After 32 years, Joy Hibbs’ killer was convicted of first-degree murder and arson in her death in Croydon

The Hibbs family has waited three decades for justice. That wait ended Thursday as a Bucks County judge issued a verdict in the case against the man who stabbed their matriarch, Joy, to death and left her to burn in a house fire.

The three-day bench trial of Robert Atkins concluded with Atkins, 57, convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of arson for killing Hibbs, 35, inside her Croydon home in 1991.

Atkins had no visible reaction to the verdict as it was handed down by Bucks County Court Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. Hibbs’ family, including her husband, Charlie, and two children, wept and embraced.

In a statement afterward, the Hibbs family said they were “overwhelmed with emotions,” and expressed gratitude to the investigators and prosecutors who handled the case.

“Today’s guilty verdict is bittersweet for our family. It’s 32 years overdue but justice has finally prevailed,” the family said. “A first-degree murder verdict was the only acceptable option for us today.”

Prosecutors, led by District Attorney Jennifer Schorn, said that the fatal attack started as a robbery, spurred by a dispute over marijuana and accelerated by threats and acts of vandalism. The evidence collected against Atkins over the course of three decades, she said Thursday, was overwhelming.

Schorn had initially expressed her intent to pursue the death penalty against Atkins. But her office reversed that decision late Thursday after consulting with Hibbs’ family.

“They decided this was what they wanted, and after what they have been through, how could that not be a compelling reason for us to proceed immediately to sentencing?” she said.

Atkins will be sentenced Friday morning. First-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence in Pennsylvania.

Atkins’ lawyer, Craig Penglase, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His co-counsel, Niels Eriksen, said that they disagree with the verdict and “look forward to exploring the appeal options.”

“Overwhelmingly, this was a case that wasn’t investigated the right way,” Eriksen said. “There’s a lot of doubt everywhere, and I don’t know that it was sufficient to convict.”

Penglase had disputed Schorn’s theory of the case in his closing arguments, saying her office had rushed to implicate Atkins due to pressure from Hibbs’ family and media outlets. They had built their case, he said, on a “mountain of doubt.”

“There’s too much we don’t know. There’s too much that wasn’t done,” Penglase said. “I know the Hibbs family is desperate for an answer, but justice is not an answer; it’s the correct answer. And the correct answer here is not guilty.”

Penglase criticized the initial investigation into Hibbs’ death in the ‘90s as improper, saying detectives mishandled evidence and failed to pursue other potential suspects.

But Schorn stood firm, saying that the evidence presented to the judge was solid.

Schorn had ended her case with testimony that spanned the length of the investigation. Key evidence included multiple neighbors who reported seeing a distinct, blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo parked haphazardly outside the Hibbs’ home around the time Hibbs was killed.

Atkins, Schorn said, was known to drive a blue Monte Carlo, as seen by Hibbs’ son, David.

The prosecutor also called on people close to Atkins, including his youngest son, and a former cellmate who said he elicited a non-verbal confession from him.

Atkins’ wife, April, described a similar confession during testimony, saying he came to their home covered in blood on the afternoon Hibbs died. He indicated to her that he had stabbed someone before rushing her and their children out on an impromptu trip to a hotel in Lake Harmony, Carbon County.

Penglase attacked the credibility of those witnesses, including both current and former detectives who handled the investigation.

He questioned Bristol Township Police Lt. Michael Slaughter, who re-opened the then-dormant case in 2014, about other potential suspects, including a church minister who visited Hibbs shortly before her death and a former Croydon resident convicted of a similar murder and arson in Gloucester County.

Slaughter said each was gradually ruled out, either from alibi or from evidence gathered from other sources. The only suspect who remained was Atkins, who previously lived two doors down from the Hibbses and who was overhead by David Hibbs threatening to kill Joy Hibbs and blow up her house when she argued with him over the quality of marijuana he had sold her.

He conceded that some issues with the case in 1991 were outside the control of detectives — much of the key evidence was destroyed by the fire. But others, Slaughter said, were the fault of his colleagues, particularly the poor way in which they recorded interviews.

Sam Wisniewski, a retired Bristol Township Police lieutenant assigned to Hibbs’ murder in 1991, said he was barred from interviewing Atkins directly, despite him being a suspect “the whole time.”

Wisniewski even drove to the Poconos to test Atkins’ alibi. But the registration book at the hotel showed Atkins’ wife checked them in just before 5 p.m., according to Wisniewski.

The retired detective put it plainly: Atkins could’ve killed Hibbs, set the fire and gotten to the Poconos “with plenty of time to spare.”

When Wisniewski attempted to interview Atkins, he said he was met with resistance from within his department. Narcotics officers in Bristol Township told him Atkins was a confidential drug informant and to stay away from him.

Penglase expressed incredulity at Wisniewski’s testimony, especially the idea that he didn’t pursue a murder suspect because of what he called “police corruption.”

But Bateman was not swayed. Afterward, Schorn said the conviction was a powerful moment for her and for the Hibbs family.

“This family has suffered for so long and we were able to give them at least this piece,” she said. “Obviously their loss is unimaginable, but we were proud we were able to do this.”