On May 24, 1985, the remains of Christopher Walker, a 22-year-old male from Linwood, Pennsylvania, were unearthed from a shallow grave near Christiana, just outside Newark, Delaware. He had been missing since the summer of 1983, and investigators determined he had been shot multiple times before being buried. Contemporary memorial listings record the death in Newark, Delaware, on that date.
Before his disappearance, the 22-year-old male was a federal drug informant slated to be the primary witness against Vincent L. Perry in a methamphetamine case set for trial on July 20, 1983, in federal court. Walker vanished shortly beforehand; press accounts placed his abduction on July 1, 1983, two weeks before he was to take the stand.
Testimony later laid out the ambush. John Hall, recently released from jail in late June 1983, met with Charles Kevin Kelly and Perry, then went with Kelly to a rural property near Christiana. Hall said he and Kelly dug a grave and waited in an abandoned house with shovels and bags of lime. That night Perry arrived with Christopher Walker, a 22-year-old male; as they approached, Kelly stepped from the darkness and shot Walker repeatedly in the chest and face, then handed the gun to Hall and ordered him to fire two shots into Walker's head. The men buried the body, dumped Walker's clothes in the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, and, days later, Hall and Kelly each received $5,000, according to Hall.
Nearly two years later, authorities were led to the grave—on land linked to Hall's family—off Patterson Lane near Christiana, where the 22-year-old male's body was found. Hall, who had struck a cooperation deal with prosecutors, became the key witness. Court records describe his benefits and the limited role of his brother, who leased the Christiana property, and investigative notes that surfaced in post-trial hearings, but judges ruled the undisclosed impeachment material would not have changed the verdict.
Arrests led to a six-week joint trial in New Castle County in the fall of 1986. Vincent L. Perry and Charles Kevin Kelly were found guilty of first-degree murder and first-degree conspiracy in the killing of Christopher Walker, a 22-year-old male; the jury declined to impose the death penalty, and both men received life sentences. On appeal, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed Kelly's convictions in May 1990. Perry died while his appeal was pending; the court dismissed his appeal, leaving the convictions in place.
