Where Is Robert Atkins Now? Revisiting the 1991 Murder of Joy Hibbs — and the Controversial Reason Police Took Decades to Charge Him By Emily Blackwood

For over 30 years, Robert Atkins got away with murder — and some people believe the police helped him do it.

The occasional marijuana dealer was arrested in 2022 for the 1991 homicide of Joy Hibbs, a medical assistant, wife and mother of two. Police initially thought Joy had died in an accidental house fire in Bristol Township, Pa., but an autopsy revealed she had been repeatedly stabbed, suffered fractured ribs and was likely asphyxiated, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

Detectives investigated several persons of interest over the years, including Joy’s husband, Charlie Hibbs, and Robert, a former neighbor who had sold marijuana to the couple a few times. In a 2024 episode of Dateline, her son recalled hearing his mother argue with Robert about the quality of marijuana he sold her and said he overheard Robert threaten her on the phone weeks before she died. 

“I knew my mom was shaken,” David Hibbs, who was 12 when his mother died, told correspondent Blayne Alexander, per Oxygen. “But I don’t think she took it serious because it’s, you know, a $20 marijuana deal.”

Although authorities learned that Robert had a temper and drove a car similar to one seen near the Hibbs’ home the day of the murder, he wasn’t arrested until 2022. New investigators learned that his role as a police drug informant may have shielded him from further scrutiny. 

So, where is Robert Atkins now? Here’s everything to know about the convicted killer and why it took police so long to arrest him for Joy Hibbs’ murder. 

Who was Joy Hibbs?

Joy was a 35-year-old medical assistant who lived with her husband, Charlie, and their two kids, David and Angie Hibbs. The couple met while attending high school in Florida and got married after graduation. 

The family settled in Pennsylvania, where Charlie worked in construction and often took home videos of their adventures. “All of the things that my mom enjoyed doing, my dad also enjoyed doing,” David later told Dateline. “So, fishing, being outdoors, she loved riding on the back of his motorcycle with him.”

After Robert’s arrest, Joy’s family released a statement describing her as a “sweet, charming southern girl from central Florida” who “was highly regarded and loved by her friends, neighbors, and co-workers alike.”

How did Joy Hibbs die?

On April 19, 1991, David arrived home around 1:05 p.m. to find their kitchen on fire. After firefighters extinguished the flames, they found Joy dead in her son’s bedroom. 

Though police initially believed she died in the fire, her autopsy report told a different story. The mother of two had been stabbed multiple times and was strangled with an electrical cord. She also suffered from fractured ribs. 

The autopsy revealed that Joy didn’t have any smoke in her lungs, which indicated that she had died before the fire. Though there were no signs of forced entry, her wallet was found empty even though she had gone to the bank to withdraw cash that morning. 

Eyewitnesses also reported a blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo that was parked outside the Hibbs’ home on the day of the murder. In addition to the threatening phone call from Robert, someone threw a brick through the family’s window, kicked in the back door to their home and slashed Joy’s tires in the months before her murder.

Who is Robert Atkins?

Robert is a former neighbor of the Hibbs’ family who had sold small amounts of marijuana to Joy and Charlie. In a March 2014 interview with HuffPost, he acknowledged that he and the couple would buy “about a quarter ounce once a week” from a dealer, and that they were unhappy with a recent purchase. 

“I think it was Joy that brought it back … and wanted the money back,” Robert said. “But they took pot out of it and added seeds to it. I told her, ‘I can’t take it back. That guy would be mad at me thinking I was trying to rip him off.’ ”

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Joy had also developed a friendship with Robert’s wife, April, as the couple lived just a few houses down. 

“I remember that he had an explosive temper,” David said of Robert on Dateline. “You could hear him. You could hear him from our house.”

Why did it take police so long to arrest Robert Atkins?

Though police allegedly verified Robert’s alibi, there are conflicting accounts of his whereabouts on April 19, 1991. 

He claimed that he was talking on the phone at home at the time of the murder and made the two-hour drive to the Poconos with his family later that evening. But in March 2014, retired Bristol Township Detective Lt. Richard Bilson said he sent two detectives to the Poconos and “they had verified he had been there at the time of the murder.” Though police also learned that Robert drove a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, his was black. 

Joy’s case stalled for years, until Sgt. Mike Slaughter was given the assignment in 2014. After clearing Charles of any involvement, he learned that one of the original lead detectives was told to “stay away” from Robert because he was working as a police drug informant at the time.

“To hear that this may have been a murder suspect that was traded in exchange for drug deals, which are not a dime a dozen, they’re a penny a pound,” Slaughter told Dateline. “We can get drug intel all the time, it doesn’t make sense, in my brain.” 

This revelation cast a new light on what Joy’s son had said about the case years earlier. 

“I honestly believe they know who did it and they botched the investigation,” David told HuffPost in 2014. “All of the detectives who worked on it retired shortly thereafter. These were cops who had put their time in and were waiting to retire. They didn’t know what they were doing.”

What was Robert Atkins’ sentence?

Robert’s alibi fell apart once Slaughter started investigating. The phone call he made and his arrival at the Poconos took place much later in the day than originally believed, and authorities learned that he had access to his grandmother’s blue Monte Carlo.

In 2016, April, Robert’s now ex-wife, told police that he had come home “covered in blood” on the day Joy was murdered. 

“He was filthy. He was absolutely filthy,” she later told Dateline, alleging that Robert had abused her for years, leaving her too terrified to report his confession. “He said, ‘I stabbed somebody and lit a house on fire.’ ”

Because the evidence was largely circumstantial, it took police another six years to make an arrest. In May 2022, Robert was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, arson and robbery. He was convicted in 2024, receiving life in prison for Joy’s murder plus 30 additional years for arson.

Where is Robert Atkins now?

Robert has been serving his sentence at State Correctional Institution Benner Township, a medium-security prison in Bellefonte, Pa., since February 2024. Through his lawyer, he denied any allegations of abuse made by his ex-wife, per NBC.

At the convicted murderer’s sentencing, Charlie told the court that his goal since his wife was murdered was “to take away everything [Robert] cherishes.” 

“Mr. Atkins, soon you will be enrolled in the real school of badasses,” the widower said, per PhillyBurbs. “I am tormented at the thought of what she endured. His intentions that day were pure evil. It is time for him to be held accountable.”

Joy’s son argued that the detectives who he believed intentionally ignored the evidence in 1991 should also be held accountable. He said, “As far as I am concerned they are complicit in this crime and should stand trial.”