A woman who was raped and murdered, with her body discovered in a field, has led to the recent arrest of the suspected killer more than four decades after the tragic incident occurred.
Roberta Walls, aged 22, was found deceased on May 15, 1986, at Virginia Beach in Newington, Connecticut, USA. She had been brutally stabbed multiple times following a sexual assault. Authorities determined that her last known whereabouts were at the Bayside Public Library, where she was employed, the night before her tragic death. Despite extensive efforts, the case remained unsolved, leaving the identity of the perpetrator unknown for years.
Police officials announced the apprehension of 66-year-old Charles Berry this week, following an indictment by a jury in connection to Roberta’s murder. The arrest was made in collaboration with the Virginia Beach Police Department (VBPD). Berry, a resident of Newington, Connecticut, was taken into custody as a fugitive from justice, with VBPD holding an active arrest warrant related to a 1986 homicide in Virginia Beach. His bail was set at $2 million (£1.49 million) in Connecticut, and he was subsequently transferred to court for legal proceedings.
Berry is currently awaiting extradition to Virginia, pending approval from Connecticut’s district court for the transfer order to be finalized.
The breakthrough in the case came as cold case investigators continued their relentless pursuit of justice for Roberta, leveraging advancements in technology. In 2017, Virginia Beach Police secured funding to send DNA evidence from the original crime scene to a laboratory in Northern Virginia, which enabled the creation of a composite sketch of the suspect.
While it was not explicitly mentioned whether the DNA evidence played a role in this week’s arrest, the circumstances surrounding Roberta’s murder in 1986 stirred shock and horror. Her lifeless body was recovered from a field near the Virginia primary school close to the library where she worked. Described as having “obvious signs of trauma from a violent assault,” her death was swiftly classified as a homicide.
According to VBPD’s cold case records, Roberta was last seen alive at the Bayside Public Library before her tragic fate. She frequented the Aragona area of Virginia Beach and the Ocean View area of Norfolk, sporting tattoos on her arm and abdomen.
