he doesn't.

Instead, he digs his heels and denies any involvement in the murder of Fred Laster because he thinks he's smart enough to talk his way out of this.

The last time I saw Fred was that evening.

The last time you saw Fred.

I did not heard that volume.

The last time you saw Fred was when you were pushing, trying to push his body into the dumpster.

No, no.

And then it fell down, and then you dragged it behind the dumpster.

No, sir.

So.

Yeah.

But that's what I'm telling you.

I think.

All the evidence says that.

All the evidence points at you.

You understand that?

There's evidence that Lee Harvey also

killed President Kennedy, but that don't make it.

We're not talking about the Kennedy assassination.

We're talking about you.

Talking about putting a 16-year-old boy in a dumpster.

No, sir.

That wasn't me.

But it was.

A broken clock is right at least twice a day, right?

I mean, the Kennedy assassination.

Let's just not get into it.

Anyway, despite his irrelevant theories about Kennedy, The evidence was stacked against him.

And the fact becomes even more clear when authorities reveal reveal that they know about his disturbing secret involving Fred's brother.

But yeah, I've talked to Travis in depth.

I know about things that happened between you and Travis when he was a young boy.

Okay?

You know what I'm talking about there, don't you?

Tell me.

But what are you referring to?

See, you keep playing this game where I can hear you.

Tell me what you're referring to because you know what I'm talking about.

The inappropriate things that happened with him when he was a young boy.

Let's put it that way.

Sexual acts that happened with him when he was under the age of 18.

Why would Travis lie to me about that?

I don't know.

I'm at a loss, also.

I don't know.

Surely, in fear of his own life, it took Fred's brother Travis nearly two decades to come forward and reveal that Hyde molested him when he was young.

But Travis hadn't been his only victim.

He told me about the other boy that you were molesting before he met you.

And the church is trained for a living.

According to Travis' statements to police, Hyde had been grooming and preying upon young boys from the church for years, using his role as a counselor to conceal his vile exploits.

Travis told investigators to believe Hyde killed his brother out of fear of finally being exposed.

So again,

if this is something where Fred was blackmailing you, threatening to reveal these secrets and stuff like that,

I can understand that.

That makes some sense.

But just telling me none of this happened,

I mean,

stop going to cut it, man.

Nobody reasonable is going to believe that story.

And that's what I'm trying to tell you.

Of course.

So, again,

I just want you to tell me, you know, what happened.

If the kid upset you, if the kid blackmailed you, if he did something to you, just tell me, be honest with me.

Tell me where I can find the rest of him so that I can give him back to his family.

That's what I'm trying to do.

I don't know, Australia.

Okay.

I have no idea.

It was a surprise to me to find that he was dead.

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In early June of 1994, a mutilated torso was found discarded behind a gas station in Lake City, Florida.

The victim's head and limbs had been meticulously removed.

leaving police with no way to identify the body.

For years, the case was was stuck in limbo, as investigators hit one dead end after another.

Then, in 2015, Fred Laster's family recognized items shown on a John Doe flyer and alerted authorities, suspecting it might be their missing relative.

As detectives re-examined old evidence using new DNA technology, They were eventually led to Ron Hyde, a 61-year-old youth pastor and trusted figure in the community.

After matching DNA from the 1994 dumpster, two items recovered that were left outside of Hyde's home, victims of Hyde started coming forward, alleging that he had sexually abused them as kids.

In 2017, 20 plus years after Fred Laster was murdered, Authorities finally had enough to take the perverted old man into custody.

The following day, Hyde was brought in for a lengthy interrogation where his story unraveled piece by piece.

And again, you can try to say, oh, it wasn't me, but I've got everything that says it was.

We have your DNA, we have all this evidence linking you to the scene, and

does this sound reasonable to you?

I mean, I'm trying to give you my perspective on this.

I understand what you're saying, but yeah,

I mean, you heard that boy.

Hyde continued to deny allegations throughout his interrogation.

After leaving him to ponder over whether or not to take a polygraph, he eventually invoked his right to speak with an attorney.

Following a nearly six-hour interview, Ron Hyde was asked to stand, placed into handcuffs, and arrested.

I'll let you know that currently you are under arrest, even if I return raffle.

Would you like me to explain why you're under arrest?

Yes, sir.

Hey, you have a murder murder warrant for your arrest right now.

In the days that followed, authorities used billboards to call upon the public, pleading for anyone with information about the nearly 23-year-old cold case to come forward.

To their surprise, tips came flooding into the FBI hotline.

Former co-workers of Hyde reported that he'd openly spoken about sleeping in bed with underage boys, wearing only his underwear.

Other witnesses said Hyde admitted to visiting a local golf course to meet young men.

Hyde also allegedly visited his local YMCA,

not to work out, but solely to shower nude while looking at boys in the locker room.

You know that song, right, YMCA?

You know the cultural significance of it, right?

You know what they're

doing there.

at the state-funded facility.

Not sure why some moms like to side with the gays rather than their own children.

Oh, and before you send in that angry email, standing for a child molester?

I want you to think about it a little bit.

Also, I don't give a shit, so keep it to yourself.

Yeah, anyway, following Hyde's arrest, several former juvenile inmates came forward, alleging that Hyde sexually abused them in his office during his tenure with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department.

It is indeed fun to stay at the YMCA, I hear.

Anyway, before the murder of Fred Laster, Hyde had no prior criminal history, but he was written up for sexual harassment in 1998 for making inappropriate comments to a female coworker.

In 2013, Hyde's name also popped up in a three-year international child pornography investigation out of Toronto called Project Spade.

In October 2010, undercover online officers with the child exploitation section of the Toronto Police Service made contact with a male on the internet who was sharing very graphic images of young children being sexually abused.

Through investigations, the officers were able to trace the internet connection to a male living in Toronto.

The investigation revealed that this individual was running an exploitation movie, production, and distribution company from an address within the city of Toronto.

The investigation resulted in the rescue of nearly 400 children and the arrest of 348 adults worldwide.

The Toronto-based company, run by a man named Brian Way, distributed child exploitation videos through a website called AzovFilms.com.

I know you're probably going to check your browser history when you get home.

Make sure your partner isn't looking at that website.

And if he is, maybe

dial 911 immediately.

Especially if your partner is on Reddit a lot.

Oh boy, am I going to get a lot of emails.

The operation involved extensive cooperation with the U.S.

Postal Inspection Service and led to the seizure of 45 terabytes of illegal material.

Those arrested included teachers, medical professionals, clergy, and law enforcement personnel.

Think about that for a second.

It's almost like every group of

people assigned to protect children has been infected by pedophilia.

Ron Hyde's name was once on that long list of suspects, but at the time, authorities lacked enough evidence to make an arrest.

Here's what Hyde had to say about Azov Films when it was brought up during his interrogation.

Does that look familiar?

Okay.

What is that?

Azov Films.

Okay.

So you're familiar with Azov Films?

Ron, it's a news.

Okay, I'm signed.

Okay.

Is it?

Okay.

Is it still active now?

No.

Do you know why it's not active?

I do.

Uh-oh.

Okay.

Because some of these videos were considered child pornography.

Okay.

Really?

All right.

Okay.

So this may be why you're popping up in our database.

Uh-oh.

Is right.

During the search of his home, authorities located six writable discs.

On them was a vast collection of child pornography, buried among heaps of trash.

Investigators also recovered a digital camera.

Apparently, when Hyde wasn't busy looking at children being sexually abused, he was out taking less vulgar photos.

documenting a life of leisure outside of his filthy Jacksonville Beach residence, if you can call it that.

The pictures showed him smiling at baseball games, flipping burgers at cookouts, hitting up a racetrack, and so much more.

I mean, he really lived a full life, this guy.

It's a bitter pill to swallow knowing that Fred's family was searching for answers while Hyde was out enjoying the simple pleasures of life, as if nothing ever happened.

And while DNA advancements finally brought him to justice, it's impossible not to question why it took law enforcement so long to zero in on him.

All of the signs were obviously there.

A suspicious connection, shifting alibis, and a dark past hiding in plain sight.

So how is this man able to evade justice for decades?

Quite frankly, what the fuck is wrong with us?

that we didn't see it.

While that question remained unanswered, Hyde was finally charged with first-degree murder, to which he entered a plea of not guilty.

Following the FBI raid of his Jacksonville Beach property, the home was condemned, boarded up, and demolished less than a month after his arrest.

Roughly five years later, Ron Hyde would finally see his day in court.

A long-delayed Jacksonville trial is underway for a man charged with murdering and dismembering a 16-year-old boy back in 1994.

We want to warn you: the details are graphic.

Ronnie Hyde was arrested in the death of Fred Laster after the teens' body was identified through Modern Science in 2016.

Prosecutors say there is DNA and other evidence that links Hyde to the murder, but the defense contends there is nothing that proves Hyde killed Laster.

In late March of 2022, the long-awaited murder trial of Ron Hyde finally took place.

Drawing a curtain back on a mystery that had haunted investigators and Fred Laster's family for decades, the prosecution presented a damning case against Hyde using new DNA evidence that directly linked him to the dismembered remains found behind the BP gas station in Lake City back in 1994.

The bloodstained flannel shirt found near the torso contained both Fred's and Hyde's DNA.

The state's key witness, who described seeing Hyde's dark-colored dark-colored Camaro the morning of the discovery, took the stand as well.

In addition, the state presented entries from a journal found in Hyde's Jacksonville Beach home.

Written in 2014, he expressed regret and penned vague apologies directed at both Travis and Fred Laster.

I feel depressed.

Lonely.

I'm struggling to stay alive.

I've been thinking about people from whom I need forgiveness.

David D,

Jasmine, and Ginger for being a bad father.

Joey, Christian, Travis, and Fred.

Fred's name was the only one underlined in Hyde's journal entry.

Joey and David are the two others who came forward alleging sexual abuse at the hands of Ron Hyde when they were young boys.

According to court documents, Hyde allegedly carried out acts of sexual abuse with the aforementioned children while using a video camcorder.

These incidents are believed to have occurred around the same time that Hyde was abusing Fred Laster.

Adding to the disturbing narrative were Hyde's personal Facebook posts made in the years following Fred's disappearance.

On social media, he presented himself as a staunch advocate.

for ending child abuse and supporting suicide prevention.

A jarring contradiction, of course, when juxtaposed with the the accusations now leveled against them.

Fred's sister took this stand and delivered a powerful testimony, recounting her memories of Hyde's Jacksonville Beach home.

She vividly recalled seeing the same type of knives and non-slip bathtub decals found at the crime scene.

The forensic anthropologist testified about the knives as well, where she described the multiple blades used during the dismemberment.

There were 25 sharp force trauma

impacts with a total of 71 cut marks.

Hyde's lawyers argued that any traces of Fred's DNA found at the crime scene were easily explainable, given that Fred had lived with Hyde for a year before his disappearance.

They attempted to cast doubt on the connection between the evidence and the murder itself.

suggesting that the prosecution's case was built on circumstantial links rather than direct proof.

They painted Hyde as a family friend who had simply become entangled in the tragic coincidence.

Not the cold-blooded killer the prosecution claimed he was.

The most impactful moment at trial came during Travis Laster's testimony.

He spoke of the trust his family placed in Hyde and the deep betrayal they felt once the truth slowly started to surface.

We lost a future with our brother.

We lost a brother that we don't get to call on the weekends and ask, hey, did you see the ball game?

And I'm asking very directly, Mr.

Lester, do you regret not being there for your brother?

It is probably the biggest regret I ever have in my life.

I very much.

In a ballsy move by the defense, Hyde also took the stand.

The 65-year-old smirked during the questioning and recounted one of the many stories he'd told before regarding the last time he saw Fred alive.

When I got up to the uh, about the second bridge, or actually before the second bridge, or the second concrete bridge, it's just a little concrete bridge covers the creek.

Uh,

he uh

he grabbed the wheel of the car and uh

pulled it under the side and

got out.

He didn't say anything.

Did he say anything?

No.

Did he say where he was going?

Not to your home's house.

Fred Laster's head and limbs were never found.

The state alleged that the body of water Hyde mentioned in his testimony may have been where he discarded the remains.

The creek he described as part of Florida's intercoastal waterway, which flows into into the Atlantic Ocean.

Though it's never been proven, it's possible that some of Fred's body parts may have ended up in the sea before Hyde drove his torso to the dumpster a short distance away.

During the cross-examination, the defendant continued to proclaim his innocence regarding both the murder and dismemberment of 16-year-old Fred Laster.

That Fred Laster was over there.

We have a very, very short amount of time that Fred Laster could have been murdered, dismembered, driven out of town, and quits, correct?

Sure, I did it.

Do you feel responsible for the death of Fred Lasker?

No, sure, I don't.

I wasn't responsible for the death of Fred Laster.

I never heard that shit.

Following a four-day trial, the jury deliberated for only a few hours before returning with their unanimous verdict.

We the jury five admitted guilty of first-degree murder.

Immediately following his murder conviction, Hyde asked to be sentenced right away.

The judge agreed.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

ending multiple decades of illusion, deception, and sexual abuse.

Hyde's true victim count

may never be known, and his ability to hide behind the guise of a community leader serves as a chilling reminder that not only are the worst monsters real, but they're oftentimes the ones we least suspect.

It's a real gut punch to think that someone you trust with your children could be there intentionally to harm them.

Hyde used his status in the church to disguise his disgusting sexual interest in children.

He flew under law enforcement's radar for roughly 23 years.

As far as his,

let's call it, media collection, it's possible that he filmed his sexual exploits with children and sold these recordings for a profit.

It's possible and more than likely that that's what his involvement was with the childporn sting project SPADE.

Following his sentencing for the murder of Fred Laster,

Ron Hyde was charged with 25 additional counts related to child porn.

One major revelation that came from his separate trial was Hyde's purchase of child porn videos from 2008 to 2010, where he spent a total of $745.

In January of 2023, he pleaded guilty to three counts and was subsequently provided an additional seven years in prison to run concurrently with his life sentence.

Members of the various churches Ron Hyde was affiliated with have either declined to comment on this case or claim to have no knowledge of sexual abuse having ever occurred prior to his arrest.

Sure, we all believe that.

No reason not to, right?

Despite authorities digging up Hyde's backyard in search of other victims, no additional human remains were ever found.

But let's not breathe a sigh of relief just yet.

Given his predatory history, it's hard not to wonder if Fred Laster was Hyde's only victim.

Usually there's not just one.

As for the church he called home, their silence over the years speaks volumes.

The strength for living church with its shady financial dealings and questionable questionable leadership wasn't exactly a beacon of transparency.

It's unclear if they were too busy running their own cons to notice or simply chose to look the other way, as we often do when we see something uncomfortable.

Secrets, though, have a way of festering and becoming infected, eventually killing the host.

So hopefully, you'll apply some antiseptic and clean your wounds.

You know?

And you know, next time the choice is between protecting children or your precious institution,

maybe then you'll pick the right one.

For the boomers in the house, this style of music is called vaporwave.

It's reminiscent of the mid-80s, a time that I'm sure a lot of our listeners remember because you're all old.

That's a great way to get listeners calling them old.

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