Man Sentenced to 25 Years Federal Prison for 2016 Macon Murder

ATLANTA – Sterling Breynard Bell, 35, of Clarkston, Georgia, has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for firearms violations connected to the 2016 murder of Kendra Roberts near Macon, Georgia. Bell will also serve three years of supervised release, during which he must participate in mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Roberts, 27, was found dead along a highway on August 7, 2016, with multiple gunshot wounds, including two to the face and one to the back of the head. Initially, her boyfriend was wrongfully charged in the murder and remained in custody for months.

Federal investigators later linked a Glock 9mm pistol seized from Bell to the murder using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). Bell had purchased the gun weeks before the murder while misrepresenting his drug use to the seller. An ATF investigation also revealed that Bell had schizophrenia and was not taking prescribed medication at the time.

Bell was arrested on federal firearms charges in October 2018 and later admitted to killing Roberts. He was sentenced in state court to 20 years with eligibility for parole after serving one-third of the term.

U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg highlighted the case as an example of forensic technology preventing the conviction of an innocent person, while ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge Beau Kolodka praised NIBIN for linking Bell’s firearm to the crime.

Bell pleaded guilty on July 3, 2025, to one count of making false statements to a federal firearms licensee and two counts of illegal possession of a firearm as an unlawful user of a controlled substance. The case was investigated by the ATF and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laurel B. Milam and Phyllis Clerk.