District attorney Dan Dow announced that 45-year-old Vanessa Rose Noblitt has plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in a 2024 hit and run fatal collision.
Noblitt was driving with a blood alcohol concentration greater than .15 percent at about noon on July 23, 2024. She was driving southbound on Higuera street in San Luis Obispo, when she drifted into the bike lane and struck 86-year-old cyclist Saul Goldberg. Goldberg died from his injuries several days later, while his longtime friend, 72-year-old Martin Suits, also suffered a concussion with other injuries.
Noblitt fled the scene, and was arrested later when she struck a car in a nearby mobile home park. Her blood alcohol content at the time was determined to be .31%. She will be sentenced to the maximum penalty allowed by law for her offenses, which is 9 years and 8 months in state prison.
