Charges Against Man In 1991 Murder & Arson Forwarded To Trial

Several hours of emotional testimony led to the accused killer of a Bristol Township mom to have the charges against him forwarded to trial.

Inside a Bristol Borough courtroom Wednesday, District Judge Frank Peranteau forwarded charges of murder of the first degree, murder of the second degree, two counts of robbery, and seven count of arson against Robert Francis Atkins, 56, of Falls Township’s Fairless Hills section, onto the Justice Center for trial. A newly-added charge of burglary was also carried forward.

Atkins is accused of the April 19, 1991 murder of Joy Hibbs and following arson of her home in Bristol Township’s Croydon section. In court and in filings, it has been alleged that Atkins, a former neighbor of the victim from Croydon, was enraged at Joy Hibbs because she complained about the quality of the marijuana sold by the defendant. Joy Hibbs and her husband, both natives of Florida, smoked recreational marijuana.

Hibbs’ family – her husband Charlie, son David, and daughter Angie – have fought for years to get a resolution in the cold case. After an investigation petered out in the years following the murder, Bristol Township police Detective Michael Slaughter, now a sergeant, was tasked with reexamining the case, which led to assistance in breaking the cold case from the Bucks County Detectives.

Wednesday morning’s preliminary hearing was the first time the Hibbses saw Atkins in person in decades. Members of the gallery who knew Joy Hibbs cried at times during testimony.

David Hibbs emotionally testified that he was a “quintessential momma’s boy” who loved spending time with his mom, who was known for her charm and “beautiful southern accent.” He was moved to tears as he testified about coming home from Mary Devine Elementary School to find their family house in 1200 block of Spencer Avenue ablaze with his mom inside.

He was placed in the back of ambulance after neighbors had to pin him down to stop the then 12 year old from running into the burning house.

“I remember banging on the door of the ambulance and yelling: ‘someone let me help my mom,’” he said.

David Hibbs said before the district judge that he overheard a call where Atkins threatened his mother in the weeks before her murder.

“I remember hearing him say: ‘I will f**king kill you and blow up your house,’” David Hibbs testified.

In the weeks leading up to the murder, David Hibbs said someone tried to kick in his family’s backdoor, slashed the tires on his mom’s prized 1988 Mercury Cougar in the driveway, and Robert Atkins called the doctor’s office where she worked to threaten her.

Joy Hibbs, according to her son, didn’t tell her husband about the threats because she was worried his loyal personality would lead to him confronting a volatile Atkins, whose ex-wife testified used methamphetamine and other drugs.

Bucks County Detective David Hanks, a veteran lawman with decades of experience, told the court of the in-depth timeline investigators had leading up to Joy Hibbs’ being killed.

The investigation found Hibbs went to the bank in the morning to deposit a check, went to a Croydon grocery store to get $27 worth of food for her family at 10:54 a.m., walked the family dog after, and then received an unexpected house call from two members of a Bensalem Township church she was interested in joining. The church members left by 11:45 a.m. Between 11:45 a.m. and just before 1 p.m., Hibbs was killed and her family’s home set ablaze, authorities said.

Hanks testified that a clock in David Hibbs’ room was stuck on 12:54 p.m. when the fire became intense.

In the two days before David Hibbs learned his mother’s death was ruled a homicide, he thought that because her badly burned body was found in his room it meant something in his room had caused a blaze. The thought he may have been to blame “tormented” him.

The first thought by authorities at the scene the day of the crime was that Joy Hibbs died in an accidental fire, but Edward Cooper, the Bristol Township fire marshal at the time, found four areas of origin for the fire and use of accelerant.

Current Bristol Township Fire Marshal Kevin Dippolito reviewed the evidence from Cooper’s investigation in recent years and almost entirely agreed with his findings. He thought that there were three points of origin instead of four.

Hanks testified that the burners on the stove were on with paper placed on it and a trash can was on fire when crews arrived.

An autopsy on April 20, 1991 found Joy Hibbs, who was badly burned, was stabbed, beaten, and likely strangled with a computer cord before her death. She wasn’t alive when fire and smoke filled the house.

Hanks, citing statements from several witnesses, told investigators that shortly before the fire there was a blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo “haphazardly” parked outside the Hibbs’ home, which stuck out as odd to at least three witnesses.

April Atkins, Robert Atkins’ ex-wife who was married to him at the time of the crime, told the court her husband drove a blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

April Atkins testified Robert Atkins walked into their apartment in Falls Township after the homicide and fire at the the Hibbs’ home with dark blood-like stains on his pants and shirt. On the stand, she said the marks on his pants may have been dirt, but she wasn’t sure.

“I stabbed somebody and lit a house on fire,” she testified that he told her. She added he tapped a pocket where he often kept a folding knife after he made the statement.

Robert Atkins, on that afternoon, told his wife to gather their 1 and 4 year old kids and pack up for a trip to the Poconos.

She heard Robert Atkins in the shower while she was calling out from her job at Woods Services, contacting the young co-worker she carpooled with, getting the kids ready, and packing for the unplanned trip, the now-55-year-old woman testified.

Recalling the drive to a hotel in White Haven, Luzerne County that she had never been to before, April Atkins said it had been the “scariest” drive of her life and her then-husband had road rage the entire way.

April Atkins, who now lives out of state, testified the couple stayed at the Poconos’ hotel for two days. She recalled Robert Atkins purchasing new shoes with money they needed for bills after previously being foreclosed on and depositing a bag of unknown items in the woods when the family went on a walk.

When the family returned to Lower Bucks County, two Bristol Township detectives came and visited. With April Atkins present, they talked with Robert Atkins, then a police informant, about Joy Hibbs’s death, but he said he didn’t know about it and was in the Poconos at the same.

April Atkins testified she was friends with Joy Hibbs and was shocked when the detectives said Joy Hibbs was kill. The revelation led to her putting the pieces together, a secret she kept for more roughly 25 years.

She told the court she was afraid of Robert Atkins, who she dated since age 17 and married at 19. She stated he was mean to her and became unhinged when on drugs. She also indicated he faked injuries with employers to get settlements.

Slaughter, the Bristol Township detective tasked with reviving the cold case, visited April Atkins in 2014, but she was coached by Robert Atkins in advance on what to say.

“I lied,” she said, adding the deceit weighed on her.

In September 2016, she went to the Bristol Township police station without advanced notice and told Slaughter her side of the story over the course of two days.

“I lied and I needed to clear the air on it,” April Atkins said.

There was a legal disagreement in court over April Atkins’ testimony.

Robert Atkins’ attorney, Craig Penglase, said her testimony on the details of what happened when they were married shouldn’t be admitted due to spousal privilege, a section of Pennsylvania law that allows communications between a married couple to remain confidential as to not drive a wedge in the relationship.

First Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said it was clear April Atkins was waiving that confidentiality and their marriage had been over for years.

Penglase said he believed the law means April Atkins couldn’t testify about Robert Atkins’ comments during the years they were married because he didn’t waive the marital confidentiality. The defense attorney said he had a legal brief that backed up his argument.

Shorn said the law is outdated and case law has varied on it. She said she believes the argument should be had before trial and not during a preliminarily hearing where the Commonwealth only has to show they have merely enough evidence for a prima facie case.

“This is not the place to litigate this,” Shorn said.

The district judge agreed with the prosecutor and said April Atkins’ testimony will stand for the purposes of the preliminary hearing.

During the hearing, Schorn played recordings of December 2021 calls between April and Robert Atkins.

In the first call, Robert Atkins tells his ex-wife that she has said enough to investigators, and she does not need to talk to police about the case anymore.

April Atkins told her ex-husband, who she divorced in 2006 but stayed in contact with, that her roommate may have told police a story about a “knife and fire” She said she may have relayed some information to the man because she had lived with him for so many years.

However, according to Hanks, the story was set up by detectives who were listening in.

Robert Atkins, who sounded annoyed in some calls and calmer in others, told his ex-wife and mother to his kids that he didn’t know what she was talking about and he could not be in two places at once, refencing his alibi that the family was in the Poconos when the crime happened.

In another call, Robert Atkins told April Atkins the phone might be tapped by detectives.

Robert Atkins’ youngest son testified before the grand jury, Hanks said, and stated his father told him he was being investigated for his involvement in a crime from 30 years before. It was learned Robert Atkins had prepared his son to live on his own, gave him cash, and showed him how to run his eBay sports memorabilia business if Robert Atkins was unable to as the investigation intensified.

Penglase didn’t put forward an argument on behalf of his client and his office told reporters he wasn’t commenting.

In court, Penglase stated his client was not guilty.

The case has raised some questions about how aspects of the investigation were handled by investigators in the early 1990s.

Shorn, after the preliminary hearing, commended the detectives who worked to solve the cold case. She also said the Hibbs family is looking forward to getting justice after years of the case going unsolved.

Robert Atkins is being held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility without bail due to the seriousness of the charges.

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