Cowley County man convicted of 1980 murder

A Cowley County man has been sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for the 1980 murder of a woman in Great Bend.

In August, 70-year-old Steven Hanks of Burden pleaded guilty. He was arrested after Barton County officials reopened the 2022 murder investigation of 23-year-old Mary Robin Walter.

The Kansas Attorney General's Office said Walter was killed in her Great Bend home, but no arrests have been made. Investigators conducted a new interview with Hanks, who was a neighbor of Walter and was considered a suspect in the murder at the time. The Attorney General's Office said Hanks admitted to the murder during the new interview. New technology and new procedures were used in the reopening of the case, and Hanks was arrested and charged in December 2022.

Barton County District Judge Steven Johnson sentenced Hanks to a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 25 years in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections.