A Virginia Beach judge has granted a $100,000 bond to the 66-year-old Connecticut man charged with the 1986 rape and murder of 22-year-old Roberta Walls, freeing him under GPS monitoring while he awaits trial in a case that sat unsolved for four decades. Charles Randell Berry was arrested May 18 in Newington, Connecticut, and now must live at his Connecticut address with his wife, check in with officials by phone once a week, and have no contact with Walls' family.
Prosecutors Fought the Release
The bond decision, handed down by Judge Stephen Mahan, came despite strong objections from the Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, which opposed any bond for Berry, according to WTKR. Berry is charged with capital murder and rape in connection with Walls' death. WAVY reported that the conditions also require him to wear a GPS monitor at all times.
WTKR reported that attempts to reach Judge Mahan for comment were unsuccessful. Berry's wife told the outlet by phone that the couple was not interested in speaking with reporters at that time.
Family Calls Bond a Miscarriage of Justice
Family friend Charles Miller said Walls' loved ones were devastated by the news, calling the decision a miscarriage of justice. Miller said Walls was abducted and murdered after leaving her volunteer work at the library, and argued the judge should be held accountable for granting the bond. He criticized the decision as unfair to both Virginia Beach citizens and Walls' family.
Walls, 22, was last seen alive the night before her body was discovered, having been at Bayside Public Library, according to the same report. Her body was found on May 15, 1986, in a field behind Old Donation Elementary School in Virginia Beach.
A Four-Decade Hunt Ends With DNA
The case sat cold for decades after investigators developed a male DNA profile from evidence in 2001, but found no matches at the time. The break came in 2023, when the Virginia Beach Police Department received grant funding to pursue forensic genealogy leads, a path the department's Cold Case Squad used to identify Berry as a suspect, per WTKR's reporting.
A direct DNA comparison later confirmed Berry as the source of the DNA collected in 1986, according to the Hartford Courant. The newspaper also reported that Berry was serving in the Navy and stationed in Hampton Roads during the mid-1980s. Virginia Beach detectives are currently working on more than 160 cold cases involving homicides, missing or unidentified persons, and sexual assaults, the Courant reported.
Court records reviewed by WAVY show Berry was granted the $100,000 bond by a circuit court judge, though a Virginia attorney general news release issued around the time of his arrest had stated he was being held on a $10 million bond in Connecticut while extradition was pending. The two figures reflect different jurisdictions and stages of the case, and the discrepancy has not been independently reconciled in available reporting.
A Pattern Prosecutors Have Fought Before
Virginia Beach has seen bond disputes in cold cases before. In a 2018 case, a judge denied bond entirely for a suspect named Christopher Schmidt, according to WAVY. More recently, in 2024, 65-year-old Elroy Harrison was charged with a cold-case murder after forensic genetic genealogy connected him to two decades-old killings, CBS News reported.
