Other testimony revealed another regular expenditure. She, of course, was referring to Margaret. The Prosecution. It was the O.J. Scott ran with a rough crowd, and was known to get rough with both Margaret and Carol Lynn. She cannot believe that two decades have passed since the day that two family members were killed and her familys life was changed forever. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Disbarred . When he returned, they said, he prepared to join his family to look at a piece of land his mother had bought. It looks like we don't have any photos for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall yet. File photo. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. But showing little emotion after that. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? ", She said that Steven had called her the night before the bombing to make sure that both she and Scott would be coming along in the morning when he planned to stake the dimensions of his mother's new lot. "How long does it take to say a guy was stabbed in the temple?" Margaret's son, Steven Benson, was convicted of placing two pipe bombs inside the family's Suburban, which killed his mother and brother, and seriously injured his sister, Carol Benson Kendall. Hitchcock died in 1990, five years after the Florida killings. Thats the way Steve was.. He knew how to make tube bombs and fiddled with explosives. Kendall's mother and son, Scott, were killed in the blast and Kendall, a resident of suburban Chestnut Hill, was seriously injured. He was talking to one of his associates - the phrase How much did we take in yesterday? sticks in my head. Margaret Benson and her adopted son, Scott, were killed in the 1985 blast at their Naples home. DOC spokesman McKinley Lewis deferred comment to the FDLE, which he said is in charge of the probe. Benson's death was reported soon after it happened on July 3. Lets go with disastrous hate. An investigator said later they probably didnt have a chance to move.. In the second half of 2015, there were close to 200 inmate deaths in Florida's prisons. The jury convicted him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling in the killing of his mother and nephew and injuring of his sister with car-bomb in front of their Naples, Fla., home. Harry Hitchcock, second from right, patriarch of the Benson family and founder of the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co., with his daughter Janet Murphy in a hallway of the Florida courthouse during the trial their family member, Steven Benson. Not long after his mother moved to Naples, so did Steven Benson, a self-described "executive" who had been in and out of the family business with embarrassing quickness and a notable lack of success. On the morning of the blast, prosecutors said, Benson drove the vehicle shortly before the explosion, allegedly to get doughnuts at a nearby convenience store. Albert Gleason, a federal explosives expert, testifies about the pipe-bomb Steven Benson used to kill his family members on July 9, 1985, in front of their Naples, Fla., home. The prosecution's evidence is entirely circumstantial. (Photo: File), Cameraman Al Durruthy records video footage of a Chevrolet Suburban outside the home of Mary Quinn, Wednesday afternoon (June 4), in the Quail Creek Estates in North Naples. Murphys daughter, Brenda, was there that day. Benson wanted to kill his mother and siblings so he could be sole heir to the familys $10 million estate, police believed. Investigators said Steven Benson had embezzled up to $2 million from his mother and had recently learned he may be cut out of her will. He seldom looked at Steven.The defendant watched his grandfather enter the courtroom, but after that he never looked at him. He was very congenial, very eager to talk, Sands recalls. Click here to learn more about the role the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund plays in Lancaster County and to make a tax-deductible donation. Most recently, he was assigned as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties. On Monday, the state produced a witness whose testimony left a strong impression on those spectators who had seen the trial from the beginning. Quinn, left-center, was watching the production with friend Kathleen Garvey, left, and daughter Debbie Quinn, right, as the crew worked on a production for Court TV about the 1985 murders of tobacco heiress Margaret Benson and her son Scott. BOSTON (AP) _ Tobacco heiress Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, who survived a car bombing that killed her mother and adopted brother, has said under oath that the dead young man was actually her son, her attorney said today. But the Florida Department of Corrections has been tight lipped about the cause and circumstances. She was crying. He was a strange fellow, says Sands, who worked as a landscaper for Bensons late grandfather, Hitchcock. The jury convicted Benson on the first vote, she said. And he put a lot of planning in it but never covered his tracks at all., Tom Schelling, whom the Benson family had on the payroll to do maintenance and construction around their many estates, said he has known Steven Benson since high school. Benson never bothering to wash his mothers blood spatters from the side of his white van, which he had parked near the blown-apart Suburban, and which he was still driving on the day police showed up to arrest him for the killings, a month and a half later. Even though he had a fancy car" -- the Lotus -- "he didn't like to drive. It seemed like a dumb thing." It continued to prosper, and eventually both families had what some people call "real money," and what others disdain as "nouveau. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 42, of Brookline, Mass. Support local journalism. I think it was the dumbest murder I ever solved that had been planned. It wasn't the prison pallor that surprised people who had known him; it was the grim and almost affectless bearing. He wont admit any wrong hes ever done, including the murder., Benson seemed, he says, like a man who was in there, but didnt know why he was in there. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn. But by late 1984 and early 1985, they argue, she was coming to the conclusion that bankrolling Steven was something less than sound. Steven Bensons trial is scheduled to begin in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 13. ", After almost four hours of final argument, and another hour of his carefully read instructions, Judge Hayes gave the case to the jury at 2:06 yesterday afternoon. Carol 's cause of death is unknown to us at this time. It was then that she had her personal secretary run a tab of what her children owed her. Bensons aunt, Murphy, recalls him as being different as well. Its still fresh in my memory, he said. Her niece, Kendall, also has stayed out of the limelight. ", Should the court decide that the 3-year-old in question is indeed the daughter of the late Scott Benson, the child could inherit either (depending on what happens to the man who might be her Uncle Steven) one-third or one-half of Margaret Benson's $10 million estate, and establish her as a legitimate claimant to the estate of the 89-year-old Harry Hitchcock, who is said to be worth as much as $400 million. No mental problems, he was just evil., The case garnered national attention, and four authors later wrote books about it. I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. Collier Circuit Judge Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday. https://insideeko.com/carol-lynn-benson-kendall-obituary-d/ insideeko.com Defense lawyer Mike McDonnell, who represented Benson along with attorney Jerry Berry, said it was one of the first trials to have televised gavel-to-gavel coverage.. I think it was just pure greed for money, Murphy said. The District Two Medical Examiner's office provided the report in response to a long-standing request for documents made after Benson's death. There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. Scrambling desperately, the injured Kendall pitched herself through the open door of the mangled van and onto the circular driveway in front of her mother's home. Movies. Prosecutors argued his mother's funds were used as seed money -- or to bail out one or more of the companies in emergencies, of which there were many. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. The jury was split on the death penalty, and so gave him life in prison. Behind bars, Benson has worked in the laundry and on a painting detail. The problems, Sands says, were all Benson wanted to talk about during the visits. He was tall and thin and looked intellectual. She suffered first-degree burns on her face and hands in the explosion and is still undergoing extensive reconstructive surgery. He just wouldnt respond to it, Sands says. After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. McDonnell did not call Steven Benson in his own defense. Shocked by the attack, she says that since then, her siblings have been completely uninterested in her physical and emotional well-being. Left-Wing Meloni: Italys Attempt to Replicate Giorgia Meloni, Europe is dumping its migrants in Africa in exchange of money, Mariannette Miller-Meeks : Role during Iowa elections, Mustang used by Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt auctioned, Mexicos constitutional crisis has its roots in Washington, The EU-Mercosur Deal: Macrons Duplicity Unveiled, Paraguay declares Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. I mean, I was scared of Scott . He is a good son. Something is wrong with Daddy. Stating that he could not give money to one of the children and not the other, Judge Hayes then awarded $244,000 to Carol Lynn Kendall, who also had legal bills. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Attorney (s) appearing for the Case BOSTON (AP) _ Tobacco heiress Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, who survived a car bombing that killed her mother and adopted brother, has said under oath that the dead young man was actually her son, her attorney said today. Also in the car were her two children, 21-year-old Scott, who died, and 41-year-old Carol Lynn, who was badly injured but survived. Once these equal trusts were created, the children of the settlor would receive a net income over their lifetime and an amount equal to 2% of the capital, which would be determined at the time of the establishment of the individual trusts on a quarterly basis. Collier Judge Hugh Hayes presided over the trial. Also Read:Mustang used by Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt auctioned, Your email address will not be published. Steven Wayne Benson[1] (July 26, 1951 July 3, 2015) was an American convicted double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson; and his brother (actually his nephew but later adopted), tennis player Scott Benson. Support local journalism. At the age of 63, Margaret Benson, was killed by her son, Steven Benson, with a car bomb that also took the life of her her grandson, Scott Benson, and injured her daughter, Carol Lynn Kendall, on July 9, 1985, in fron t of their Naples, Fla., home. [citation needed] The case was featured in Great Crimes and Trials and Infamous Murders. I had never known anyone like this before. He went through money like crazy, Sands says. Eventually the second will was ruled valid, but before that happened, Steve Benson was arrested. On July 9, 1985 Benson placed a car bomb on the family car, in which Margaret, Scott, and Steven's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, (a former Miss Florida runner-up) were waiting for Steven to join them in the vehicle when the Suburban exploded. Benson, then 33, was running out of it and wanted to inherit his mother's. He never looked at anybody, says Murphy, who sat right behind Benson during the trial. [6][7] Over the course of his sentence, Benson was transferred to various prisons because of constant threats and abuse from other inmates. I can see what money can do when people get so tied up in self, he says. She also said that Steven was gone so long for coffee that she kidded he "could have gone all the way to Fort Myers. Steven was paid $244,974.39 so he could pay his legal fees. Benson crying on the first day of his trial. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was a former Miss Florida runner-up and was survived in a murder attempt by her brother Steven Wayne Benson in 1985. The Money. Nothing was heard from him at all during the trial, she said. He was calm as a cucumber, he said. emains listed on the DOC website as an open investigation led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The family and everybody just treated his grandmother as Scotts mother, the attorney said. Scott Benson, who was originally thought to be Steven Benson's brother but was revealed during the trial to be his nephew, was killed at the age of 21 on July 9, 1985, in front of his Naples, Fla., home by the car bomb that also took the life of his grandmother, Margaret Benson, who was 63 at the time, and injured his mother, Carol Lynn Kendall. Steven Benson is serving two life sentences at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Fla. After his initial outburst, Benson became stoic and unemotional as the evidence was presented against him. Reached Friday about her brothers death, she said, I really have no comment.. ", Edward Benson died in 1980 at the age of 60, and his widow moved to Naples, Fla., a Gulf Coast enclave whose Chamber of Commerce boasts more millionaires per capita than any other U.S. city. Joyce Quinn, Margaret Benson's quiet and polite young secretary who'd lasted but three months in the job before realizing there had to be saner employment, testified that Margaret "paid for everything for Scott" -- his cars (among them two Lotuses, a sports car that costs $45,000 to $50,000) his van, his Cigarette speedboat, his apartment and furniture, repairs, his tennis lessons, his clothes and his gas credit cards. He. Carol Lynn Kendall, sister of Steven Benson, survived the car bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret Benson, on July 9, 1985. Margaret Benson adopted her grandson as her son, to cover up the fact that her daughter, a former beauty queen, became pregnant with a water skier from Cypress Gardens, said Cirace, now 64. . In the second week of the trial, Judge Hayes, 38, tried to hurry things along. By July 8, the day before the bombing, Margaret had learned of Steven's new house in Fort Myers, according to testimony. The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. Investigators also found on Bensons pants a single particle of zinc, which they said fell off the galvanized pipe while he was making the bombs that would later kill his mother and sister. Janet Murphy, Steven Bensons maternal aunt, said no one in the family ever patched things up with him, and he has never as much as admitted to the crime. ", Carol Lynn told investigators, in a statement taken after she was released from the hospital where she had been treated for severe burns and had begun the long process of reconstructive surgery, that while her mother was scared of Scott, Margaret Benson felt that Steven was the only one who would actually harm her for her money: "She wouldn't put it past Steven to do away with her. In addition to the fatal wound to the head, Associate Medical Examiner Anthony Clark noted a puncture wound to the left scalp and multiple bruises on Benson's torso, upper and lower extremities. She is shown here in a . And she also contradicted the wake testimony regarding bombs. As trial testimony brought out, Steven had started yet another company, Meridian Marketing, which was located about 30 miles away in Fort Myers, where Steven had just bought a new (and very large) house. Moments later, a second bomb, this one planted in the rear of the vehicle, exploded. To my knowledge, Scott never confronted his mother with the question. The attorney said, I want you to meet Steven Benson, she recalled. Benson, he recalled, had a reputation as a wimp., He didnt fit in, Schelling said. Jul 23, 2015. They had so much, and the family dynamic was about as whacked out as you could ask for.. He turned to the television cameras and delivered a stern warning to the "youth of Southwest florida" about the dangers of laughing gas. 'It's hard for me to even put into words the devastation emotionally that this has caused me and my children,' Kendall told reporters at Logan International Airport after flying home from Florida. Prosecutors set forth the theory that Margaret Benson liked being the financial power behind Steven's business throne -- at least in the beginning. Those involved with the case say they are surprised at how it still resonates in peoples minds, and their own lives. When Benson refused to pay, Washington and another man, identified as Marvin Taylor, ambushed and shanked Benson. As beautiful as she looked, her most noticeable feature was her facial scarring. I guess you'd call them bombs." He got down from his ladder, and walked toward the tennis courts, where he found Steven holding what appeared to be a remote control device. Eyebrows were raised in the affluent Benson neighborhood, but Margaret prevailed and she raised the boy as her son. His sister, Carol Lynn, was badly burned in the blast but survived. My relationship with Tracy was always a very turbulent one. The siblings did not return phone messages Friday. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. The Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. He was supposed to provide them the next day, the day the bomb went off.. To Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, this question is, in a sense, peripheral. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay restitution of $1,075 to one client. It was obvious he was spending his mothers money on himself and his family, Brock said. McDonnell did succeed in keeping the jury from hearing the testimony of the groundskeeper who had said he had seen Steven playing with a remote-control bomb device in Pennsylvania, but he was not able to stop a former employe from telling the jury that at the wake, Steven mentioned to a small group that he had "made bombs as a kid.". Moments later there was a loud explosion. It just never stopped, Cirace said. FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the agency had no updated information as of Friday afternoon. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. Steven Benson turned gray behind bars and died, to little fanfare. Benson, now 53, is serving two life sentences in a Florida prison for killing his mother and brother, and trying to kill his sister. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? As the lead investigator in the Collier County Sheriffs Department, Harold Young was one of the first people to answer the call about a bombing at Margaret Bensons home in a gated golf course community on the morning of July 9, 1985. A Florida jury found Benson guilty Aug. 7 of exploding two car bombs in the family's station wagon on July 9, 1985, outside their Naples, Fla., home. I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, Sands says. Before the day was over, according to newspaper accounts, Steven had asked for and received a loan of $20,000 from his grandfather. There was an error processing your request. [11] Washington was charged with murder for killing Benson, but was acquitted. But everyone agreed that she had done so well, it might be unwise to risk a second appearance. But that same day, local attorney Guion DeLoach showed up with a second and more recent will, one that Margaret Benson had him draw up and that she signed Jan. 29, 1985. Lending her emotional support was her grandfather, Harry Hitchcock, who had made a dramatic appearance in the courtroom at 8:25 a.m. and stayed the entire day. Investigators also found on Bensons pants a single particle of zinc, which they said fell off the pipe while he was making the bombs. The judge did another unusual thing. "I couldn't understand why he wasn't coming over to help me," she testified to a packed but dead silent courtroom. Steven Bensons children - Elizabeth Benson, 5; Christopher Logan Benson, 5; and Natalie Nichole Benson, 4 - are entitled to inherit from their grandmothers estate, the judge said. His deposition in that case reads like pulp fiction of old: "My mother (meaning Margaret Benson) who had 38 years of marriage to my father, a greatly respected man of the highest character both in business and his personal life, is herself a religious person of high integrity and moral values. Steven Benson's palm print was one of the major points in the prosecution's case against him, a case that ultimately convinced a jury to convict him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling in the killing of his mother and nephew and injuring of his sister with car-bomb in front of their Naples, Fla., home. I know it happened to me and my family, she says, but it seems so surreal.. Hed always been sort of strange, she says. Cirace said Scott was born in 1965 in a Baltimore hospital and later adopted by Mrs. Kendalls mother, Margaret Benson of Pennsylvania, heiress to the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co. fortune. Office: 954-789-0834. Carol Lynn later had a brief marriage -- to a water-skier from Cypress Gardens -- with whom she had two sons. Best of 2022 Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Top 250 TV Shows Most Popular TV Shows Most Popular Video Games Most Popular Music Videos Most Popular Podcasts. Im 91 now, Sands said when reached by phone Friday. Maybe it was the money, the power and the greed, they say. [13] The Trustees have not presented reasonable grounds for attributing the settlors scheme to their section of the trustee exercised on November 27, 1985, following the death of Ms. Benson. He was always doing things but never getting anything accomplished, Sands recalls. And there was lots of squabbling over who got what. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. The Steven Benson case drew national media coverage in 1986. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, testifies about the explosion and injuries she sustained. Margaret Benson Also on the public record is a 3-year-old paternity suit filed by Scott's former live-in girl. Scott had canisters of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, to which he was addicted, delivered to the house on a monthly basis, defense witnesses said. Beyond that, Young had little to say. Carol Lynn testified that he arrived unusually early and insisted on taking the Chevy Suburban, rather than his own car, and first going by himself for coffee and doughnuts. His company prospered, and he became one of the best-liked civic and charitable figures in Lancaster, Pa., a lovely area surrounded by Amish farms. He just looked at me. Menu. Steven Benson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2, and prosecutors have asked for a life sentence. I walk into a restaurant and people say, Didnt you do the Benson case? Dwight Brock was an assistant state attorney in Florida, specializing in white collar crime, when Steven Benson was arrested. Also Read : . LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - Heres what has stuck with them for 30 years, since the day that Steven Benson blew up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Florida home, in a greedy attempt to inherit a $10 million Lancaster tobacco company fortune: . Margaret and Scott died instantly, and Caroline was rushed to the hospital with severe burns. Hollywood's Carol Lynn Benson Kendall (University of Richmond School of Law, admitted to the Florida Bar 2002) got disbarred, the final step after her suspension in February and a. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Amos Sands of West Donegal Township remembers the day 20 years ago today as well. By the time the trial began, Steven Benson had been in jail for almost 11 months. Murphy s nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to. 20 years later, friends and family still try to make sense of Benson murders: 'It still seems unreal', By opting into newsletters you are agreeing to our. Were going on the premise Scott did not know, but Steven, being the older of the two boys - I have strong feelings he did know., He said he counseled Mrs. Kendall to tell the truth about Scotts birth and answer any and all questions they ask, no matter how private or embarrassing.. To that end, he held court one day from 8:30 in the morning, his usual opening time, to 10 that night. In August 1986, Margaret Bensons son, Steven Wayne Benson, was convicted in the slaying of his mother and her adopted son, Scott R. Benson, 21. Then the jurors filed out and the door closed behind them once again. He walked behind him and put his hand on his shoulder and he said, Steven Benson is a nice person. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, Appellant/Petitioner, v. Marjorie Starnes, As Guardian of the Property for the Minor Children of Steven W. Benson, and Steven W. Benson, Appellees/Respondents. He is also charged with the attempted murder of his sister, Carol Lynn. One pulled Kendall, who was screaming, Im hot! Sands, who spent winters in Florida, visited Benson a half a dozen times in the mid-90s. In July 1985, 63-year-old Margaret, her 41-year-old daughter Caroline Benson Kendall, her 33-year-old son Stephen Benson, and her 21-year-old adopted son Scott Benson got into the car to drive away to check a piece of land in the city where Margaret planned to build another house for the family. ), After a brief rebuttal by the prosecution, Judge Hayes let the jury go. He complimented the jury for its "staying power," but that didn't stop him from holding court all day Saturday, too. Except for that last-minute surprise appearance, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall had spent the day out of sight, with her lawyer and the lawyer for her mother's estate. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. The mangled Benson family Chevy Suburban that Steven Benson exploded with a pipe-bomb in front of his family's Naples, Fla., home, killing his mother and nephew and injuring of his sister. Tragically, Hitchcock turned out to be right about his grandson. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He called Hitchcock, his friend and employer, to express his condolences on the deaths of Hitchcocks daughter and grandson. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. Murphys father, Harry Hitchcock, was fine. Twelve and a half hours later, almost to the minute, Harry Hitchcock's granddaughter made an equally dramatic, if brief, appearance in the courtroom. The first thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, you know that. He thought that right away, Sands, now 81, remembered today. He was sobbing.. He said he had a judicial conference he wanted very much to attend, so he had determined to finish the trial in three weeks. It wasnt very long at all. Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, a former Naples City Council candidate, is now a lawyer in Broward County focusing on family law and real estate. Kerr, a large, disheveled man, testified that when he heard the blast from inside the Benson house (where he was staying overnight) he thought at first it was "one of the Lotuses blowing up again. Her father, she says, was broken up by the entire affair. Prosecutors argued that Steven had engineered the whole idea of the early-morning trip to view the huge -- 17,000-square-foot -- residence his mother was building nearby in the same exclusive subdivision. Within this circle, there was lots of money. 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