JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax investigates why it took 23 years to arrest a man Fred Laster’s family suspected all along in his disappearance.
The FBI has officially left the Jacksonville Beach neighborhood surrounding Ronnie Hyde’s home after a four-day search of his property. Now the next step begins to examine all the potential evidence collected.
Ronnie Hyde’s eight-page arrest warrant details probable cause in the 1994 murder of 16-year-old Laster.
The report also raises questions about whether law enforcement used all available resources that may have helped identify him sooner.
Action News Jax examined the timeline.
June 5, 1994, a torso is found behind a dumpster in Lake City.
On June 24, 1994, information about the discovery is entered into the National Crime Information Center database.
The NCIC can be accessed by virtually every law-enforcement agency in the country.
On June 29, 1994, further examination showed the remains were likely that of a male ages of 16 and 19.
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February 17, 1995, Laster’s sister files a missing-persons report with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
As is required by law, JSO entered the missing-persons report into the National Crime Information Center database, which has the ability to cross reference unidentified bodies against records of missing persons.
But it doesn’t appear there was a hit.
In 2007, the Department of Justice launched a separate database for unidentified bodies called the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System known as NamUs.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office entered the torso into NamUs in 2008.
In 2009, NamUs launched a missing-persons file but it’s unclear if JSO entered Fred Laster’s information into NamUs.
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It wasn’t until May 13, 2014, that the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office reached out to a third resource, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an organization that’s been in existence since 1984.
A spokesperson with Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said he’s not sure why the NCMEC wasn’t contacted sooner.
September 14, 2015, Laster’s sister saw the online post by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, finally giving investigators the break they were looking for.
RELATED: Family of murdered teen suspected Jacksonville Beach man was responsible for decades
The arrest warrant doesn’t detail every fact known in the case; only enough to prove there’s probable cause for an arrest.
However, the timeline raises questions about whether the systems put in place worked as they should have or whether more training is needed when it comes to missing-persons cases.
Action News Jax is working to confirm whether JSO reached out to the NCMEC or NamUs through the course of its investigation.
This is a developing story; check back for more updates.
Cox Media Group
