Virginia Beach police arrest man in 1986 Roberta Walls murder case

A Connecticut arrest finally put a name on the long-dormant file of Roberta Walls, the 22-year-old Virginia Beach library worker killed in 1986. Virginia Beach police said Charles Randell Barry, 66, was taken into custody on May 18, 2026, in Newington, Connecticut, in connection with Walls’ rape and murder.

Walls was last seen on the night of May 15, 1986, after finishing work at the Bayside Public Library. Police said she was headed out to spend time with friends when she vanished. By 6:30 a.m. the next morning, her body had been found in a field behind Old Donation Elementary School, in the 1000 block of Ferry Plantation Drive, just across from the library where she worked. Investigators said she had been stabbed multiple times and raped.

The case stayed open for decades because detectives kept returning to the evidence as technology improved. Virginia Beach police said a male DNA profile was developed in 2001 and entered into the national databank, but no match came back. Over the years, investigators compared the DNA of more than 30 men and ruled them out. In 2023, the department received grant funding that let the cold case squad pursue forensic genealogy leads, a move that eventually pointed investigators toward a possible suspect with strong ties to the area during the relevant time period.

Police said a direct DNA comparison then identified Barry as the source of the profile. Investigators said Barry was in the U.S. Navy at the time of the killing and was stationed in the Virginia Beach area. They also said he did not know Walls before the attack. The case file has long described Walls as 5-foot-3, 134 pounds, with brown hair, hazel eyes, and tattoos on her arm and abdomen. She was known to frequent the Aragona area of Virginia Beach and the Ocean View area of Norfolk.

At a Wednesday news conference, Chief Paul Neudigate said it was “incredibly scary” to think someone capable of such violence had remained in society for 40 years. Deputy Chief Jeffery Wilkerson described Walls as “a loving daughter, a big sister, a friend to those who knew her and someone that could be counted on in her circle of friends.”

Virginia Beach police said the cold case squad, staffed by two full-time detectives and up to two part-time investigators, focuses on unsolved violent crimes after at least five years have passed since the original investigative efforts ended. They also said an active arrest warrant and a grand jury indictment are tied to Walls’ death. NBC Connecticut reported Barry was being held on $2 million bond and appeared in New Britain Superior Court on Tuesday. For the family of Roberta Walls, the case has moved from a mystery preserved in a file to a prosecution now heading into court.