FBI offering $20,000 reward in 1981 killing of woman in Norton

NORTON, Mass. — Forty years is a long time to escape justice, but the FBI says that’s exactly what Andrew Peter Dabbs has so far been able to do. On October 10, 1981, authorities say Dabbs fatally shot his girlfriend, Robin Shea, and then pushed her out of his jeep on Route 123 in Norton, Mass.

Robin’s sister, Joyce, in an FBI-produced video said she wants Dabbs captured. The FBI is now offering a $20,000 reward.

“If he’s not dead, if he’s alive, he needs to pay for what he did,” Joyce Shea said. “He murdered another human being.”

Andrew Dabbs and Robin Shea made an unlikely couple. Dabbs was a drug abuser with a long criminal record. At 38 years old, Andrew Dabbs was 20 years older than Robin. And unknown to Robin’s family, Dabbs had an ex-wife and two children in New Hampshire.

“He was very charismatic. So, when he would come around, he always had that charisma going for him,” FBI Special Agent Sarah De Lair said. “Even though they knew the relationship wasn’t perfect, they were happy, their loved one was happy. Robin seemed to be happy.”

After the shooting, Dabbs first returned to New Hampshire, visiting his ex-wife and kids. Two weeks later, police had him cornered at a home in Mt. Vernon. N.Y., but he escaped out a back door. Dabbs has not been seen since 1981.

FBI Special Agent Sarah De Lair is still hunting for Dabbs; she’s hoping the reward and an age-progressed photo will make the difference.

“It’s important for us to solve the case and close the case, but most importantly, it’s important for the family to get some sort of resolution,” Agent De Lair said.

The FBI warns that Dabbs should be considered “armed and dangerous..

“Someone out there knows where Andrew Dabbs is, and we’re asking you to contact us. We are in the final stages of this investigation and we’re doing everything we can bring him to justice and provide some much-needed closure to Robin’s family who has already endured enough heartache,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division.

The shooting happened on October 10, 1981,

Agents say the couple was driving through Norton, when Dabbs shot Shea in the chest with a .45 caliber revolver and pushed her body out of the vehicle onto the side of Route 123.

Shea was later found by a passing motorist.

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