GREAT BEND, Kan. — More than 44 years after a nursing student was murdered in her central Kansas mobile home, her former neighbor has been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 25 years for her killing.
The investigation into the Jan. 24, 1980, shooting death of Mary Robin Walter, 23, of Great Bend, was frozen until 2022, when a detective convinced Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir to reopen the case and use technology and techniques not available at the time.
The new evidence pointed to Steven L. Hanks, who was 25 at the time and had been a suspect since early on. The Kansas attorney general’s office said in a statement Friday that it was Hanks’ admission in new interviews that the authorities have charged him in 2022, when he lived in Burden, Kansas.
Hanks, now 70, was sentenced Thursday for second-degree murder. His plea agreement in August called for no less than five years and no more than 25 years. But Barton County District Court Judge Steve Johnson on Thursday deviated from the plea agreement and sentenced Hanks to no less than 10 years and no more than 25 years.
The sheriff said they believe this is the oldest cold case in Kansas to be solved and result in a conviction.
“It disturbs me that many of the people so affected by this tragic crime have now passed away before the suspect has been brought to justice,” Bellendir said. said in a statement Friday. “I consider myself fortunate that I had the resources and diligent staff to bring this case to a close. The credit for solving this murder goes to the dedicated officers who had the tenacity to bring it to a conviction.”
Walter was a wife, mother, and nursing student when she was shot multiple times. Police found a .22-caliber handgun at the scene and confirmed it was the murder weapon. According to the sheriff, no one had actively investigated the case since at least 1982 until they reopened the case, reported the Wichita Eagle.
Detective Sgt. Adam Hales and Lt. David Paden re-interviewed Hanks, a neighbor of Walter’s at the time and a previous suspect. In his interviews, Hanks admitted to killing Walter, the attorney general’s office said. The prosecutor, Associate Deputy Attorney General Jessica Domme, thanked them for their diligence,
“Robin’s killer has finally been brought to justice thanks to his dedication and commitment to this cold case,” Domme said in the statement.
Hanks served time in prison for another crime. He was arrested in 1981 and charged with rape, assault, robbery and burglary. He was convicted in 1983 and released in 1993, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Statements from the sheriff’s office and the attorney general’s office, and online court records, do not say whether Hanks ever disclosed his motive for killing Walter. The sheriff’s office said Bellendir was not available for comment Saturday. Officials from the attorney general’s office and Hanks’ attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press on Saturday.
