Crime & Safety

FBI Offering $20,000 Reward For Info On 40 Year Old Norton Murder

The FBI is offering money to anyone who can provide information on a fugitive from a decades-old murder case.

The FBI is still considering Dabbs to be "armed and dangerous" 40 years after the shooting death of Robin Shea.
The FBI is still considering Dabbs to be "armed and dangerous" 40 years after the shooting death of Robin Shea. (Boston FBI)

NORTON, MA — Forty years after police say a man shot and killed his girlfriend in Norton, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information that could help aid in his arrest.

FBI agents say the couple had been driving through Norton on Oct. 10, 1981, when Peter Dabbs, shot Robin Shea in the chest and pushed her body out onto the street. A passing motorist later found Shea on the side of Route 123, according to the FBI.

Dabbs was later indicted for her murder and a state warrant was issued for his arrest on Nov. 3, 1981, but police say Dabbs was never found.

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On Sept. 20, 1982, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Dabbs by a U.S. magistrate in Massachusetts after he was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Described as a Black man now 78-years-old, Dabbs was about 180 pounds, 5 feet, 10 inches tall at the time of the murder, with a mole on the right side of his nose, a scar on his arm, and skin grafts on his leg from a burn.

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The FBI said Dabbs was an auto mechanic who was known to use drugs and may have possessed weapons. Dabbs' last known address was in Derry, New Hampshire, but the FBI believes he has ties to Massachusetts, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, New York, and Pennsylvania.

With the 40th anniversary of the murder occurring this year, the FBI will offer the $20,000 reward for anyone who can provide information on Dabbs.

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

Anyone with information should call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

Tips can also be electronically submitted here.

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