Investigators located a black Mitsubishi at a Comfort Inn with damage consistent with the suspect vehicle’s description.
Inside the car, they found personal items, including a marijuana cigarette, which would later become a key piece of evidence. Despite this discovery, the case remained unsolved for years.
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.
