A Senior Citizen Was Arrested In 40-Year-Old Cold Case Of Kansas Nursing Student

Steven Hanks was initially a suspect in the 1980 killing of Mary Robin Walter, but it took police until December 2022 to arrest him.

December 20, 2022

Barton County Sheriff’s Office

Recently obtained information allowed Kansas authorities to release a 68-year-old man whom they say killed his own neighbor in 1980.

On January 24, 1980, 23-year-old nursing student Mary Robin Walter was found dead in her trailer in Great Bend, Kansas, a small town about 100 miles northwest of Wichita. The young mother had been shot multiple times, according to CBS News, but there were no arrests made in the case.

There had been a suspect — Steven Lawrence Hanks — in the early days of the investigation, according to Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir, but there reportedly wasn’t enough evidence to arrest him. Bellendir, who became an officer in Barton County in 1982, told PEOPLE that the case had haunted the department for the last four decades.

In April 2022, a detective decided to take a fresh look at the case and found that there was some “overlooked information” as well as some new details about the case. Re-interviewing witnesses as well as the discovery of brand new evidence in October allowed the officers to submit the case for prosecution.

That evidence allowed officers to arrest Hanks, now 68 years old, and charge him with second degree murder on Dec. 8. The homicide was reportedly Kansas’s oldest cold case.

This is not Hanks’s only brush with the law. He was arrested in 1981 and charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, and rape, according to records from the Kansas Department of Corrections. He was paroled in 1991 and on probation until December 1993.

Hanks is reportedly being held on a $500,000 bond.

Next Up

Trucker Charged In Kansas City Cold Case Murders, Police Believe There May Be More Victims

A 52-year-old man has been charged with two gruesome cold case murders that have haunted Kansas City for decades.

80-Year-Old Woman Charged In 1985 Cold Case Murder Of Romantic Rival

A love-triangle resulted in the tragic murder of Yvonne Menke nearly four decades ago. The alleged killer, now 80, has finally been arrested for shooting her three times in her head and neck.

Who Killed Maria Hsiao? Art Student Celebrating Her 21st Birthday Shot Outside Nightclub

“Even someone with second or third-hand information about what happened may hold the missing piece of the puzzle,” Palo Alto police say.

Fugitive Suspected Of Killing Florida Woman In 1984 Used 13 Aliases While On Run, Police Say

Donald Santini was captured in California and arrested in connection with the strangulation death of Cynthia Ruth Wood.

Colorado Security Guard Arrested For Murder Found With Severed Hand In His Pocket

After police in Pueblo, Colorado, discovered the decapitated body of a woman in a creek, they arrested a security guard who was found with a severed hand in his pocket.

50 Years Later, Suspect Arrested In Hawaii Murder Of Teenage Girl

On Jan. 7, 1972, Nancy Anderson’s body was found stabbed 63 times in the bedroom of her Honolulu apartment. Her case went unsolved for over 50 years.

Arrest Made In 44-Year-Old Cold Case Murder Of Maryland Woman

On Aug. 27, 1979, Vickie Lynn Belk was abducted after leaving work at the Department of Agriculture in D.C. Her body was found two days later, and she had been raped and fatally shot.

Texas Man Murdered Woman After He Took Her Out On Date To Concert

Erika Andrea Gaytan appeared happy when she posted on social media from the event in El Paso.

Migos Rapper Takeoff Dead After Houston Shooting

In the early morning hours of Nov. 1, 2022, the 28-year-old rapper was shot and killed outside a bowling alley in Texas.

Over Four Decades Later, Man Arrested For Sonoma Woman’s Brutal Murder

On June 27, 1983, 37-year-old Noelle Russo was beaten to death in Northern California. Just over 40 years later, authorities were finally able to make an arrest in the cold case.