Man sentenced in 1980 cold case murder of Kansas woman
GREAT BEND, Kan. (KAKE) – Authorities in central Kansas have sentenced a 70-year-old man for the murder of a Kansas woman in 1980.
The Barton County Sheriff’s Office says Steven Hanks to no more than 10 years and no less than 25 years in prison for the shooting death of 23-year-old Mary Robin Walter in Great Bend in 1980.
It was just before 7 p.m. on January 24, 1980 when the sheriff’s office got the report of a homicide at the Nelson Trailer Park, which was near SW 40th Avenue and Anchor Way. The trailer park no longer exists.
Investigators arrived on scene and found Walter’s body. She lived at the residence and had been shot multiple times. She was married, had one child and was a nursing student at Barton County Community College.
Hanks, who was Walter’s neighbor and 25-year-old at the time of her death, was developed as a person of interest. But the case went cold.
“Over the years, numerous detectives have looked at the case and were not able to obtain information that would assist in prosecution,” Sheriff Brian Bellendir said in a release at the time of his arrest. “In April 2022, while recovering from Covid, Detective Sgt. Adam Hales of the Barton County Sheriff’s Office reopened the Mary Robin Walter homicide case. After taking a fresh look at the case, it became evident that some information had been initially overlooked and some had been added at a later date. This was unknown to the original investigators.”
The Barton County Sheriff’s Office said Steven Hanks was being held for second-degree murder in the January 1980 shooting death of 23-year-old Mary Robin Walter.
Sheriff Bellendir said that after reviewing the case with Sgt. Hales, he assigned the case to Detective Alex Lomas, Detective Bryan Volkel and Patrol Sgt. Travis Doze. Lieutenant David Paden supervised the operation.
“My group of detectives that I named worked very hard on this,” Bellendir said. “This was a matter of the right people in the right place at the right time.”
Bellendir said his office tracked down multiple people who had been involved in the case, and interviews were conducted as far away as the Pacific Northwest.
Then in October of 2022, new evidence allowed the sheriff’s office to submit the case to Barton County Attorney Levi Morris. An arrest warrant for Hanks was issued several weeks later.
“This case has been open ever since I’ve been a law enforcement officer,” Bellendir said. “I started with the sheriff’s office in 1982. This has been an irritation for the sheriff’s office that we’ve never been able to close this case.”
Hanks was arrested in December of 2022 and charged with murder.
On Wednesday, a plea agreement was reached and Hanks was sentenced to not less than 10 years and not more than 25 years by Barton County District Court Judge Hon. Steve Johnson.
Hanks remains in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office and will be released to the Kansas Department of Corrections upon receipt of the necessary paperwork.
The sheriff says they believe this is the the oldest cold case in the State of Kansas to be solved and result in a conviction. From the date of the homicide to the sentencing was 44 years, 7 months and 19 days.
“On a personal note, I was 18 years old and a senior in high school when this homicide occurred,” Sheriff Bellendir wrote in a release on Thursday. “I remember it well. By 1982 I had started with the Sheriff’s Office as a reserve deputy and have been associated with the Barton County Sheriff’s Office ever since. I worked for the four Sheriff’s that preceded me and this homicide has haunted all of us. It bothers me that many of the people who were so affected by this tragic crime have since passed away prior to bringing the suspect to justice. I consider myself fortunate that I had the resources and the diligent personnel to close this case. The credit for solving this homicide goes to the dedicated officers that had the tenacity to bring it to a conviction.”
Kansas Department of Corrections records show Hanks served time in prison from 1983 to 1990 and then Wichita Work Release until his parole in August of 1991. His prior convictions include attempted rape and aggravated counts of burglary, robbery and battery.
