Thomas Jabin Berry and the Murder of Janet Siclari

Thomas Jabin Berry is a North Carolina man serving two consecutive life sentences for the 1993 rape and murder of Janet Siclari, a 35-year-old New Jersey nurse killed while vacationing on the Outer Banks. The case sat cold for nearly four years until a DNA database hit tied Berry to semen recovered from Siclari’s body. A Dare County jury convicted him of first-degree rape and first-degree murder in January 1999, and Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett imposed two consecutive life terms. Berry is not eligible for parole and is held at Warren Correctional Institution in Manson.¹²³

The 1993 Killing on the Outer Banks

Janet Siclari was an ultrasound nurse from New Jersey staying at the Carolinian Hotel in Nags Head with her brother in late August 1993. On the night of August 27, she was out at a bar until around 2:00 a.m. Her brother said she came back to the room between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m. and then stepped outside again to smoke.⁴

A sanitation worker found her body around 6:50 a.m. on August 28, roughly 20 feet east of the hotel’s oceanfront deck. She was in a fetal position in a pool of blood, wearing only a blue tank top and clutching her shorts and underwear. The medical examiner attributed her death to blood loss from a two-and-a-half-inch cut across her neck that severed her jugular vein. She also had additional stab wounds to the neck and chest, a severed larynx, cuts to her face and jaw, and defensive wounds on her hands, all consistent with a small- to medium-sized knife. Time of death was estimated at about 2:00 a.m.⁵⁴

Near the body, investigators recovered a pair of gray socks and worn, size-nine Spaulding high-top tennis shoes. The autopsy found semen, showing intercourse within 24 hours of death. That sample was preserved.¹

Why the Case Went Cold

Detectives interviewed more than 200 people and took DNA from seven, including Siclari’s brother and a hotel bartender. None matched. No weapon, usable prints, or eyewitnesses were ever produced. Hurricane Emily hit the Outer Banks the day after the killing, forcing an evacuation that cut interviews short, and the transient population of a beach town scattered fast. By 1994 Siclari’s family had posted a $20,000 reward. Nothing broke the case.⁴

Who Berry Was

Berry was born on January 4, 1966, and lived in the Outer Banks area with ties to Engelhard and Manteo. He worked as a commercial fisherman and roofer. Acquaintances and former partners later testified that he carried a knife almost constantly, wore size-nine shoes, and was using crack cocaine and marijuana around the time of the killing.¹²

He had a history of sexual violence before the Siclari case was solved. In early 1992 he broke into the home of a woman named Shelley Perry, attacked her, and attempted to rape her; Perry did not press charges. That same year Berry sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl identified in court records as C.R. He pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a minor and received a 10-year suspended sentence.¹³

The DNA Database Match

In 1996 Berry was locked up after a probation revocation on the indecent-liberties case. While in custody, a blood sample was drawn and entered into North Carolina’s DNA data bank, which holds profiles of people convicted of certain violent and sexual offenses. A computerized search in April 1997 matched Berry’s profile to the semen collected from Siclari’s body almost four years earlier.¹

In July 1997, Nags Head officer Thomas Gilliam obtained a search warrant stating that “a definitive match was made of Mr. Berry’s DNA and that of the suspect sample obtained from Ms. Siclari.” Berry was already at Pasquotank Correctional Institute serving time on the indecent-liberties conviction.⁵

The 1999 Trial

Berry was charged with first-degree rape and first-degree murder and tried in Dare County Superior Court in January 1999. Assistant district attorney Robert Trivette led the prosecution.²

The state built its case around the DNA. SBI analyst Mark Boodee testified that it was “112 trillion times more likely” the semen came from Berry than from any other individual in the white population, and called it “scientifically unreasonable” to think the sample came from someone else.¹

Prosecutors added circumstantial evidence tying Berry to the scene. His former girlfriend and his wife testified that he wore size-nine shoes, habitually carried a knife, and wore gray socks like the ones found near the body. Forensic analyst Robert Kennedy performed a barefoot impression comparison and concluded it was “likely” the Spaulding shoes at the scene and shoes known to belong to Berry were regularly worn by the same person, based on wear patterns in the outsoles and insoles.¹

Shelley Perry testified about the 1992 break-in and attempted rape, and other testimony described the assaults on C.R. That prior-acts evidence came in under North Carolina Rule 404(b) to show motive, plan, and a common method.¹

Berry testified. He admitted being in Nags Head on August 27, 1993, saying he had gone to the local Department of Motor Vehicles for an ID card, but said he did not remember whether he stayed in the area afterward. He denied knowing Siclari and denied killing anyone.¹

The jury convicted on both counts. Judge Tillett imposed life for the murder and a consecutive life term for the rape, both to run after Berry finished his existing sentence for indecent liberties with a minor.²¹

The Appeal

Berry appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which affirmed both convictions on May 1, 2001, in State v. Berry, No. COA00-263. Defense attorney Margaret Creasy Ciardella raised four issues.

The first argument was that testimony about the DNA data bank effectively told jurors he had a prior record and was incarcerated when his blood was drawn. The court found Berry had not objected during most of that testimony and had “opened the door” by questioning how his blood was collected.

The second challenge went to the Perry and C.R. testimony. The court held that evidence was properly admitted to show motive, plan, and identity, and that the trial judge gave adequate limiting instructions.

The third argument attacked Kennedy’s barefoot impression testimony. The appellate court agreed the technique was “not sufficiently reliable at the time of trial,” based on the expert’s own concessions about the incomplete state of his research, but held the error harmless in light of the overwhelming other evidence, especially the DNA match.

Finally, the court rejected a sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge and affirmed.¹

Where Berry Is Now

Berry is serving his two consecutive life sentences at Warren Correctional Institution in Manson, North Carolina, at medium security. He is not eligible for parole.³

1
Findlaw. State v. Berry, No. COA00-263
2
The Virginian-Pilot. Court TV Show Spotlights Conviction in 1993 Nags Head Killing
3
Forensic Files Now. Thomas Berry
4
The Virginian-Pilot. Investigation Into 1993 Murder of Janet Siclari
5
The Virginian-Pilot. Suspect Linked to 1993 Nags Head Slaying