Prominent Port Aransas resident Michael Robert, 51, who owned the Seahorse Inn and moved in top political circles in Texas, poses in an undated photo with Lady Bird Johnson, the former First Lady of the United States. He was found slashed to death in his hotel on Aug. 8, 1996. (Courtesy photo)
DAVID WEBB | Contributing Writer
Shawn Keith Fey, who was convicted of the 1996 slashing murder of Port Aransas gay rights activist Michael Robert, will be up for parole again in September. Fey was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to 35 years in prison. But he served only 19 years before being paroled in 2016. A drug arrest in 2021 led to him being returned to prison.
Fey, 57, is now being held in the Estelle Unit near Huntsville.
Mary Joy O’Grady, one of Robert’s friends, is encouraging people to write to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Parole Board to oppose Fey’s second release from prison. Five friends are involved in the project so far, she said.
“Every time the murderer comes up for parole, I rally Michael’s friends,” O’Grady said.
“Michael was so beloved, and he should be an elder right now.”
O’Grady said she is hoping that an advertisement she ran in the Port Aransas South Jetty newspaper will motivate people who knew Robert to write letters. But many of his friends have also died, she noted.
Robert, who was described as a “world traveler of matchless style” in an obituary in the Texas Obituary Project, was a prominent political activist who was a board member of the Texas Human Rights Foundation. He donated time and money to the LGBT civil rights movement, and the Seahorse Inn was a popular resort for LGBT people and groups. 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 the Nueces County Justice of the Peace judgeship in Port Aransas in 1992.
He also worked in the campaigns of Gov. Ann Richards and President Bill Clinton. Richards was one of his best friends and visited him at the hotel in Port Aransas where he had lush living quarters.
Fey, who also went by the name of Shawn McClure, was 29 years old when he met Robert and developed a friendship and “maybe something more” with the 51-year-old gay political activist, according to Robert’s first cousin, Andrea Heaberlin of San Marcos, who was interviewed after Fey was returned to prison on the parole revocation. She said that Robert and Fey, who had a girlfriend at the time, had a “falling out,” reportedly over Fey stealing from Robert. She described Fey’s behavior as “erratic.”
“Michael got rid of him and wouldn’t let him near the place for a time,” Heaberlin said.
Robert, who had inherited the Seahorse Inn from his romantic partner, Jack Cobb, after Cobb’s death in the early 1990s, apparently ran into Fey again in 1996 and allowed him to again visit his home, Heaberlin said.
“That very day he killed Michael,” Heaberlin said. “It was tragic, wanton and uncalled for. Michael made a mistake.”
Robert’s body was found by the manager of the Seahorse Inn when he reported to work on Aug. 8, 1996. Robert’s death was attributed to him bleeding from neck wounds. Police said Fey stole Robert’s Cadillac after killing him and abandoned it in Brownsville.
After Fey pleaded guilty in February 1997 without making a statement in court about the murder, his lawyer told Robert’s friends and relatives that Fey wanted them to know the murder was not planned and that “things got out of hand.” Robert reportedly had told friends that Fey was a troubled person whom he was trying to help.
Anyone wanting to oppose Fey’s parole should include the inmate’s full name, TDCJ number and SID number in a letter. Shawn Fey’s TDCJ number is 03804420 and his SID number is 00779065. Send the letters to TDCJ Parole Division, Attention: Correspondence, P.O. Box 13401, Capitol Station, Austin, TX 78711.