In the early morning hours of September 16, 2015, Stanley Carter, a 59-year-old male Army veteran, was waiting for a bus in Highland Park, Michigan, on his way to work. At approximately 5 a.m., he was among a group of people at a bus stop in the 11800 block of Woodward Avenue when he was approached by an assailant. Carter was robbed and then fatally shot once in the chest. After being shot, he collapsed in a nearby parking lot and was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Relatives later shared that he was a former Army Ranger and held a black belt in karate.
The investigation into Carter's death quickly led police to a person of interest. Thanks to information provided by the public, authorities located and arrested Malcolm Benson, a 50-year-old ex-convict, at an apartment in the Palmer Park area. At the time of the murder, Benson was a parole absconder, having been released from prison in January 2015 after serving 20 years for a second-degree murder he committed in 1995. The investigation also revealed that shortly before killing Carter, Benson had sexually assaulted a woman in the same vicinity.
Malcolm Benson was charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, and first-degree criminal sexual conduct, in addition to firearm-related offenses. Following his trial, Benson was convicted of felony murder. In April 2016, he was sentenced to the mandatory punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the killing of Stanley Carter.
