Kansas Sheriff Announces Man’s Conviction in 44-Year-Old Murder Case

Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir wrote on Friday about the conviction of the suspect in an unsolved murder case in Barton County.

BARTON COUNTY — On Jan. 24, 1980, Mary Robin Walter was found murdered in her home west of the town of Great Bend, in the Nelson Trailer Park near the airport.

She was 23 years old at the time of the incident. She had been hit by several bullets fired by an unknown assailant. A .22-caliber handgun, which was later found to be the murder weapon, was found at the scene.

The sheriff’s office investigated the case with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and assistance from the Great Bend Police Department. Suspects were identified and interviewed, but no conclusive evidence was discovered.

One of the suspects was identified as Steven Hanks, who was a neighbor of the Walters family at the time of the murder. He was 25 years old at the time. Over the years, dozens of law enforcement officers have looked into the case to no avail. In mid-2022, Detective Sergeant Adam Hales contacted me to reopen the case using new techniques and technology that were now available at the time of the murder.

In all honesty, it was with some skepticism that I authorized the expenditure of manpower and resources. Hales, along with Lieutenant Paden, Detective Travis Doze, and Detective Brian Volkel, reopened the case with a fresh perspective.

The first task was to assemble the hundreds of documents accumulated over more than 40 years into an organized file. Many interviews had been conducted decades apart and some documents were missing. Finally, everything was indexed and consolidated. Under Sergeant Hales’ direction, the evidence was re-examined and subjected to testing, including DNA analysis (no DNA was found).

Numerous interviews were conducted with the assistance of detectives from the Sheriff’s Office, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the Great Bend Police Department. Many witnesses as well as law enforcement officers initially involved in the case had died and interviews could not be conducted.

Finally, in late 2022, an affidavit was submitted to the district court and an arrest warrant was issued for Steven Hanks. Hanks was arrested on December 8, 2022 and charged with second-degree murder and misdemeanor murder.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case represented by Assistant Attorney General Jessica Domme. On April 15, 2024, Hanks was indicted on second-degree murder charges at a preliminary hearing.

On August 8, 2024, a plea agreement was entered into, with sentencing scheduled for September 12, 2024. The agreement, entered into under the Kansas Statutes of 1980, provided for a sentence of not less than 5 years and not more than 25 years.

At the sentencing hearing, Barton County District Court Judge Steve Johnson departed from the plea agreement and sentenced Hanks to a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 25 years.

Hanks remains in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office and will be turned over to the Kansas Department of Corrections upon receipt of the necessary paperwork. We believe this is the oldest cold case in the state of Kansas to have been solved and resulted in a conviction. The time between the date of the homicide and the conviction 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. I remember it well. In 1982, I had started working at the Sheriff’s Office as a reserve deputy and have been associated with the Barton County Sheriff’s Office ever since.

I have served under four sheriffs before me and this homicide has haunted us all. It disturbs me that many of the people who were so affected by this tragic crime passed away before the suspect was brought to justice. I consider myself fortunate to have had the resources and diligent staff to close this case. The credit for solving this homicide goes to the dedicated officers who had the tenacity to convict him. The Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Great Bend Police Department and the Kansas Attorney General’s Office for their assistance.