Alice Ilene Robson, 71, was found murdered in her New Florence, Pennsylvania home after being reported missing in mid-December 2023. Home health nurses discovered her grandson alone on December 11, 2023, and she was reported missing on December 13. Her body was recovered three days later concealed in a crawlspace beneath the back porch; an autopsy determined she had been shot twice in the head.

Investigators accused a murder-for-hire plot linked to a long-running custody dispute between Robson and her daughter, Melissa Fox-Beacom, over care of Fox-Beacom’s son. Three people were arrested: Fox-Beacom, her granddaughter’s boyfriend Matthew Jason Bates, both 51 and 20 respectively, and 20-year-old Robert Patrick Jack. Prosecutors say Jack shot Robson with a .22-caliber revolver, which divers later recovered from Donegal Lake, and that Bates provided the gun and helped clean and conceal the body.

In February 2026 a jury convicted Fox-Beacom and Bates of first-degree murder, conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder, and abuse of a corpse; they faced mandatory life without parole. Jack testified against them and was offered a plea to third-degree murder with a 40 to 80 year term; his trial was scheduled for April 2026. Is there anyone in New Florence who remembers seeing unusual visitors or activity at Robson’s home in December 2023?