Roberta Walls’ body was found in field near a school in 1986, shocking the community. Police have now arrested a Connecticut man in connection to her killing.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Forty years after 22-year-old Roberta Walls was found raped and murdered in a field behind what was then Old Donation Elementary School, Virginia Beach Police said they have solved the case through advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy.
Police announced this week the arrest of 66-year-old Charles Randell Berry, who was taken into custody in Connecticut and charged with capital murder and rape in connection to Walls’ death.
Investigators said Walls and Berry did not know each other before the night she was killed in May 1986.
“This case never left the hearts and minds of our detectives,” Virginia Beach Deputy Chief Jeffery Wilkerson said during a news conference. “We are extremely confident we have the right person.”
Walls’ body was discovered May 15, 1986, in a field near Ferry Plantation Road in Virginia Beach. The killing shocked the community and remained unsolved for decades despite extensive investigative efforts.
Wilkerson said detectives over the years interviewed and tested numerous people connected to Walls, including friends and individuals in her inner circle, but all were ruled out.
The breakthrough came after investigators received funding through a 2023 Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, commonly known as SAKI, which allowed authorities to revisit evidence using modern genetic genealogy techniques.
Police said the renewed investigation led detectives to Berry, who was living in Connecticut. Investigators later obtained a DNA sample through a search warrant, which police said directly matched evidence collected in the case decades ago.
Wilkerson credited detectives from the original investigation for carefully preserving evidence long before today’s technology existed.
“The tenacity and due diligence of the detectives 40 years ago — not knowing what we could do today — they preserved all the evidence,” Wilkerson said. “They were meticulous in the recovery.”
Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate said the arrest highlights how evolving forensic technology can help solve long-standing cold cases and provide closure for victims’ families.
“For those families that are out there, I think this provides hope,” Neudigate said. “These detectives are continuing to grind every day, and there’s hope in the future that we will bring the closure and justice they deserve.”
Berry is being held in Connecticut on a multi-million-dollar bond pending extradition to Virginia Beach, according to police.