But showing little emotion after that. She wanted an accounting and, if it had to be, a confrontation with Steven. The chief prosecutor, Jerry Brock, argued she had made conflicting statements in earlier depositions. Murphy declined to say where she now is living and says she does not see her regularly. The jury deliberated just 12 hours before finding Benson guilty. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. 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. Required fields are marked *. Office: 954-789-0834. When the police questioned him about the trip, he said he was delayed when he ran into some people he knew; but Steven was unable to provide the police with their names. PHOTOS: Looking back at the Benson murder trial, The Bensons: Lancaster family ripped apart by greed and murder 30 years ago, Danger and loneliness: Steven Benson's life in prison after he killed his family members, Notorious Lancaster County killer Steven Benson allegedly murdered in prison inmate's revenge scheme. 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. 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. ", 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. Had she not left the rear door of the unairconditioned Chevy Suburban wagon open on that miserably hot July morning 13 months ago in Naples, Fla., she, like her mother and her 21-year-old adopted "brother" Scott, would also be dead. Some who knew him werent really surprised. In the spring and summer of 1985, she asked Wayne Kerr, a young lawyer from Philadelphia, to come down to Naples. Naples killer Steven Benson who sought $10 million family fortune dies in jail with $30 to his name, Naples pipe bomb killer Steven Benson dies in prison. I hope he does, she said. After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. He said, Thats how Margaret died. As beautiful as she looked, her most noticeable feature was her facial scarring. ", As for the positioning of the vehicle's occupants, "I thought it was awfully strange that Scott was driving. Success! Collier County's most notorious killer himself met with a violent end. They had a heckuva fight out of it, he says. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Oh no, she thought. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. He just looked at me. He got stabbed, and a knife was found in his own cell. Kendall was injured in the car-bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret Benson, on July 9, 1985, in front of their Naples, Fla., home. . An aerial shot of the home is shown in the background. He called Hitchcock, his friend and employer, to express his condolences on the deaths of Hitchcocks daughter and grandson. How people were crooked. Other testimony revealed another regular expenditure. Mail Address: Law Offices of Carol Lynn B Kendall, Esq 2719 Hollywood Blvd Ste 164 Hollywood, FL 33020-4821. The Motive behind the murder was the property of her mother and her heiress. "How long does it take to say a guy was stabbed in the temple?" At the urging of Hitchcock, Sands tried to talk to Benson about religion, about accepting Jesus as his savior, but Benson did not want to talk about that. They were obliterated when a pipe bomb the size of a football planted between the two front seats exploded. 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. Collier Circuit Judge Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday. It also wanted to rehear some of what the government fingerprint expert had said about the palm prints. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. His second wife Debra was not in the courtroom, or even in Florida. Steven Benson was taken into police custody on August 22, 1985, after being accused of blowing up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Naples, Fla., home on July 9 of the same year. The murder of Margaret and Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen before and rarely since to Naples. Inmates told investigators that Washington planned to extort $1,000 from Benson within days after arriving at Taylor Correctional Institution. The Wait. 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. He just wouldnt respond to it, Sands says. Yesterday, a jury began deliberations on those charges after weeks of riveting testimony involving enormous amounts of money and a tangled family web. . I dont think he believed he belonged in there.. Movies. To him, sadly, its not a shocker, the terrible things people do to each other, the terrible things they do for money. He stared at her and walked away, said Kendall, who is now 70 and living somewhere in Florida. She had retained Boston attorney E. Richard Cirace to advise her and represent her interests. Not Eligible to Practice Law in Florida . He had cautioned his new employes, according to testimony, not to let anyone in the offices of the Naples-based companies know the name of the company or what they did. Steven said he was sorry but that he already had a business meeting. Error! [9][10] Benson was in a long running feud with Cordell Washington, another inmate at the facility. I saw you on TV. . 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. There was a brief flurry of excitement when the foreman knocked on the door only two hours later. He cried so much, she says. The Lancaster tobacco heir was convicted after a monthlong trial that was carried on Florida television, drew national headlines and spurred books and intense media coverage both here and in Florida. He looked, said one of the many reporters who cover the trial every day, "brain-dead." To my knowledge, Scott never confronted his mother with the question. They had so much, and the family dynamic was about as whacked out as you could ask for.. The jury convicted Benson on the first vote, she said. He was very congenial, very eager to talk, Sands recalls. . Benson's death was reported soon after it happened on July 3. I felt like I was being pressed back into the seat. Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. ), After a brief rebuttal by the prosecution, Judge Hayes let the jury go. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. She said she will never forget that moment. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. That she was once a beauty contest winner is easy to see. 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.". You could see a hateful heart in Steven then. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. 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. He had very few visitors. ", 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. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling in 1986, and he spent the rest of his life in jail. There was none. On the morning of the explosion, the entire family agreed to inspect the land at Stevens suggestion. I did most of the talking.. 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. The Chevrolet Suburban was blown all to bits and pieces, with a body lying out on each side.. Then, as they got into the car, Caroline noticed Stephen asking them to get in. But she didn't know its size, and she didn't know that Steven had made the down payment with a blank check she had signed and left behind for household expenses while she was on a cruise. Sands said he was only allowed to speak with Steven Benson for a couple of minutes because he wasnt family. 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. I couldnt get through to him spiritually., Im no psychologist, Sands adds, but he lives in denial. The blast blew apart the Benson familys Chevrolet Suburban sometime between 9:17 and 9:20 a.m. on July 9, 1985, in the driveway of Margaret Bensons home, just off a golf course in an exclusive Naples, Fla., community. 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. You know, he wouldnt say yes or no or nothing. Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. It continued to prosper, and eventually both families had what some people call "real money," and what others disdain as "nouveau. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Behind bars, Benson has worked in the laundry and on a painting detail. When I see that, I pity people like that. 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. I had never known anyone like this before. 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. 'Money is the last thing that's even on my mind.'. Bensons wife never attended the trial. Fragments of the pipe-bomb Steven Benson built to blow up his family's Chevy Suburban, killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister on July 9, 1985 in front of their Naples, Fla., home. "I couldn't understand why he wasn't coming over to help me," she testified to a packed but dead silent courtroom. McDonnell did not call Steven Benson in his own defense. 3600 New York Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002, Biden migrant surge sets all-time record for most arrests at southern border, With its social media biz under siege, Facebook looks to build a new metaverse empire, Youngkin goes solo, McAuliffe leans on surrogates in home stretch of Va. governors race. She is shown here in a 1975 photo, a decade before the murder. Through taxes, disbursements and attorneys fees, the estate has dwindled from $10 million to about $1.2 million, said Carl Westman, the estates attorney. For years, she had paid for the lessons and the coaches and the trips, not to mention his 16 tennis racquets. 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. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. Trending. '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. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. 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. Steven Benson, right, enters Lee County Court with his defense attorney Mike McDonnell as the jury selection portion of his murder trial Monday, July 14, 1986. 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. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Young, the investigator, said hes seen more horrendous cases than the Benson case, ones where people killed their children by drowning them in their mothers blood. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? He said Mrs. Kendall, who was recovering from severe burns at her home in the Chestnut Hill section of Boston, recently told her teen-age sons about Scotts parentage, but never told Scott. There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. Most recently, he was assigned as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties. After her testimony, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was nowhere to be seen. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. 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. Thats the whole thing: self, self, self and me, me, me and me. Collier Judge Hugh Hayes presided over the trial. He was a strange fellow, says Sands, who worked as a landscaper for Bensons late grandfather, Hitchcock. [4] The Family The story goes back half a century to 1927, when Harry Hitchcock, Margaret Benson's father, founded the Universal Leaf Tobacco Co., which imported tobacco and resold it to manufacturers. As for Carol Lynn, she too waited in Florida for the verdict. ), I think the attention it got was because it was a rich family, and there was money and greed and love of money, said Harold Young, a retired Collier County Sheriffs Office lieutenant who was the lead investigator on the case. Benson was 33, just five years younger than Bennett at the time. A maid testified that he was "the apple of his mother's eye." Related story: Naples pipe bomb killer Steven Benson dies in prison. But a witness for the defense, Steven's secretary, testifed Steven never left the office during the times when the pipe and end caps were purchased. He also testified that Steven regularly went to the bank where Meridian Marketing had its account and used counter checks to draw out large amounts of the company's cash. Young also remembers the day they arrested Benson: Aug. 22, 1985. 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. Prosecutors linked Benson to the bomb explosion by producing a receipt, with Bensons palm print, for the purchase of pieces of pipe and end caps. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay restitution of $1,075 to one client. The Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. Dysfunction, said Patty Bennett, a juror on the case, trying to describe the Benson family. And so he appears very much alone. But that changed over the next three weeks, as witness after witness took the stand. Landscaping. He doesnt know for sure why Benson has stuck with the public, and with him, all these years. Our prayers and thoughts are with the family and loved ones of Carol. Many members of the family have disappeared from public view in the past 20 years. I mean, I was scared of Scott . He was calm as a cucumber, he said. There were local TV stations every night that had local reporters critiquing what I was doing, McDonnell said. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? It wasn't the prison pallor that surprised people who had known him; it was the grim and almost affectless bearing. The police were called and he was held for five days. I still get recognized, said Michael McDonnell, Bensons defense attorney, who at 74 still practices in Naples and Fort Myers. Lets go with disastrous hate. Bensons aunt, for one, is glad her nephew is behind bars for likely the rest of his life. 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