Police said forensic work tied Charles Berry to evidence from the killing of Roberta Walls.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — A Connecticut man has been arrested in the 1986 rape and killing of 22-year-old Roberta Walls, whose body was found in a Virginia Beach field nearly 40 years ago, police said.
Charles Randell Berry, 66, of Newington, Connecticut, was arrested May 18 after a Virginia Beach cold case investigation used DNA evidence to identify him as a suspect. Police said Berry was charged in Connecticut as a fugitive from justice while officials work to return him to Virginia. The case now moves from a decades-old investigation to an active court process.
Walls was killed May 15, 1986. Police said her body was found at 6:30 a.m. in a field in the 1000 block of Ferry Plantation Drive, near Old Donation Elementary School. Investigators said she had been stabbed multiple times and sexually assaulted. Walls had last been seen alive the night before in the area of Bayside Public Library. Captain Michele Wyatt of the Virginia Beach Police Department Detective Bureau said the case brought both pain and relief. “While it was an egregious event, there is joy in finally finding an answer,” Wyatt said.
The investigation stretched across four decades and several stages of forensic testing. Police said detectives developed a male DNA profile in 2001 through the Virginia Department of Forensic Science and entered it into the national DNA databank. No match was made at that time. In 2017, Virginia Beach police sent DNA from the 1986 crime scene to a Northern Virginia lab, which produced a composite image of the suspect. Police said later grant funding through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative helped investigators pursue more testing and leads. A direct DNA comparison ultimately identified Berry as the source of the DNA profile, officials said.
Police said the arrest was the result of work by the Virginia Beach Police Department, Virginia State Police, the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, the Virginia Beach Office of the Commonwealth Attorney and the Newington Police Department. Investigators also received help from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Parabon NanoLabs, the Virginia Department of Forensic Science and state analytical teams. Deputy Chief Jeffrey Wilkerson said investigators believe Berry was not part of Walls’ close circle before the killing. Police said Berry was believed to have been in the Navy at the time and to have lived near the crime scene.
The case had long been assigned to the Virginia Beach Cold Case Unit after early leads failed to produce an arrest. Walls was remembered by police as a young woman with deep ties to the community and close relationships with family and friends. Officials said the case shows how old evidence can take on new importance as technology improves. Attorney General Jay Jones said the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative helped move the case forward after years without an arrest. Police Chief Paul Neudigate said the arrest also sends a message to families waiting for answers in other unsolved cases.
Berry is being held in Connecticut while extradition proceedings are pending, police said. The City of Virginia Beach said he was being held on a $10 million bond and will be transferred to the Virginia Beach City Jail after that process is complete. Newington police said Berry was taken into custody Monday afternoon and processed in Connecticut before a court appearance in New Britain. Virginia Beach police said the charges are accusations and Berry is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
At a news conference, Virginia Beach officials described the arrest as a major break in one of the city’s older homicide cases. Neudigate said it was troubling to think that a person accused of rape and murder could have remained in the community for decades. Wilkerson said the department’s work reflected a long promise to Walls and to other victims. “The legacy of this investigation, the tenacity of 40 years in the making and the years proceeding, is an example of Virginia Beach Police Department’s dedication to Roberta Walls’ memory and to all victims of crime,” Wilkerson said.
The next step is Berry’s extradition from Connecticut to Virginia, where he is expected to face the case in Virginia Beach. No trial date had been announced by police as of Thursday.
Author note: Last updated May 21, 2026.