Charges dropped, for now, against Newport man accused in 1978 Laguna Beach killing

Orange County prosecutors dropped charges Tuesday against a 56-year-old Newport Beach man accused of killing a prominent Laguna Beach architect decades ago, but officials say they plan to refile the case in the next few months.

Law enforcement alleges that Walter Lawrence Dalie stabbed 55-year-old Brent Stapleton Tobey 17 times in the back and head at his home on Nov. 20, 1978.

But since Dalie was charged with murder in 2011 two crucial witnesses have died, so prosecutors need to rework the case, said Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy.

In the meantime, Dalie will remain behind bars. He is serving a 50-year sentence for killing his girlfriend in 1985 in Newington, Conn., according to police.

Before investigators determined that Dalie was a suspect, Tobey’s killing had been a cold case for years.

In 2002, the Orange County Crime Lab found DNA from someone other than Tobey on his clothes. In 2010, they learned that it matched Dalie.

More lab work could be key to refiling charges, according to prosecutors.

A hair sample found at the crime scene will be sent for DNA testing to determine whether it matches Dalie, Murphy said.

The hair contains a root, which Murphy said will enable a type of genetic analysis usually performed on teeth and bones.

“We think that strengthens our case back to Walter Dalie,” Murphy said.

Dalie was a 19-year-old Newport Beach resident working as a gardener in Laguna Beach at the time of the killing. Authorities allege that he knew Tobey and was at Tobey’s Carmelita Street home in 1978 with the intention of robbing him.

Police originally arrested Tobey’s roommate, but authorities quickly ruled him out as a suspect.

The roommate discovered Tobey’s body in a pool of blood, according to police. The two had planned to have dinner that night to celebrate the conviction of Laguna Beach resident James Scramlin, who killed Tobey’s friend Albert Willard in Laguna’s Temple Hills area in 1977.

Orange County authorities extradited Dalie from Connecticut in 2011 after charging him in the Tobey case with special-circumstances murder during a robbery and a sentencing enhancement of use of a deadly weapon.

Those charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.