Bucks County family waited over 30 years for justice in Croydon murder. 'Evil man' sentenced.

The family of Joy Hibbs worried that this day would never come.

They waited more than 30 years to tell a judge how a former neighbor ruined their American dream over a $20 dispute.

After sitting through four days of often graphic testimony, photo and video exhibits while wearing identical “Justice for Joy” buttons, the family got their long overdue chance to address the court Friday.

Robert Atkins, 57, of Fairless Hills, was finally being sentenced. The family — and it turned out law enforcement — had suspected all along he killed Hibbs and set her family home on fire.

Day one of Robert Atkins murder trial What Croydon neighbors saw outside the home of Joy Hibbs the day she was murdered.

A day earlier Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Wallace Bateman Jr. found Atkins guilty of first-degree murder and two arson-related counts following a four-day bench trial at the Bucks County Justice Center.

Atkins was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and an additional 15 to 30 years. He initially faced the possibility of the death penalty.

Hibbs, a 35-year-old married mother of two and medical assistant, who was adored by all who knew her, was found dead inside her fire ravaged Croydon home April 19, 1991. The crime went unsolved until it was re-investigated a second time in 2021. The next year a grand jury indicted Atkins.

While initially police believed Hibbs died in an accidental house fire, an autopsy found she had been murdered and died before the fire was set. Authorities believe Atkins killed her over an ongoing dispute over the quality of marijuana he sold the couple.

By all accounts, Joy Hibbs was a sweet, kind-hearted, sassy, funny woman who you could trust with your deepest secrets and was not one to complain at home or work, according to those who knew her.

Her husband, two children, sister-in-law and granddaughter did not hold back the opportunity to vent their deep grief and anger Friday.

Charlie Hibbs: “I am tormented at the thought of what she endured."

“My goal over the past three and a half decades has been to take away everything he cherishes,” Charlie Hibbs, Joy’s widower, told the court. “Mr. Atkins, soon you will be enrolled in the real school of badasses.”

Hibbs, now 68, was the only family member who looked at Atkins after delivering his statement.

Joy was his high school sweetheart. His first love.  His only wife since 1974.

The end of her life still haunts him.

Atkins stabbed Joy Hibbs five times, strangled her, and stomped on her chest, leaving her to die alone on her son’s bedroom floor. But that wasn’t enough damage for him, Hibbs told the court.

He then desecrated her body by setting fire to their home heavily damaging it. A pathologist testified that a portion of her back was the only part of Joy’s body not charred to the point of being unrecognizable.

“I am tormented at the thought of what she endured,” Charlie Hibbs said. “His intentions that day were pure evil.  It is time for him to be held accountable.”

Her sister-in-law remembers Joy's sweetness, granddaughter hears her voice

Lori Kennedy barely finished her first sentence before she had to pause to compose herself. Her sister-in-law was  an integral part of the family, she said.

She recalled how Joy would ask, in her Florida southern twang, for Kennedy to “gimme some sugar” when she wanted a kiss.

“Her joyful spirit enriched our family bonds. Her love was felt all the time,” Kennedy said. “Robert Atkins is an evil man.”

Jessica Beyer told Bateman she heard her grandmother’s voice for the first time in the courtroom.

“Joy Hibbs should be here today with all of us,” said Beyer, whose middle name is Joy.

Angie Hibbs have no sympathy for Atkins, her brother David wants accountability from original police investigators

Beyer’s mom, Angie Hibbs, was 16 when she lost her mom. Robert Atkins not only erased her mother physically from their lives, but he stole nearly every trace of her in family photos and videos lost in the fire he set, she said.

“Robert Atkins is a pitiful, disgusting man,” Angie Hibbs said. “If you ask me, every breath you take is wasted. I hope you suffer like you made my mother suffer.”

David Hibbs was 12 in 1991 when he returned home from school to find his house on fire and his mom’s Mercury Cougar in the driveway.

That Atkins was found guilty of first-degree murder has given him new faith in the integrity of the justice system, he said.

But he believes the original police officers whose “malfeasance and corruption” resulted in a three-decade delay in justice for his family should be held accountable.

In recent years, the Hibbs family has been openly critical of the Bristol Township Police Department and believe that Atkins’ previously undisclosed work as a confidential drug informant at the time influenced how the investigation was initially handled resulting in no arrest for 30 years.

The Hibbs family only learned that Atkins was an informant at the time of the murder through the 2022 grand jury investigation.

Trial testimony from an original lead detective and later investigators only reinforced David Hibbs’ belief authorities intentionally ignored evidence in 1991.

“As far as I am concerned they are complicit in this crime and should stand trial,” he said.

Robert Atkins shows no remorse. Judge expresses disgust over 1991 investigation

As each family member spoke, Atkins showed no reaction, his eyes staring straight ahead, his hands folded in front of him, as he had done throughout most of the trial.

He offered a simple, “No” when Bateman asked if he wanted to say anything.

Bateman told Atkins that he not only took the life of Joy Hibbs, but the lives of her family, and her future family.

“Joy Hibbs died a horrible death at your hands,” Bateman said. “They were living the American dream and you not only took her from them, you took their American dream.”

Bateman said that he was also "quite disturbed" by the facts of the case and that it appears Bristol Township police administration in 1991 prioritized a confidential drug informant over a murdered wife and mother.

“If it's corruption or ego, it’s disgusting what happened,” Bateman said. “The pain for this family was made worse, the case was not investigated and they did not know why.”

What April Atkins said happened in 1991 Ex-wife of murder defendant Robert Atkins takes stand in Joy Hibbs case; what she said

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: "Robert Atkins:is an evil man." What Joy Hibbs' family said to killer