DNA found on marijuana joint remains of 1989 hit-and-run victim

DNA recovered from a decades-old marijuana joint helped solve a hit-and-run that killed a North Carolina woman 34 years ago, police said Friday.

The accident occurred at an intersection in Charlotte on December 29, 1989. According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD), the victim, 52-year-old Ruth Buchanan, was leaving a department store and crossing the street when she was struck by a dark-colored vehicle that failed to stop for a red light.

“Her body was on the other side of the intersection and witnesses reported the vehicle did not stop, did not render aid and continued to flee the scene,” Sergeant Gavin Jackson of CMPD's Major Crash Unit said in a video posted to Facebook.

Buchanan was taken to an area medical center with serious injuries and was pronounced dead the following day, police said in a press release.

Witnesses provided authorities with the description and license plate number of a 1990 Mitsubishi Galant, which was determined to be stolen. A few days later, on New Year's Day, officers were dispatched to the Comfort Inn on a call about a suspicious vehicle matching the description of the car that struck Buchanan. Detectives found traces on the exterior of the vehicle and determined it was involved in the collision, Jackson said.

Several clues yielded nothing and the case remained unsolved.

Then in 2022, investigators received an anonymous crime tip from someone claiming to know the person who attacked Buchanan. Sergeant Jackson said the caller provided accurate details, but the person connected to the call was not the actual perpetrator.

Detectives continued investigating the case, eventually turning to a piece of evidence that provided a breakthrough: a marijuana cigarette recovered from the suspect's car. DNA from the cigarette led police to the suspect, 68-year-old Herbert Stanback.

Police interviewed Stanback, who was already serving a 22-year sentence at Laurenberg Correctional Facility for a separate incident, in March 2024. During questioning, Stanback confessed to the hit-and-run, police said.

Police said Stanback was working at a local hotel as part of a work-release program for inmates at the time of the 1989 accident. After hitting the victim, Stanback allegedly abandoned his car and returned to the prison that evening.

Stanback was formally charged with Buchanan's murder in June.

“This is a once in a lifetime event and just being able to give these families this news is very rewarding,” Sergeant Jackson said in the video. “Obviously, not every case is solved like this, but you never know what's going to happen in 20, 30, 35 years. And the fact that, 30-plus years later, we now have the scientific means to have DNA that links back to a specific individual, not to a specific gene pool, is just incredible.”

Sergeant Jackson also thanked the witnesses who first reported the crime.

KTLA sister station WJZY reports.