By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Good, old-fashioned detective work. That's how Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir described the recent arrest on a 42-year-old murder in the county. Bellendir shared some more details of the investigation of the crime during an appearance on the "County Edition" show on KVGB 1590 AM/95.5 FM.
"In 1981 and 82, these guys, the original investigators, were real close, but they just couldn't quite shove it over the edge," he said. "There's been a change in attitudes in how you investigate these sorts of things. My guys were able to get some more information that helped clear up some stuff."
Bellendir was just a senior in high school in January 1980 when Mary Robin Walter was found shot in a now-defunct trailer park west of Great Bend. Investigators at the time developed a suspect, but the case eventually went cold, and the case files remained in a file cabinet as Bellendir began his tenure at the sheriff's office.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Det. Sgt. Adam Hales was forced out of work for approximately two weeks in April 2022. He returned to light duty and asked Bellendir if he could reexamine the case.
"I actually chuckled and said, 'Good luck. You and every other detective that's ever worked in this office,'" Bellendir said. "I've seen this thing come and go since the early 1980s."
As lead investigator, Hales was joined by detectives David Paden, Bryan Volkel, and Alex Lomas, as well as Patrol Sgt. Travis Doze. Together, they pieced together the files.
"The biggest problem we ran into, guys would make copies of a statement and then, instead of keeping that out of the case, it got mixed back in with the case," said Bellendir. "I had one guy in the detective division, that's all he did was make a comprehensive - we're talking 3-ring binders, four inches thick - that have the documents and the interviews, and all the material that is relevant to that case."
Bellendir said the department lucked out with no new major cases that might have forced the old investigation onto the back burner. Instead, the detectives made their case and presented it to the Barton County Attorney's Office in October 2022. On Dec. 8, 68-year-old Steven Hanks of Burden was arrested without incident on charges of second-degree murder.
Investigators held a press conference on the case the following day, and Bellendir said, that too, has resulted in more details about the case.
"People saw that press release, and we had at least two, they weren't witnesses to the crime, but they were witnesses that had information about the case," he said. "They had been interviewed back in the 1980s, but the interviews either weren't recorded or written down, or they were lost over time."
Hanks remains incarcerated in the Barton County jail awaiting trial. The case is scheduled for a review hearing in the Barton County District Court on Jan. 26 at 8 a.m.