FOLLOW US

In 2022, following a failed tip, the case was reopened, and the cigarette was subjected to DNA testing.

The results matched Herbert Stanback, who was already in custody at the Department of Adult Corrections in North Carolina on an unrelated charge.

Stanback’s Confession 

Stanback, a career criminal, had been incarcerated at the time of the hit-and-run but was on a work-release program that allowed him to leave the prison during the day.

He was working at a hotel just a couple of blocks from where Buchanan was struck. In his second interview with investigators in March 2024, Stanback made a "full confession."

"Interestingly, he was incarcerated at Charlotte Correctional [at the time of the hit-and-run], but he was on a work-release program at the time — where they would leave in the morning and come back in the evening — and he was working at a hotel one or two blocks up the street," Sgt. Jackson explained.

Stanback was sentenced to two years in prison for the hit-and-run, which he will serve concurrently with a 22-year sentence for an unrelated offense at the Scotland Correctional Institution in Laurinburg, North Carolina.

Hope for Cold Cases

The resolution of this cold case offers a glimmer of hope for other unsolved crimes.

 "I think this stands as an example — of course, not every case is going to be solved this way — but you never know what is going to happen, 20, 25, 30 years down the line," Sgt. Jackson said.

 "The fact that the scientific means have been able to obtain DNA and link it, not to a specific gene pool, but to a specific individual over three decades later is amazing. It really is."

The successful conclusion of Ruth Buchanan’s case serves as a reminder that when properly used by law enforcement the advancements in technology that can bring justice in cold cases.