By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — There is no statute of limitations in homicide cases. That's how, on Thursday, 68-year-old Steven L. Hanks was arrested on second-degree murder charges from the death of Mary Robin Walter, stemming back nearly 43 years. Friday morning, Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir, Barton County Attorney Levi Morris, and various other law enforcement officers held a press conference at the Barton County Courthouse to discuss the case.
"At 42 years and 10 months, we believe this is the oldest homicide arrest in the state of Kansas," Bellendir said. "It may be one of the oldest homicide arrests in the United States. This also clears the last known homicide in a non-incorporated area under the jurisdiction of the Barton County Sheriff's Office."
Just before 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24, 1980, deputies responded to a possible homicide call in the Nelson Trailer Park, lot nine, near what is now Southwest 40th Avenue and Anchorway.
"Upon arrival, deputies and investigators located the body of a female victim who had been shot multiple times," said Bellendir. "The victim was identified as Mary Robin Walter, who lived at the residence. Walter was 23 years of age at the time, married with one child. She was a nursing student at Barton County Community College."
Bellendir said an extensive investigation was conducted at the time, and Hanks was developed as a person of interest in the case. However, law enforcement lacked the evidence needed to submit the case for prosecution.
In April 2022, Det. Sgt. Adam Hales was recovering from COVID-19 when he re-opened the case. "After taking a fresh look at the case, it became evident that some of the information had been initially overlooked, and some had been added at a later date," Bellendir said. "This was unknown to the original investigators."
Bellendir assigned additional detectives Alex Lomas and Bryan Volkel, as well as Patrol Sgt. Travis Doze to the case. Lt. David Paden supervised the operation as the deputies had time. The officers tracked down numerous individuals who had been involved in the case in the 1980s, reaching as far as the Pacific Northwest.
"In October of this year, new evidence was obtained that allowed the sheriff's office to submit the case to the Barton County Attorney, Mr. Levi Morris, for review," Bellendir said. "After approximately four weeks of review, Mr. Morris obtained an arrest for murder in the second degree, and the arrest of Steven L. Hanks, age 68, of Burden. Hanks was a neighbor to the victim at the time of the homicide."
Hanks was arrested by Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents Thursday evening in Oxford and turned over to the Barton County Sheriff's Office for transportation back to Great Bend. He is currently being held in lieu of a $500,000 bond.
Morris said Hanks could make his first appearance in front of a district court judge as early as Friday afternoon or sometime Monday. The next step will be a preliminary hearing for the second-degree murder charge.
"The facts that we know, and believe they are, and believe we can prove in court fit that charge rather than any charges higher or lower," Morris said. "That can change either to be higher or lower at the preliminary hearing or at any time close to trial."
Bellendir was pleased to bring a level of closure to the case after 42 years.
"Homicides are never closed," he said. "As long as you have a homicide case, it remains open until you get it closed one way or the other. This has case has been open ever since I've been a law enforcement officer.
"I started with the sheriff's office in 1982. This has been an irritation for the sheriff's office that we've never been able to close this case. A lot of investigators have tried to close this case, and we were unable, at that time, to get the information we needed."
Bellendir thanked the many agencies that assisted in the investigation, including the KBI, Great Bend Police Department, Oxford Police Department, Cowley County Sheriff's Office, Winfield Police, Burden Police Department, and Everett Police Department in Washington state. He also gave high praise to his own detectives.
"The credit in this case goes to my detective division, who were in the trenches doing the nuts and bolts work," he said. "These are long, complicated investigations, and tedious. The credit really goes to my people.
"This is such a complicated case with so many moving pieces," he continued. "The credit goes all the way back to the early 1980s to the first cops that responded to the scene. The KBI has assisted us greatly in the case. Chief Haulmark is fairly new to the community, but he was personally out digging around in boxes trying to find records we needed from the 1980s. This was a joint effort."
Bellendir said Walter does still have family living in Kansas. At the time of her death, Mary was married to Doug Walter, who died in 2021, without closure in the case.
"On the anniversary of her death, that was the day he would go in the basement," said one of Doug's stepdaughters, who was present at Friday's press conference. "All the lights would be off, and he didn't want anyone to bother him."
Two stepdaughters moved in with Doug after he remarried, even though some considered him to be a suspect. Many originally thought Hanks committed the crime.
"I feel like a lot of people thought he did it," said the stepdaughter. "It was no big deal. We didn't think anything of it until now that we're older and we look back, and people always say they thought Doug did it. It's nice to have proof that he didn't."