CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WJZY) – DNA from a decades-old marijuana joint helped detectives solve a hit-and-run cold case that killed a North Carolina woman 34 years ago, police announced Friday.
The crash happened at a Charlotte intersection on Dec. 29, 1989. The victim, 52-year-old Ruth Buchanan, was walking across the street after leaving a department store when she was struck by a dark-colored vehicle that failed to stop at a red light, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD).
“Her body landed on the opposite side of the intersection, and that vehicle, according to witnesses, didn’t stop, didn’t render aid and continued to flee the scene,” Sgt. Gavin Jackson with CMPD’s Major Crash Unit said in a video posted on Facebook.
Buchanan was transported to an area medical center with serious injuries and pronounced dead the following day, police said in a press release.
Witnesses provided authorities with a description of the vehicle, a 1990 Mitsubishi Galant that turned out to be stolen, along with its license plate number. A few days later, on New Year’s, officers responded to a Comfort Inn after receiving a call about a suspicious vehicle that matched the description of the car that struck Buchanan. Detectives obtained trace evidence on the outside of the car and confirmed that it was involved in the collision, Sgt. Jackson said.
The case went cold after several leads never amounted to anything.
Then, in 2022, investigators received an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip from someone claiming to know who hit Buchanan. Sgt. Jackson said that while the caller provided some accurate details, the person implicated in the tip was not the actual culprit.
Detectives continued to dig into the case and looked at one piece of evidence that eventually led to a breakthrough in their investigation: a marijuana cigarette recovered from the suspect’s vehicle. DNA from the cigarette pointed police to 68-year-old Herbert Stanback.
H/t: news.yahoo.com
