JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Prosecutor Mac Heavener with the State Attorney’s Office and defense attorney Ann Finnell traveled to Louisiana Friday to continue taking depositions in the 1994 murder case involving victim Fred Laster and suspect Ronnie Hyde.
This time, the attorneys met with someone very close to the case: a family member of Laster, who First Coast News decided not to name.
This family member described sexual abuse by Hyde when he was a young boy.
The idea of more victims was never in question by the FBI. In early reports on Hyde’s arrest for murder, First Coast News reported other boys, besides Laster, being described as sexually abused.
According to police reports, one of the victims mentioned to investigators is a boy by the name of Danny.
Laster’s sister told investigators, “Hyde lived in a bus behind the church, and there was a boy named Danny or Daniel that lived with him. She said they stopped seeing Danny shortly after meeting him. She stated she did not know why Danny went missing after they met Ron.”
Reports also mention a boy named Joey.
Laster's brother tells investigators, “Joey was similarly aged to [us] at the time and was autistic. Joey was also sexually abused by Hyde."
There are two more alleged victims that were mentioned in recent court documents distributed by the State Attorney’s Office. Both victims claim abuse by Hyde between the ages of 12 and 16 on multiple occasions.
One of those alleged victims said the abuse happened from 1986 to 1991. That victim was scheduled to be deposed on Friday, March 2. The State Attorney's Office couldn't elaborate on the identity of that victim, but reports show a family member of Laster is scheduled for that deposition.
That family member was reportedly sexually abused for years by Hyde.
Keeping that family member’s identity private, investigators say: “[The victim] disclosed being sexually abused by Hyde. Hyde began abusing [them] when [they were] 11 or 12 years old. The abuse continued until [they were] 16 or 17 years old.”
The family members told investigators, “Ron was, ‘very secure in what he was doing,’ regarding his sexual abuse," and that, "Hyde worked as a youth pastor at the Strength for Living Baptist Church in 1986 when [they] were 12 years old.” At the time, Hyde lived in a bus behind the church and would often having boys over for sexual activity, according to the police report.
The family member said, “the first sexual abuse occurred on this bus.”
That same family member’s name pops up at least ten times in items seized by the FBI from Hyde’s house, where these family members and Laster lived for a period of time.
Some of the items seized that mention this family member include: their medical consent documents, handwritten letters to Hyde, notes to them from Hyde, a handwritten will, and keepsakes.
Other items found in Hyde’s house include unidentified bones, suspected child pornography, pictures of unknown males, books about murder and serial sexual violence, and a grant proposal for a counseling center for sexually abused and troubled children submitted by Hyde.