On June 14, 1995, at approximately 3:30 a.m., Special Agent Sharon L. Alston was involved in a single car accident on N.C. Highway 41 in Jones County.  She was enroute to participate in a 5 a.m. round-up of drug suspects in Havelock (Craven County).

Alston's vehicle, a 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, ran off the road, back on, and then crossed over the center line veering right and going sideways in the road for 167 feet, striking a driveway culvert. The speed at impact was estimated to be 60 miles per hour.

SBI Director James Coman said at the memorial service, "Special Agent Sharon Alston understood the meaning of duty.  Duty is acting from the highest respect of the law. Sharon acted in a habitually courageous manner every day facing the very real perils inherent in law enforcement work, and on June 14, 1995, Sharon's life ended tragically while pursuing her sense of duty."

Agent Alston was a native of Vance County and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After her graduation from college, she joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a military police woman. She joined the SBI in September 1992.