diff --git a/src/Val.cc b/src/Val.cc
index 907a29d062..53aecb0bbb 100644
--- a/src/Val.cc
+++ b/src/Val.cc
@@ -479,11 +479,7 @@ static ZeekJson BuildJSON(Val* val, bool only_loggable=false, RE_Matcher* re=nul
 			ODesc d;
 			d.SetStyle(RAW_STYLE);
 			val->Describe(&d);
-
-			auto* bs = new BroString(1, d.TakeBytes(), d.Len());
-			j = string((char*)bs->Bytes(), bs->Len());
-
-			delete bs;
+			j = string(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(d.Bytes()), d.Len());
 			break;
 			}
 
@@ -495,11 +491,7 @@ static ZeekJson BuildJSON(Val* val, bool only_loggable=false, RE_Matcher* re=nul
 			ODesc d;
 			d.SetStyle(RAW_STYLE);
 			val->Describe(&d);
-
-			auto* bs = new BroString(1, d.TakeBytes(), d.Len());
-			j = json_escape_utf8(string((char*)bs->Bytes(), bs->Len()));
-
-			delete bs;
+			j = json_escape_utf8(string(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(d.Bytes()), d.Len()));
 			break;
 			}