A 44-year-old cold case was finally resolved after a man was sentenced on Thursday for the murder of a nursing student who was gunned down in her Kansas home.
Mary Robin Walter, 23, was shot multiple times inside her trailer in Great Bend on January 24, 1980.
At the time, police found a .22-caliber handgun at the scene and confirmed it was the murder weapon that killed the young mother and wife. They also conducted multiple interviews, including one with her killer.
Steven L. Hanks, 70, a neighbor of Walter, was officially identified as the man who murdered Walter when he was 25, the Barton County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
Over the years authorities revisited the case ‘to no avail,’ but in 2022, an affidavit was presented to the District Court, along with a warrant for Hanks’ arrest after he confessed to the murder in a recent interview.
Mary Robin Walter, 23, was shot multiple times inside her trailer in Great Bend on January 24, 1980. Her case went untouched until 2022
Steven L. Hanks, 70, a neighbor of Walter, was officially identified as the man who murdered Walter when he was 25. He was arrested on December 8, 2022 and officially sentenced on Thursday
At the time, Hanks was considered a suspect, but he was never arrested or prosecuted because ‘no conclusive evidence was discovered,’ Sheriff Brian J. Bellendir said.
Bellendir explained that he was convinced to take another look at the cold case after Detective Sgt. Adam Hales mentioned revisiting it ‘using new techniques and technology’ that weren’t around at the time of the gruesome murder.
Although he was reluctant to re-open the case at first, Bellendir allowed Hales, Lt. David Paden and Detectives Travis Doze and Brian Volkel to ‘look at it with new eyes.’
They started by compiling all of the documents related to Walter’s case, getting evidence DNA tested, and conducting a new series of interviews.
Unfortunately, no DNA came back from the evidence and a lot of the people they wanted to interview had died.
At the time, police found a .22-caliber handgun at the scene and confirmed it was the murder weapon that killed the young mother and wife
But, police were able to get a hold of Hanks, who had gone on to spend a decade in prison for rape, battery, robbery and burglary.
‘Sgt. Detective Adam Hales and Lt. David Paden re-interviewed Hanks…. In his interviews, Hanks admitted to killing Walter,’ the Kansas Attorney General’s Office said.
Later that year, an affidavit was presented with an arrest warrant for Hanks, leading to his arrest on December 8, 2022. He was charged with second-degree murder.
By April 15 of that year, a judge ordered that Hanks go to trial for his charge in a preliminary hearing.
After a plea agreement was reached on August 8, 2024, Hanks was sentenced for killing the nursing student.
Bellendir explained that because Hanks committed the crime so long ago, he was sentenced under the state law in effect at the time which called for a five to 25 years sentence.
Barton County District Judge Steven Johnson ‘departed’ from Hanks’ plea agreement and sentenced Hanks to 10- 25 years in prison for killing Walter.
Pamela Cooper, the daughter of Walter, previously told NBC News that even though he wasn’t convicted of her mother’s murder at the time, ‘we knew who did it.’
Pamela Cooper, the daughter of Walter, previously told NBC News that even though he wasn’t convicted of her mother’s murder at the time, ‘we knew who did it’
Sheriff Brian J. Bellendir decided to re-open the case that he ‘remembered well’ after Detective Sgt. Adam Hales mentioned revisiting it ‘using new techniques and technology’ that weren’t around at the time of the gruesome murder
‘We knew it was Steven Hanks, the neighbor,’ she added.
Cooper, who was just five-years-old at the time of her mother’s death, told the outlet that her father had found her after being shot by Hanks.
‘I just hope that he is sorry for what he’s done, that he’s remorseful, but even if he’s not, he can’t change my heart as I forgave him a long time ago,’ Copper said.
Bellendir, who was 18 when the murder happened, said he ‘remembered it well.’
He found the end of the unsolved case bittersweet because many people connected to Walter’s tragic death aren’t around to see her get justice.
‘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,’ he added.
The Sheriff noted that the department believes this to be the oldest cold case to be solved and result in conviction in the state.
