Tip Takes 1983 Slaying Off the Back Burner

It was a crime that Los Angeles police said “almost slipped through our fingers”--an 84-year-old woman found dead in her Van Nuys home in April, 1983, a kitchen knife protruding from her throat.

There were no suspects and few clues.

A ransacked apartment led police to theorize that a burglar had been surprised by Florence Williams and the intruder killed her.

However, the evidence “just didn’t add up,” Lt. Al Durrer recalled. Items a burglar would usually have taken, he said, were still in the apartment, for instance.

Detectives worked on the case for several weeks, then put the investigation on the back burner.

Last month, however, a tip revived the investigation, and today, Florence Williams’ grandson, 23-year-old Robert Miguel Gibson, a 1985 UCLA graduate, faces a preliminary hearing in Van Nuys Municipal Court after being charged with her murder.

Those most likely to testify against Gibson, police said, are a former girlfriend and members of his family, who allegedly knew that he killed his grandmother but kept it secret. Police said Gibson’s motive was rooted in the old woman’s senility, which continually aggravated the family.

“It’s very difficult to understand the logic, but from what we can tell, those who knew about it treated the whole matter like it was some evil family disruption, rather than a human who lost her life,” Durrer said. “This one almost slipped through our fingers.”

Gibson pleaded not guilty Dec. 2. Police said they have not recommended prosecution of the relatives for concealing information about the crime.

Strange Twists

“It’s a very unusual case, with many strange twists, and it will all come out eventually,” said the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew Diamond.

Gibson’s attorney, Michael Adelson, refused to comment on the case, except to say, “We have a viable defense and what it is will come out in court.”

Both sides believe that today’s preliminary hearing will be postponed until next month and that the details will not emerge until then.

Homicide Detective Lyle Mayer said Mrs. Williams was a native of Peru, whose family became prominent in Philadelphia. Her son once served as foreign minister of the South American nation.

After she refused to live in a nursing home, Mayer said, Mrs. Williams was moved to an apartment in the 15200 block of Sherman Way. The apartment was next door to her daughter, Sandra Gibson, who has since died of cancer, and son-in-law, William Gibson. It was in the apartment that she was found dead April 17, 1983, police said.

Mayer said Robert Gibson, the couple’s son, had driven to Van Nuys from his Costa Mesa home earlier in the day to visit the family and have Sunday dinner. About dusk, he escorted his grandmother to her apartment, where she took a tranquilizer and lay down on her bed, the detective said.

Robert Gibson then left but returned to the apartment a short time later, killed his grandmother and “messed up” the home to make it look like the place was burglarized, Mayer said.

Found Body

Sandra Gibson found the body that night when she took a bowl of soup to her mother, Mayer said.

Mrs. Williams was in her bed, a blanket pulled up to her chin and the knife sticking out of her throat, police said. Officers added that the woman’s cane was bent, as if it had been used to strike someone.

According to Mayer, Mrs. Williams’ relatives told police at the time that they had no idea who killed the woman.

“It was a perfect murder, no clues, little evidence,” the detective said.

Police said the unexpected break came Nov. 21, when someone close to the family reported that shortly after the murder, he had overheard a telephone conversation during which Robert Gibson confessed to the killing. The tipster has not been identified.

“This person told us he couldn’t take it anymore and had to get it out in the open,” Durrer said. “We took it from there.”

Investigators began re-interviewing the family and others.

This time, Robert Gibson’s father, sister and a former girlfriend who knew him when he was a political science major at UCLA, all said that they knew he had killed his grandmother, said Durrer, who supervises Van Nuys Division detectives.

“They apparently thought the right way to go was psychiatric counseling (for Robert Gibson), instead of prosecution,” Durrer said.

Failing Health

Durrer said Robert Gibson apparently murdered his grandmother because her failing health put extreme demands on the family. These included attempts to prevent William Gibson from carrying out his job as an agricultural engineer, which frequently required him to travel abroad.

The family members, who now live in Inglewood, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

“The family is obviously very upset that the son was arrested,” defense attorney Adelson said.

Robert Gibson, who police said was born in Peru and speaks four languages, was arrested Nov. 26 in Long Beach, where he worked as a salesman for an oil company, Mayer said. He is being held without bail in Los Angeles County Jail.