"I did not hurt that boy." In exclusive interrogation video, Ronnie Hyde denies the murder of 16-year-old Fred Laster.
The Nassau County teen was found dismembered in a dumpster in 1994.
Hyde faces charges for murder and 25 counts of child porn. He's also suspected in several child sex abuse cases dating back to the 1980s.
FRED LASTER CASE: Hyde denied bond | Hyde's Facebook posts | Photos: FBI raid in Jacksonville Beach | FBI serves search warrant at Jacksonville Beach home of man arrested in teen's 1994 murder | Prosecutors: Ronnie Hyde molested at least one other boy before Fred Laster's murder
Below is an excerpt from part of the six-hour interrogation video from the day of Hyde’s arrest in March 2017.
Columbia County Sheriff's Office detective: "I know how Fred Paul Laster got in a dumpster in Lake City."
Hyde: "OK."
CCSO detective: "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."
Action News Jax obtained the video from a source, and verified it with local and federal authorities.
In it, Hyde sits in the room with a CCSO detective and an FBI agent.
The video starts with detectives talking to Hyde about his personal life, which includes years of mentoring young people through his church.
Hyde tells them he's a member of a nudist group, and freely talks about being around naked children.
“There are other websites that have naturist videos, and of course it does include children, nude children,” Hyde said. “But there's no sexual. Nobody's posed in a sexual position.”
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About two hours in, detectives turn up the heat.
Detective: “All the evidence points at you. You understand that?”
Hyde: “There's evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy, but that don't make it true.”
Detective: “We're not talking about the Kennedy assassination. We're talking about you putting a 16-year-old boy in a dumpster.”
Hyde: “No, sir. That wasn't me.”
Hyde is in the room close to six hours, and sticks to his story.
DET: "All the evidence points at you. You understand that?"
— Russell Colburn (@RussellANjax) June 5, 2019
HYDE: "There’s evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy, but that don’t make it true."
DET: "We’re not talking about the Kennedy assassination. We’re talking about you putting a 16 y/o boy in a dumpster." pic.twitter.com/BtfdlKzwO5
“I did not hurt that boy,” he told the detectives.
But in the end, he's led away in handcuffs.
“Currently, you are under arrest,” an officer tells Hyde. “Do me a favor and turn around for me,” he says applying the handcuffs.
Hyde is scheduled to appear in court next week and a trial date hasn't been set.
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