In the late summer of 2016, the life of 27-year-old Kendra Roberts was tragically cut short. On Sunday, August 7, 2016, her body was discovered on the side of Riverside Drive, near the River Walk Apartments in north Macon, Georgia. She had been shot to death. The initial investigation quickly focused on her boyfriend, 22-year-old Daniel Hall. Hours after Roberts' body was found, Hall was arrested and subsequently charged with her murder. Hall maintained his innocence, telling investigators that he and Roberts had argued on the morning of her death, after which she went missing. Despite his pleas, he would spend two years in jail accused of the crime.
A significant turn in the case came in 2018, thanks to a routine procedure in another county. Sterling Bell had been arrested in Clarkston, Georgia, just days after Roberts' murder for having a loaded gun in a public park. The gun was taken into evidence, and Bell, after being released, never returned to claim it. Two years later, the Clarkston police department, in collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives test-fired a number of confiscated weapons to check for links to other crimes. A shell casing from Bell's gun was found to be a match to a casing discovered at the scene of Kendra Roberts' murder.
This crucial ballistics evidence led to a new suspect and a re-evaluation of the case against Daniel Hall. In October 2018, Sterling Bell was charged with Roberts' murder. Federal authorities also pursued charges against Bell related to the firearm. Investigators learned that Bell had a history of mental health issues, including a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and had illegally purchased the gun weeks before the murder by lying about his drug use. Following this new evidence, the murder charges against Daniel Hall were dropped, and he was fully exonerated.
Ultimately, Sterling Bell was held accountable for the death of Kendra Roberts. In September 2022, Bell pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced by a state judge to twenty years in prison. In a separate federal case, on October 1, 2025, a judge sentenced Sterling Breynard Bell to 25 years in federal prison for firearms charges connected to the murder. The resolution of the case, brought about by a chance discovery and diligent police work, finally brought a measure of closure to Roberts' family and corrected a wrongful accusation, ensuring the man responsible for her death was brought to justice.
