In the episode of “Evil Lives Here: Something Is Different About Robbie” on Investigation Discovery, Robert Hawkins’ father, Ronald Hawkin, and his stepmother, Candace Sims, discuss Robert for the first time ever on camera. The episode is titled “Evil Lives Here: Something Is Different About Robbie.” In December of 2007, Robert had opened fire in front of a Von Maur department store in Omaha, Nebraska, resulting in the deaths of eight individuals and injuries to four more. In this episode, we learn about Robert’s troubled childhood as well as his lifelong battle with mental problems, which may have led him to carry out the slaughter. Then, shall we continue our investigation into this matter?
Who exactly are Robert Hawkins’ mom and dad?
At the RAF Lakenheath station in Suffolk, England, on May 17, 1988, Robert Arthur Hawkins was born to his parents, Ronald Hawkins and Maribel “Molly” Rodriguez. Ronald served in the United States Air Force at one point. When Robert was just three years old, his parents divorced, and according to the court records, he lived with his father in LaVista after the divorce. His biological mother had very little involvement in Robert’s life during this time period. According to the episode, he had a very turbulent upbringing at home, which may have contributed to his persistently aggressive behavior in pre-school when he was only 4 years old. Both Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder were identified as being present in his case.
Through the efforts of the Juvenile Court in Sarpy County, Robert was able to spend around four years in a foster home. Both of his parents, Ronald Hawkins and Candace Sims, who was his stepmother at the time, said that he was intellectual to some degree but deeply troubled. After spending more time in an institution, he received a diagnosis that included “parent/child relational problems,” Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and a mood disorder. Additionally, he was told that he had “parental issues.” Robert was reportedly making “homicidal threats against his stepmother” the day after his 14th birthday, which occurred on May 18, 2002. As a consequence, he was committed to the Piney Ridge Center in Waynesville, Missouri.
This marked the beginning of a five-year journey through a labyrinth of different juvenile-services programs, which included a stay at Cooper Village, a residential treatment facility for adolescents located in northern Omaha from 2003 through 2005. Robert was given a comprehensive treatment plan that included drug counseling, family therapy, and individual psychotherapy amongst other services. According to the most recent official figures, the total amount of money spent by the state of Nebraska on his care exceeded $265,000. Maribel paid a visit to Robert in July 2005 after the two of them had not communicated with each other for about 2.5 years.
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Robert returned to living with his parents after being discharged from Cooper, where he remained until the latter half of 2006, when he moved out and into a house in the Quail Creek Neighborhood in Bellevue, which is located in southern Omaha. He had a brief stay with the family of a friend, but otherwise he was homeless and continually ran afoul of the law wherever he went. Robert made an application to join the Army during the summer of 2007, but his application was denied due to the lengthy history of mental problems on his medical record. In November 2007, it is alleged that he made threats to physically hurt a young woman after becoming suspicious that she had stolen his CD player.
Robert was placed in foster care when he was convicted of a drug-related felony while he was a juvenile. On November 24, 2007, he was suspected of contributing to the delinquency of a youngster as well as being charged with two counts of alcohol offenses. These accusations were brought against him. On December 19, 2007, he was scheduled to appear in court for an arraignment. Around a fortnight before the mass shooting, his landlady at the time stated that he had recently been fired from his job at McDonald’s for allegedly stealing $17 and that he was also going through a breakup at the time. Both of these events had taken place around a month earlier.
Where Can Robert Hawkins’ Parents Be Found in the Present Day?
Robert and Maribel had supper together on the 4th of December, 2007, at the home of Maribel’s former spouse. According to her, Robert even went so far as to fill out an online application for a position at a nursing facility in the area. Maribel added that she had a feeling that something was wrong with her son, and when she examined the gun closet that belonged to her ex-husband, she discovered that one of the firearms had been stolen. She suspected that Robert had taken it with the intention of pawning or selling it in order to make some cash.
In an interview that took place in 2007, Maribel reminisced about her son and sent her condolences to the families of those who had been harmed by his son’s violent behavior. From what we can tell, Candace had already divorced Ronald prior to the incident that led to the shooting, and ever since then, she had severed all ties with the father and son. Since then, she has remarried, and it’s likely that she now resides in Papillion, Nebraska, with her new husband and family, while continuing to work at an electronics manufacturing firm in Omaha.
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