Orlando man arrested 3 decades later on 2 cold case murders

ORLANDO, Fla. - Charlie James Hall made his first appearance before a judge on Tuesday.  He is charged with two murders from 34 years ago.  

The Orlando Police Department's cold case unit showed up at his door on January 19, warrant in hand, to swab Hall, 55, for DNA. His wife, Shannon, is still in shock.  

"I was right here," she said. 

Investigators said Hall terrorized the streets of the west side of downtown Orlando for nearly two months from August 20  to October 11 of 1987.  Sixteen times, Orlando police detectives said Hall used steel rebar to beat men over the head to knock them out before robbing them of their wallets.  Police officers said two of his victims died from their injuries.  

According to his arrest warrant, Hall was convicted of two violent armed robberies and served time in prison.  Some of his victims were homeless.  Investigators said he would beat them over the head while they were sleeping under an Interstate 4 overpass in Downtown Orlando or attack them as they walked alone.  

Police said on Aug. 24, 1987, Lawrence Stewart was found lying on his back unresponsive on his back along West Robinson Street with blunt force trauma to his head. He died a month after the attack, police say. 

On Sept. 4, 1987, investigators said Louie Halloway was just walking to work. He was found unresponsive in a parking lot on Livingston Street with similar injuries and died two days later.  

Recently, investigators used old DNA collected at those crime scenes and new technology to compare that to Hall’s new DNA swab.  Because of it, they said they solved two murders more than three decades later. 

Hall is now being held at the Orange County Jail without bond.

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