Decades-Old Bristol Twp. Murder & Arson Case Goes To Trial

Nearly 33 years after Joy Hibbs was murdered and her home set ablaze in Bristol Township’s Croydon section, the man accused of killing her will stand trial.

The trial for Robert Francis Atkins, 57, of Falls Township’s Fairless Hills section, is set to begin Monday morning at the Justice Center in Doylestown Borough. B

Atkins is facing charges of first degree murder, murder of the second degree, burglary, two counts of robbery, and seven count of arson.

The defendant opted for a bench trial before Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Wallace Bateman.

A bench trial, also known as a waiver trial, means that a defendant and prosecutor agree to waive a jury trial and have a judge decide.

New Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn is set to lead the state’s case, while attorneys Niels Eriksen and Craig Penglase will be leading the defense for Atkins.

Atkins is charged with the April 19, 1991 murder of Joy Hibbs and following arson of her home. His arrest came in 2022 after a years-long investigation that gained national attention.

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.

David Hibbs testified before the district judge in 2022 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 said.

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.

April Atkins, Robert Atkins’ ex-wife who was married to him at the time of the crime, testified at the preliminary hearing that Robert Atkins walked into their apartment in Falls Township after the homicide and fire at 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.

An autopsy conducted 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.

In recent years, “it surfaced that Atkins had previously worked as a confidential drug informant for the Bristol Township Police Department. There have been mentions from Hibbs’ family that the relationship influenced the handling of her murder case.

Last year it became public that Atkins’ family informed prosecutors of an incident from over forty years ago in which Atkins reportedly assaulted his aunt, Charlene Atkins, leaving her severely injured while living in Tennessee. The family members claim that not only were there similarities between the Tennessee and Bristol Township crimes, but the victims also had similar physical appearances and demeanor, according to a report from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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