The murder of Kendra Roberts
Macon, Bibb County, Georgia · 2016
Overview
Kendra Roberts, a 27-year-old woman, was found shot to death on the morning of August 7, 2016, in a grassy area off Riverside Drive near the River Walk Apartments in Macon, Georgia, after a passing motorist saw what looked like a body and called 911; she had been shot multiple times at close range, including twice to the face and once to the back of the head. Within a day, investigators arrested her boyfriend, Daniel Cornel Hall, then 22, who was indicted for murder and spent roughly two years in jail despite a lack of physical evidence tying him to the killing. The case effectively stalled until a chance break in another jurisdiction. On August 17, 2016, ten days after the murder, police in Clarkston, Georgia had arrested Sterling Breynard Bell at a park after hours for an unrelated matter and confiscated a loaded Glock 9mm pistol from his vehicle; Bell never reclaimed the gun, and it sat in the Clarkston Police Department evidence room. In early 2018, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent, Brian Moore, took roughly fifty stored Clarkston guns to be test-fired and their casings compared against casings recovered from crime scenes. The casings from Bell's Glock matched those found at the Roberts murder scene. On that ballistics finding, the murder charges against Hall were dismissed in October 2018 and Bell was indicted in Bibb County on December 3, 2018. Bell, who had bought the Glock weeks before the killing by lying about his drug use, later pleaded guilty to Roberts' murder and was sentenced to 20 years in state prison, and in 2025 he received a separate 25-year federal sentence on related firearms charges.
How it was solved
The murder of Kendra Roberts was solved not by DNA or genetic genealogy but by a firearm that wound up, almost by accident, in a police evidence locker more than a hundred miles from where she died. When Roberts was found shot off Riverside Drive in Macon on August 7, 2016, Bibb County investigators had a body and bullet evidence but no weapon and no clear suspect beyond her boyfriend, Daniel Cornel Hall, who was arrested within a day and charged with murder. Hall sat in jail for about two years. The break came from an unrelated event ten days after the killing and an entire jurisdiction away. On August 17, 2016, officers of the Clarkston Police Department in the Atlanta area arrested Sterling Breynard Bell at a park after hours and, in the course of that arrest, took a loaded Glock 9mm pistol out of his vehicle and into evidence. After Bell was released, he never came back for the gun, so it stayed locked in the Clarkston evidence room with no apparent connection to any homicide. The decisive step was a methodical ballistics initiative rather than a single lucky hit. In early 2018, ATF Special Agent Brian Moore collected roughly fifty firearms that had been stored by the Clarkston police and had them test-fired so the markings on their spent shell casings could be compared against casings recovered from unsolved crime scenes. Modern firearms identification rests on the principle that a gun stamps unique, reproducible microscopic toolmarks onto the casings it fires. When the casings test-fired from Bell's confiscated Glock were compared, they matched casings recovered from the scene where Kendra Roberts was killed. That match was the load-bearing evidence in the case. It did two things at once: it identified Bell, a man who had no known prior link to Roberts, as the source of the murder rounds, and it exonerated Hall, against whom the state had no comparable physical proof. On the strength of the ballistics, Bibb County prosecutors dismissed the malice-murder and felony-murder charges against Hall on October 24, 2018, and a grand jury indicted Bell on December 3, 2018, on charges including malice murder, felony murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Investigators further established that Bell had purchased the Glock from a licensed dealer just weeks before the murder by lying about his use of a controlled substance, which made his possession of the gun a federal crime. Bell ultimately admitted to the killing: he pleaded guilty in state court to Roberts' murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison with credit for time served. In a parallel federal prosecution, he pleaded guilty in 2025 to making a false statement to a federal firearms licensee and to illegally possessing a firearm as an unlawful drug user, and on October 1, 2025, Chief U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May sentenced him to 25 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg summarized the case by saying the diligence of a federal special agent had solved a murder and prevented the conviction of an innocent man.
Sources
- Woman found along highway 9 years ago. Now, a shell casing has sent a man to prison
“On August 7, 2016, Roberts' body was found along a highway near Macon. Roberts had been shot multiple times at close range, including twice to the face and once to the back of the head ... Roberts's boyfriend, Daniel Hall, then 22, was initially charged with her murder and spent two years in jail ... a Glock 9mm pistol seized from Bell was linked to the murder through ballistic testing. In 2018, an ATF special agent confirmed that Bell's gun was the murder weapon ... 'The diligence of a federal special agent solved a murder and prevented the conviction of an innocent man,' stated U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.”
- New suspect indicted for 2016 Macon murder; Initial suspect's murder charges dropped
“Sterling Bell of Clarkston was indicted on December 3, 2018, in Bibb County court on three charges: Malice Murder, Felony Murder, and Possession of Firearm During Commission of a Felony ... In early 2018, an ATF agent collected stored firearms from Clarkston Police Department and conducted ballistic testing on shell casings linked to crime scenes. The test results connected Bell's gun to Roberts' murder ... On August 17, 2016, ten days after Roberts' murder, Clarkston officers arrested Bell at Milam Park after hours. Officers discovered a loaded firearm in his vehicle and took it into custody ... after Bell's release, he never retrieved the weapon ... Daniel Hall, Roberts' 22-year-old boyfriend ... His Malice Murder and Felony Murder charges were dismissed on October 24, 2018.”
- Man accused of 2016 killing of Macon woman pleads guilty, sentenced to 20 years in prison
“Kendra Roberts, 27 years old, was found deceased on August 7, 2016, along Riverside Drive in Macon, Georgia ... Daniel Cornel Hall, Roberts' boyfriend, was arrested within 24 hours and indicted on murder charges in October 2016. However, charges were dismissed two years later after ballistics evidence pointed to a different suspect ... ATF Agent Brian Moore conducted forensic examination of firearms stored by Clarkston Police, including a loaded gun recovered from Bell's impounded vehicle. The ballistics results matched Bell's gun to the crime scene ... Bell, now 33, pleaded guilty to Roberts' murder and received a 20-year sentence with credit for time served ... District Attorney David Cooke stated: 'In this case, our investigation led to Mr. Bell's indictment and a dismissal of all charges against Mr. Hall.'”
- Second man charged with Macon woman's 2016 killing
“The body of 27-year-old Kendra Roberts was found along Riverside Drive on the morning of August 7, 2016. A person driving along Riverside Drive said he saw what looked like a person laying just off the road in a grassy area and called 911. Roberts was found dead on Riverside Drive near the River Walk Apartments ... marking that year's tenth homicide ... In early 2018, ATF Agent Brian Moore collected the Clarkston PD's stored guns to shoot and test for any shell casings with unique markings found around crime scenes. Results from Bell's gun linked him to Roberts' murder.”
- Sterling Breynard Bell Sentenced to 25 Years for Federal Firearms Charges Linked to 2016 Macon Murder
“Bell pleaded guilty July 3 to one count of false statements to a federal firearms licensee and two counts of illegal possession of a firearm as an unlawful user of a controlled substance ... 'Bell had lied about his drug use to purchase the weapon just weeks before Roberts's death.' ... In 2018, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives used NIBIN to establish a connection between the seized Glock 9mm pistol and shell casings found at the murder scene ... 25 years on federal firearms charges, with three years of supervised release ... U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg: 'The diligence of a federal special agent solved a murder and prevented the conviction of an innocent man.'”
- Her boyfriend was charged in her 2016 murder. Now, there's a new suspect
“Recently, Clarkston police went to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives to shoot about 50 stored guns to see if any shell casings had the unique markings of casings found around crime scenes ... police were able to link shell casings from Bell's gun to Roberts' murder ... Daniel Hall, arrested at age 22, spent two years in custody accused of the 2016 murder ... now out of jail ... Sterling Bell, who was arrested on the murder charge days after Hall's release.”
- Bibb County murderer sentenced to 25 years on federal firearms charges
“Chief U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May sentenced Sterling Breynard Bell, 35, of Clarkston, Georgia, to 25 years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release ... Bell had lied about his drug use to purchase the weapon just weeks before Roberts's death ... the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives used NIBIN to establish a connection between the seized Glock 9mm pistol and the murder in 2018 ... Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laurel B. Milam and Phyllis Clerk prosecuted the case.”