A Pinellas County man has been indicted on a first-degree murder charge in connection with an unsolved Tampa murder from 1980, court records show.
Robert Paul Bear, 63, was arrested and booked at the Pinellas County Jail last month. Records show he was transferred to Hillsborough County on Wednesday and was being held at the Falkenburg Road Jail.
He’s accused of murdering Charles Barnes, whose body was found on Oct. 16, 1980, at a home at 1804 E. Okaloosa Ave. in Tampa, according to a motion filed by the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office to keep Bear in custody until trial.
The decadeslong investigation hinged on DNA evidence collected from fingernail scrapings and an orange towel that was strewn on the bedroom floor next to men’s underwear and beer cans.
Forty-six years ago, Barnes’ boss called police after the 39-year-old didn’t show up for work. He was a kitchen manager at a hotel at Tampa International Airport, according to Tampa Tribune archives.
Police went to the home and found the man’s car missing. The home was locked, but police pried open the sliding glass door with the help of a neighbor, records show.
Police found Barnes lying in the hallway naked with a bloodstained knife in his right hand, according to court records. A second knife was found in his chest, which was covered by a washcloth.
Detectives determined that Barnes was attacked in the bedroom. The sheets were covered with blood, multiple cans of Budweiser beer were on the nightstand, and two pairs of men’s underwear and an orange cloth were on the floor.
Barnes’ widow told detectives she had moved out four months earlier because she believed Barnes had been cheating on her with a man, according to court records. She also said a .22 rifle was missing from the closet.
A couple of months later, Barnes’ car was found in the parking lot of a motel off Dale Mabry Highway. Hotel employees told police the car had been there for about two months.
No suspects were identified, and the case went cold until 2009, records show.
That November, fingerprints from a Budweiser beer can found at the crime scene were matched to Bear.
A detective went to Gainesville to interview Bear, who said he did not know or recognize Barnes. No one in Barnes’ family recognized Bear’s name, according to court records.
The following January, a lab report showed that DNA beneath Barnes’ fingernails also matched Bear. The report said the odds the DNA profile belonged to someone else were 1 in 9 trillion.
The next month,the detective interviewed Bear again. He denied having a sexual relationship with Barnes or any other man.The DNA evidence continued to trickle in as the years went by.
On Nov. 2, 2015, detectives learned that a fingerprint from the doorframe of the bathroom belonged to Bear. That December, a detective and a state special agent met with Bear in his St. Petersburg home, according to records.
He again denied knowing Barnes or ever hypothetically having to defend himself from Barnes or any other man. Bear’s partner, who is not named in court records, told investigators to leave.
On July 30, 2025, Tampa police Detectives Austin Hill and James Smith interviewed a woman who had adult children with Bear, records show. She told detectives Bear reached out to her in 2024 after his home was damaged by hurricanes Helene and Milton. He stayed with her for a few months and in that time mentioned how police interviewed him in 2015 while he was living with another woman.
He told her it was in reference to “an old case where a gay man was murdered,” records show.
“Witness #1 stated he had a large grin on his face and stated he was not worried about it as (the other woman) had gotten him out of it,” according to court records.
In September 2025, the orange towel that was found next to the men’s underwear at the crime scene was sent to DNA Labs International, records show. Investigators went to Bear’s home with a warrant and collected a DNA sample.
On Jan. 21, the lab report said the DNA profile on the towel belonged to Bear.
Bear was stopped near 34th Street North and 46th Avenue in Pinellas County just before midnight on Feb. 3. Police said they found 1.3 grams of heroin in his possession, and he was arrested. Prosecutors later dropped the heroin charge.
The state attorney’s office submitted the motion to keep Bear in custody on Feb. 12. He had his first appearance in a Tampa courtroom Thursday, where he was ordered to be jailed without bond. He’s slated to appear for another hearing Tuesday.
Court records list addresses for Bear in both Madeira Beach and Treasure Island.