More than four decades after Charles Barnes was found stabbed in his East Okaloosa Avenue home, a Madeira Beach man is now at the center of the long-cold Tampa murder case.
Robert Paul Bear, a Madeira Beach resident, appeared in a Tampa courtroom Thursday after a grand jury indicted him in connection with the 1980 killing of Barnes. Investigators say Barnes was discovered inside his home that October after he failed to show up for work, and despite the bloody scene, the case eventually went cold for decades.
Bear is now charged with first-degree murder with a weapon while engaged in burglary and with armed burglary; a judge ordered him held without bond, and he is scheduled to return to court next week, as reported by FOX 13. According to court filings reviewed by prosecutors, detectives found blood-soaked bedding, beer cans and signs that drawers had been rummaged through at the home. Barnes’ car was later discovered abandoned in the Tahitian Inn parking lot with blood inside.
Legal implications
Under Florida law, murder in the first degree is a capital felony that can be punished by life imprisonment or, in certain cases, the death penalty. The statute also lays out specific procedures prosecutors must follow if they intend to seek death. It further treats a killing that occurs during certain felonies, including burglary, as eligible for first-degree charges, a point reflected in the indictment and charging language. Florida Statutes §782.04.
How investigators say the break came
Detectives and prosecutors say the case was pulled back off the shelf and re-examined with modern forensic tools, using evidence collected in 1980. Fingerprints taken from beer cans at the scene were re-run in 2009 and matched Bear, DNA recovered from under Barnes’ fingernails later matched him, and more recent testing on a towel from the scene also returned his profile, according to FOX 13. Court documents also describe witness statements, including one from a woman who has children with Bear, saying he spoke about the investigation in ways that alarmed her and drew investigators’ attention.
Cold-case work in Hillsborough
Hillsborough investigators have increasingly leaned on updated forensic testing and genetic tools to reexamine old evidence and close long-running files. Local coverage of other recent breakthroughs highlights how DNA and specialized lab work have helped identify victims and suspects in decades-old cases, including a high-profile 1995 Hillsborough identification aided by forensic labs and genealogy methods 1995 Hillsborough cold case…