Exclusive: SLO County stabbing suspect has history of domestic violence, court records show

Content warning: This story mentions suicide.

The Shandon man suspected of stabbing his father and stepmother — killing the woman — was diagnosed with major depression with psychiatric features in 2013, court records show, and has a history of violent outbursts, according to people who know him.

Justin Buchanan, 31, was arrested on suspicion of homicide after the deadly stabbing on Sunday evening that led to a five-hour manhunt and a shelter-in-place order throughout the tiny San Luis Obispo County town.

Kelly Buchanan was pronounced dead at the scene while her husband Billy Buchanan was airlifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. He is currently in stable condition, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, which has yet to officially identify the victims despite them being widely discussed on the sheriff’s Facebook post about the stabbing.

Justin Buchanan is currently in custody at San Luis Obispo County Jail without bail.

The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office has not filed charges against Buchanan as of 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Stabbing suspect on probation twice for domestic violence, court records show

According to court records, Buchanan has previously been arrested twice on suspicion of domestic violence.

On June 7, 2013, court documents say, police responded to a report of a suicidal male — identified as Buchanan — who had ingested a large amount of prescription medication in Atascadero, where he was living with his then-girlfriend.

The woman told one of the officers that Buchanan was “suffering from delusions and had threatened to kill her,” the records say. She told police she was regularly seeing a psychiatrist for her own mental health issues and regularly recorded her sessions.

In these sessions, records say, the woman had talked about Buchanan’s “strange behavior.”

Earlier that day, the woman found Buchanan listening to the recordings of her therapy sessions. That’s when he slapped the woman, grabbed her by the neck, lifted her off the floor and forced her to the ground. He held her down for about a minute, court records say, then went to the bathroom and swallowed “handfuls” of prescription pills.

Buchanan was “agitated” when police arrived, and it took six officers to restrain him. He spent the night in the hospital, and the following day he attempted to “kick and bite” the police officers who took him to jail.

While in jail, he told investigators he was taking medication for a diagnosis of major depression with psychiatric features.

“He had little memory of the incident but regretted what he had done,” records say.

Buchanan was charged with six felonies: Obstructing or resisting an executive officer, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, false imprisonment with force and battery on a peace officer, threatening to commit a crime of violence and attempted threat or crime of violence.

He pleaded no contest to the first four charges in December 2013, and the two threats charges were dismissed. He was sentenced to four years of probation in January 2014. The case was closed in March 2018.

Buchanan was arrested again in June 2019. He was charged with misdemeanor battery on a spouse or cohabitant over a March 2019 incident in Arroyo Grande, against a woman Buchanan was dating and living with at the time.

The following July, Buchanan pleaded no contest to assault, and the battery charge was dismissed.

Buchanan was sentenced to three years of probation in September 2019. He was alleged to have violated that probation in February 2022, but the court found he remained in line with his probation. He finished his probation in September 2022, court records show.

He filed a petition to have the charge dismissed in April, according to court records, but a hearing for the dismissal petition has not yet been scheduled.

Neighbors, friends said suspect was well-known for violent past

Bertha Valencia, a neighbor living one street over from the site of the stabbing said Justin Buchanan is well-known around the small Shandon neighborhood for having a violent past.

Valencia, an employee of the Shandon Joint Unified School District, said she knew Justin Buchanan and remembers when he was a student at the local school district.

Brent Buchanan, Justin Buchanan’s brother, recently posted about the tragedy on Facebook, discussing his brother’s mental health struggles leading up to the fatal stabbing.

“None of us knew that this was going to happen,” Brent Buchanan said in the Facebook post. “We all knew something was wrong with Justin but never thought he could do this.

“I’ve been dealing with so many calls of family members screaming in pain and crying,” Brent Buchanan said of his brother.

“We all tried to help Justin and nothing worked. I hope the best for his kids and their mother,” Brent Buchanan said in the Facebook post.

Natalia Zuniga identified herself on Facebook as the mother of Justin Buchanan’s children.

“I’m his victim,” Zuniga said of Buchanan.

“There are too many victims of this tragedy,” Zuniga said. “I just wish my speaking out did more instead of lead to this. Kelly and Billy didn’t deserve any of this.”

With Zuniga’s permission, Melissa Hoxter, a close friend of Zuniga spoke with the Tribune.

Zuniga made great efforts to help Justin Buchanan with his mental health struggles, Hoxter said.

“She would make his mental health appointments, contact his doctors and reached out to family members and the police for help,” Hoxter said.

“However, Justin had extreme control issues,” Hoxter said. “He would listen in to her therapy sessions, he set up cameras to spy on her and if she left the house to hang out with me, he would constantly call demanding to know her location.”

Eventually, Natalia was overwhelmed by the abuse and kicked Justin out of her home in order to protect her own safety and that of her children as his aggressive behavior continued to escalate, Hoxter told the Tribune.

Since then, Justin Buchanan had been living with his father Billy Buchanan and stepmother Kelly Buchanan for about a year prior to the fatal stabbing.

“Natalia feared for not only her life but for his as well seeing that he had suicidal tendencies,” Hoxter said.

According to Hoxter, Justin Buchanan recently attempted to jump out of Natalia’s moving car with the children in the backseat during an argument about living in his father and stepmother’s home.

“Kelly had been trying to help Justin, taking him to doctor’s appointments, to visit his kid and talking him down when he was upset,” Hoxter said.

“We are shocked he turned on her when she was one of the only people trying to help him.”

Although Hoxter did not have a personal relationship with Kelly Buchanan, she said, “Natalia has only said positive and kind things about Kelly, describing her as a loving mother and grandmother who did nothing but try to help Justin.”

How to get help

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 988.

You can also call the Central Coast Hotline at 800-783-0607 for 24-7 assistance. To learn the warning signs of suicide, visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.