BRISTOL TOWNSHIP, Pa. (TCD) — A 57-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for stabbing and choking a 35-year-old mother in 1991 and setting fire to her home to cover up her death.
On Friday, Feb. 2, a judge sentenced Robert Atkins to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of Joy Hibbs, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office announced. Atkins was also sentenced to an additional five to 10 years for one arson conviction and another 10 to 20 years for a second arson conviction.
According to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, on April 19, 1991, Hibbs’ 12-year-old son noticed smoke coming from their residence at 1200 Spencer Drive after getting off the school bus. Due to the flames and smoke, the boy was reportedly unable to get through the kitchen, and he went to his neighbors for help since he knew his mother was still home.
Fire personnel put out the flames, and officials discovered Hibbs dead on a bed in her son’s bedroom, the district attorney’s office said. Investigators initially believed Hibbs died in an “accidental fire,” but an autopsy later determined she had been stabbed multiple times, sustained fractured ribs, and had been strangled. According to the district attorney’s office, a pathologist concluded Hibbs died before the fire because there was no smoke in her lungs.