Suspect charged in decades-old Uptown Charlotte fatal hit-and-run cold case

CHARLOTTE ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) – Closure has finally come in a decades-old Uptown Charlotte fatal hit-and-run case, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police announced on Friday.

Officers responded to calls regarding the incident on Friday, December 9th, 1989 at the intersection of 5th Street and North Tryon. 52-year-old Ruth Buchanon was found suffering from injuries and was transported to an area medical center where she was pronounced dead the next day.

An initial investigation stated that Buchanon was crossing the street when she was struck by a vehicle that failed to stop at a red light and then fled the scene. The vehicle was later confirmed to have been stolen. The case went cold after several leads never amounted to anything.

An unfounded tip in 2022 prompted crime scene lab members to take a look at evidence in the case, and in doing so, they were able to identify 68-year-old Herbert Stanback as a possible suspect. Already serving a 22-year sentence at a correctional facility in Laurenburg in an unrelated case, Stanback was interviewed and subsequently charged with Buchanon’s murder.

CMPD Major Crash Investigation Unit, CMPD Crime Lab, CMPD Homicide Unit, CMPD Cold Case Review Team, District Attorney’s Office, NC Department of Corrections, and the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) were among the departments involved in the case.

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