Kansas cold case ends 44 years later as man is sentenced for killing his former neighbor in 1980

GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) — More than 44 years after a nursing student was slain in her trailer home in central Kansas, her former neighbor has been sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison for killing her.

The investigation into the Jan. 24, 1980, shooting death of Mary Robin Walter, 23, of Great Bend, had gone cold until 2022, when a detective persuaded Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir to reopen the case and use technology and techniques that weren’t available at the time.

The new evidence pointed to Steven L. Hanks, who was 25 at the time and had been a suspect early on. The Kansas Attorney General’s Office said in a statement Friday that it was Hanks’ admission in new interviews that allowed authorities to charge him in 2022, when he was living in Burden, Kansas.

Hanks, now 70, got his sentence for second-degree murder Thursday. His plea agreement in August called for not less than 5 years and not more than 25 years. But Barton County District Court Judge Steve Johnson on Thursday departed upward from the plea agreement and sentenced Hanks to not less than 10 years and not more than 25 years.

The sheriff said they believe it is the oldest cold case in Kansas to be solved and result in a conviction.

“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,” Bellendir said in a statement Friday. “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.”

Walter was a wife, mother and nursing school 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, nobody had actively investigated the case since at least 1982 until they reopened it, the Wichita Eagle reported.

Sgt. Detective Adam Hales and Lt. David Paden re-interviewed Hanks, a neighbor of Walter 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 was finally brought to justice because of their dedication and commitment to this cold case,” Domme said in the statement.

Hanks spent time in prison for another crime. He was arrested in 1981 and charged with rape, battery, robbery and burglary. He was sentenced in 1983 and discharged in 1993, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The statements from the sheriff and attorney general’s office, and online court records, don’t say whether Hanks ever revealed his motive for killing Walter. The sheriff’s office said Bellendir was not available for comment Saturday. Officials with the attorney general’s office and Hanks’ attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press on Saturday.