Robert Atkins will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing Joy Hibbs in April 1991 and then setting her Bristol Township home on fire to cover up the crime, a Bucks County Common Pleas Judge ruled on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024.

Atkins, 57, of Falls Township, was convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of arson a day earlier, bringing an end to an intense investigation that spanned more than three decades.

Atkins was arrested in May 2022, the result of tireless efforts by Detectives with the Bucks County District Attorney's Office and the Bristol Township Police Department and a recommendation by the County’s Investigating Grand Jury.

On Friday, Common Pleas Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. heard victim impact statements from several members of Joy’s family, including her husband and two children.

“Joy was my high school sweetheart, my first love, mother to my children, and the loving soul that kept our family together,” Charlie Hibbs read. “The choice he made that day broke our hearts but strengthened us as a family. According to my faith, I am supposed to forgive, and I am finding difficulty in doing so. But I hope that Mr. Atkins lives to be a very old man and thinks about the choices he made that day, and all the things he has missed while spending time incarcerated.”

“As this nightmare comes to an end for my family, his is about to start.”

Bateman’s verdict on Thursday capped an emotional three days of testimony. In her closing arguments, District Attorney Jen Schorn said, “This family has waited 33 years. Justice has been delayed but it must not be denied.”

In addition to sentencing Atkins to life in prison without parole for the first-degree murder conviction, Bateman sentenced him to an additional 5-10 years for one of the arson convictions. Bateman also sentenced him to a concurrent sentence of 10-20 years in prison for the second arson conviction.

Following Thursday’s conviction, Schorn called it “a powerful moment,” long-awaited for a suffering family who made it their mission in life to see Joy’s killer brought to justice.  

In May 2022, Atkins was arrested after an investigation concluded that he murdered Hibbs, a 35-year-old mother of two, on April 19, 1991, at her home at 1200 Spencer Drive in the Croydon section of Bristol Township, and intentionally set the family home on fire to cover up the murder.

This case was investigated by Bucks County Detective David Hanks, and the Bristol Township Police Department, led by Detective Mike Slaughter. The case was submitted to the Bucks County Investigating Grand Jury as soon as one was impaneled in January 2022.

District Attorney Jennifer Schorn and Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin M. McElroy prosecuted this case.

Media Contact: Manuel Gamiz Jr., 215.348.6298, mgamiz@buckscounty.org

Joy Hibbs