Kriti Mehrotra
It was April 19, 1991, when the entire world turned upside down for the Hibbs family in Croydon, Pennsylvania, as 35-year-old married mother of two Joy Hibbs was found dead inside her fire-ravaged home. However, as explored in NBC’s ‘Dateline: Justice for Joy,’ it took almost 30 years before it came to light that a former neighbor had been responsible for it over a $20 dispute. The family, especially Joy’s widow, Charlie, and their two kids, Angie and David, had never given up hope, so this news definitely enabled them to finally breathe a sigh of relief and move forward from the past for good.
The Hibbs Were Always a Tight-Knit Group
Joy was merely a teenager when she first came across Charlie Hibbs at school, only for them to soon fall head over heels in love and even start planning for a future together. They actually happily tied the knot shortly after they graduated high school, following which they welcomed two beautiful children into their world. Angie came first, followed by David, with the family, and then settled down in Bristol Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for good. With the matriarch hailing from a family of 9 kids and eventually becoming a working mother herself, she knew the importance of care, love, transparency, and understanding, so she instilled these values in her children, too.
According to reports, Joy and Charlie practiced what they preached, too, because David still remembers that his parents were always open to him and his sister about every situation. In fact, he said, they even told them about their occasional recreational marijuana use, which fostered a really open and trusting relationship between them. Moreover, Angie also remembers how she could share anything with her parents without fear of getting judged, so she never once hesitated to go to them for any advice and inadvertently stopped fearing failure too.
However, everything changed on April 19, 1991. An excitable 12-year-old David was actually returning home from school with a positive report card in hand, but all he saw once he got close was flames. He was just a child, but even amid the chaos, he managed to recognize that his mother’s car was parked outside and that she might be able to help, so he immediately began shouting for it. He even tried going inside to rescue her, but concerned neighbors managed to restrain him by the time firefighters and his father arrived at the scene, yet it was already too late.
The Hibbs Dealt With the Loss in Their Own Ways
Since David was the first to arrive at the scene, he grappled with a lot of guilt in the aftermath of it all, wondering if he could have done anything to possibly save her. This guilt of his sadly only grew multifold once he learned she was actually in his bedroom when the fire broke out, making him think of a hundred “what-ifs” and wondering if the outcome could have been different. As for Angie, who was just 16 at the time, losing the one person arguably closest to he led her down a rather dark path, making her paranoid about someone wanting to hurt her too.
After all, the family had soon learned that Joy had not died in the fire but that the fire had been started to possibly remove all the evidence of her murder. Her widow, Charlie, had done his best to protect the children from the grisly details, but considering the way her wife had valued transparency, he did tell them the truth about the fact that it was a homicide. As the years passed, Angie and David did manage to put the pieces together from news clippings, community whispers, and more, following which they decided to be vocal and fight to attain the justice Joy deserved.
The Hibbs Are Gradually Moving Forward in Life
The Hibbs’ efforts ultimately led local officials to reopen Joy’s cold case in 2021, shortly following which they arrested a former neighbor named Robert Atkins thanks to some concrete evidence. The grand jury indicted him for murder the very next year, in 2022, bringing the family the beginnings of some much-needed answers. They thus attended all court hearings, witnessed him getting convicted, and even delivered emotional victim impact statements during his sentencing in February 2024. While Charlie deemed Robert’s actions “pure evil” before expressing that he hopes he has a long and arduous existence in prison, where he might finally learn the meaning of remorse.
Charlie also expressed that he believes the Bristol Township Police Department should also be held responsible for the pain and grief they have caused the family. That’s because he believes their investigative efforts back in 1991 were far from the expected standards and that they possibly intentionally ignored critical evidence that may have solved the case then and there. “As far as I am concerned, they are complicit in this crime and should stand trial,” he said. Angie and David told the court how the loss of their mother has affected every single day and event of their lives, helping secure Robert’s sentence of life without parole. As for where they stand today, Angie is a happily married mother of one who has named her daughter Jessica Joy Beyer after the woman she lost when she was merely a teenager.
In fact, even Jessica was a part of the impact statement, asserting she wishes she had the chance to know her grandmother because the stories she hears from her family are just not enough. On the other hand, David appears to have followed in his mother’s footsteps by currently serving as a Business and Clinical Director at Healthy Home Providers, a healthcare company. While he earned his Bachelor’s in Political Science and Government from the University of Washington in 2001, he later decided to shift gears and obtained a Master’s in Family Nursing from Seattle University in 2005. Since then, he has proudly been working in the medical industry as a way to keep his mother’s legacy alive, all the while being a family man himself, based in Portland, Oregon. As for Charlie, he seems to be leading a fulfilled life today, surrounded by his children as well as grandchildren, while keeping the memories of his late wife alive in his heart.
Read More: Joy Hibbs Murder Details and Investigation Timeline
