JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Ronnie Hyde was arrested in March 2017 in connection with the murder of a teenager decades earlier. The shocking discovery of the dismembered torso of Fred Laster eventually led police to Hyde, and he remains behind bars awaiting trial.
The case, and the interrogation of Hyde on the day of his arrest, are now featured in the new podcast “Anything You Say” from VAULT Studios. The podcast goes inside the interrogation room as investigators present Hyde with the evidence they have against him.
Katherine Ramsland, a professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania and the author of over 65 books on criminal justice and forensic psychology, leads listeners through the interrogation of Hyde and explains some of the tactics used to get a suspect talking.
Ramsland pays attention to details of the interrogation that are not so obvious, such as the furniture in the room, where the investigators are sitting in relationship to the suspect, and even Hyde’s body language.
Ramsland notes, “There’s a softening effect in the room that suggests this is used for interviews and not typically for interrogations -- unless they have shifted over to what has been suggested lately … make the interrogation more comfortable because you’re less likely to get a false confession and more likely to keep that rapport going.”
The Hyde interrogation is the second episode in the new podcast that examines interrogation tactics used in various high-profile cases around the country. The first episode takes a close look at the high-profile case involving Christopher Watts and the murders of his pregnant wife and two young daughters in Colorado.
