****MAJOR UPDATE****
***OFFICIAL STATEMENT***
TO ALL THE SLEUTHERS WHO HELPED MAKE TODAY HAPPEN:
Today I look back on all the work my team and I did along with the sleuthers on this board and say: JOB WELL DONE! Today, I received word from Captain Katina Dicks shortly after Sheriff Mark Hunter along with members of the Florida State Attorney's Office in Columbia County gave a press conference, that the 1994 Columbia County Cold Case involving a dismembered body has been resolved. 16-year-old Fred Paul Laster has been positively identified as the 1994 Columbia County John Doe.
Additionally, an arrest was made as well and the suspect in the case is 60-year-old Ronnie Hyde of Jacksonville Beach, FL. At this time, investigators are conducting a search warrant at Mr. Hyde's home looking for possible evidence tying Mr. Hyde to the crime as well as other potential crimes he may have committed in the last 23 years. With that, I want to thank the FBI, Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement, the JSO, and CCSO in their investigation tying Mr. Hyde to the crime.
With that said, I want to give everyone a play-by-play of how I got involved and further explain my role in how this played out.
In 2010, while sleuthing another John Doe case in Lake City, FL involving skeletal remains, I came across this case. The story goes that an elderly woman traveling from Florida and going to Lake City, Pennsylvania, pulled into Lake City because her carburetor went out in her vehicle. She was walking her dog at the service station when her dog picked up the scent and pulled the woman to the gruesome discovery of a dismembered body behind a dumpster there. After the discovery, the lady told me she was shaken up and could not finish out her trip the day after she was sent on her way. Eventually she was*able to calm down and finish her journey.
Along with some interviews from retired Law Enforcement officials aware of the case, we also were able to access the gas station to take photos of the area. At the time, it was an abandoned piece of property.
Also, we began this Websleuth page and put the case on some kind of spotlight. We did media pushes; asking for fellow members of Websleuths to email media members and get the word out. In 2013, I was able to secure interviews with a station in Jasper, FL as well as in Lake City and Gainesville. When the word went out, we were getting likes and comments on our Facebook as well as emails thanking our team for a job well done in getting the word out.
When we did the radio interviews, CCSO also began to pay attention to what we were doing and followed our progress. We requested interviews with Sheriff Mark Hunter and others--but because it was an active homicide, we were not allowed to talk with them or get any new information from CCSO or FDLE.
After a while, we hit a cold stop, but the investigation on our end continued with research and also linking the case to others in the area. We also had submitted a possible match from a missing person case in Tallahassee, which came back negative. We were also able to obtain a report from Dr. William Maples' office via NAMUS on the report that was done on the John Doe. With my move to the Pacific Northwest, I was limited to what I could do; but I kept paying attention, even when others thought I wasn't
Last year, I received a very huge tip that the body had been potentially identified, but I was not allowed to talk about it with others; as it could have hindered the capturing of the suspect since there was a potential lead. I respected the wishes of that person; however so that I could verify the story, I reached out to the CCSO, where my message was responded to by Katina Dicks. In her email she would not confirm nor deny that an identity was established; but did mention the case was very active. With that, I respected the wishes of CCSO and observed the progress. I checked NCMEC, NAMUS and other databases over the last few months to see if there were new updates, but there weren't any to share.
Then this morning came and I received information that the identity has officially been established and that a suspect had been arrested. I nearly choked on my breakfast when I saw it! So after making my rounds with phone calls and messages, I couldn't believe that this was happening--that closure has come to a family that* has been wondering where their loved one was for so long. And to make it better, the murderer was caught at the same time!
So many names to drop to say thank you, but you all know who you are. I want to express my sincere thanks to the Websleuth Family, the people that worked with me on this case from a private standpoint, and also to those in Law Enforcement for a job well done in closing this case. There is finally peace in knowing that Fred has a home again after 23 years. I send my sincere condolences to Fred's family and wish nothing but closure. I am also willing to help in anyway to contribute to funeral costs if needs be, as well as a to get the family financial help through all this.
With that said, I am glad that Law Enforcement got one more bad guy off the street and one more person off the UID list. There are more cases to solve!
Jason Futch
PS: Feel free to ask any questions!
poor kid RIP Fred 
