Michael Robert with Lady Bird Johnson (Screenshot from HoustonLGBTHistory.org)
The 1996 slaying of Michael Robert is back in the news as the man who admitted killing him is released, then sent back to prison
DAVID WEBB | Contributing Writer
davidwaynewebb@yahoo.com
The tragic murder of a prominent South Texas gay activist 26 years ago has been brought back to the forefront for relatives and friends of the murdered man because of his killer’s continued criminal activity.
Sean Keith Fey, 55, pleaded guilty to the bloody slaying in 1996 of Texas Human Rights Foundation board member Michael O’Bannon Robert but served only 19 years of his 35-year sentence. Now, however, Fey has landed back in prison after violating his parole with illegal drug activity.
Fey was convicted on May 25 this year of possession of a controlled substance after police found the drugs on him during an arrest in 2021 on suspicion of making a terroristic threat in Guadalupe County.
Fey was held in jail on the parole violation charge after his arrest until his transport to the Garza West Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Beeville on July 29. He now must serve an additional five-year sentence on the drug conviction.
A marker honoring Michael O’Bannon Robert in the Robert family plot in Prairie View Cemetery in Aransas Pass (Photo from FindAGrave.com)
Unless Fey is granted parole again, his release date will be May 23, 2036, when he will be 69 years old.
Fey, who also went by the name of Shawn McClure, was a 29-year-old drifter when he met Robert, the owner of the Seahorse Inn in Port Aransas. The two developed a friendship and “maybe something more,” according to Robert’s first cousin, Andrea Heaberlin of San Marcos. They reportedly met at an LGBTQ function.
The Seahorse Inn, which Robert had inherited from his romantic partner, Jack Cobb, after Cobb’s death in 1985, became a popular vacation site for LGBTQ people and groups before Robert’s death. It was advertised in This Week in Texas and other gay publications.
Cobb, a Dallas native who lived most of his life in Port Aransas, was a flamboyant opera lover who traveled the world and collected art and antiques, including a grand piano. He and Robert, a Port Aransas native, lived together for many years, often throwing lavish parties, before Cobb died of a heart attack in 1985 in Longview while traveling, Heaberlin said.
“If you were invited to the Seahorse,” she said, “you went.”
Lead up to a murder
Heaberlin said that Robert and Fey, who had a girlfriend at the time, had a “falling out” soon after their relationship started, reportedly over Fey stealing from Robert. She described Fey’s behavior as “erratic.”
Then in 1994 Robert filed charges against Fey for unauthorized use of Robert’s 1990 Cadillac and the theft of other items from his home.
“Michael got rid of him and wouldn’t let him near the place for a time,” Heaberlin said of the incident.
An ad for the Seahorse Inn that ran in This Week in Texas in 1996 (Screenshot taken from HoustonLGBTHistory.com)
But Robert apparently ran into Fey again in 1996 and again allowed him to visit his home, Heaberlin said. He reportedly had told friends that Fey was a troubled person whom he was trying to help.
“That very day he killed Michael,” Heaberlin said. “It was tragic, wanton and uncalled for. Michael made a mistake.”
Fey pleaded guilty in February 1997 without making a statement in court about the murder. His lawyer then told Robert’s friends and relatives that Fey wanted them to know the murder was not planned and that “things got out of hand.”
“That’s all I ever got, just that things got out of hand,” said Heaberlin, who attended the court appearance with her husband.
Heaberlin said that Robert’s sister — Judith Robert, who died in 1997 — approved of the guilty plea in connection with the capital murder charge against Fey. Robert had only one other sibling, a brother who could not be reached for comment.
Out of prison, then back in
Heaberlin said that she was notified in 2016 when Fey was released, and that it did not surprise her because it is “standard procedure” when someone has served more than half of a sentence.
Still, she said, “I wouldn’t have voted for it, but I don’t get a vote.”
Heaberlin said she was surprised to learn that Fey had violated his parole and had been returned to prison.
“You would think that someone who had been in prison for almost 20 years and got out would know better,” she said.
“It was incredibly stupid.”
Fey was released to supervision by the parole department in Nueces County, according to court records. He lived in Corpus Christi and in Seguin before his incarceration in the Guadalupe County Jail in March of 2021, according to an online search of his whereabouts.
His first sign of a possible parole violation occurred in October of 2020 when he was charged with alleged criminal trespass in Bexar County, but that charge was dismissed.
The aftermath of murder
Robert’s body was found by the manager of the Seahorse Inn when the manager reported to work on Aug. 8, 1996. His death was attributed to bleeding from neck wounds thought to have been inflicted the previous night.
Fey was arrested by Texas Rangers on Aug. 14, 1996, on the 1994 charge of unauthorized use of Robert’s vehicle that apparently was never withdrawn.
After Robert’s murder, Fey apparently again stole his car and yet more items, and the car was found abandoned in Brownsville, leading authorities to suspect Fey had fled to Mexico.
Heaberlin said that she was the executor of Robert’s estate, and she ran the hotel for a year until all legal matters were settled.
Heaberlin sold the Seahorse Inn a year after Robert’s death to two women who changed the name to Belle’s Sea Inn. Belle’s Sea Inn is still in operation.
“After it was sold, I never set foot on the place again,” Heaberlin said. “I never went back. I never wanted to see it again. There was too much trauma and heartbreak.”
A life cut short
In the 1960s and 1970s, Robert worked as a teacher in California, then he lived in London, England, before returning home to the Corpus Christi Bay Area. He had a bachelor’s degree in theater with a minor in English from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos.
Robert did volunteer work for the Coastal Bend AIDS Foundation and served Thanksgiving dinner to AIDS patients.
An avid Democrat, Robert served as Nueces County Precinct 19 chairman in the early 1990s, and he ran unsuccessfully for Nueces County justice of the peace in Port Aransas in 1992. He also worked in the campaigns of Gov. Ann Richards and President Bill Clinton.
If Robert had lived, he would be 77 today.
“Michael was a kind and generous man, concerned about people’s welfare,” Heaberlin said of her cousin. “He did a lot of good. He was my best friend in the world. I loved him more than anybody else.”