She had retained Boston attorney E. Richard Cirace to advise her and represent her interests. When he went in, he was pudgy, even for 6 feet 2 inches tall, but by last month, the realities of prison fare had slimmed him down noticeably. Nor was he surprised when prosecutors said Benson had murdered his mother and sister to get at the familys fortune. But there were other debits. It was her sister, Margaret, 63, and her nephew, Scott, 21, who had died in a horrific car explosion in Florida. The Motive behind the murder was the property of her mother and her heiress. The bombing took place July 9, 1985 in the Quail Creek community. Investigators also found on Bensons pants a single particle of zinc, which they said fell off the pipe while he was making the bombs. Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. How people were crooked. Jul 23, 2015. But everyone agreed that she had done so well, it might be unwise to risk a second appearance. Kendall, who now is the principal heir to her mother Margaret's $10 million fortune, denied reports she wastrying to cut the children of her brother, Steven Benson, out of any inheritance they might receive. And trying to come to grips with the loss of her mother, with whom she had been close, at least from time to time, has been hard. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. They were obliterated when a pipe bomb the size of a football planted between the two front seats exploded. Thats the whole thing: self, self, self and me, me, me and me. Thats the way Steve was.. Bensons aunt, Murphy, recalls him as being different as well. I guess people just exhibited good taste, he said. It wasn't the prison pallor that surprised people who had known him; it was the grim and almost affectless bearing. There was none. A woman at the local medical examiners office said no information about his death could be released due to the pending investigation, including whether or not his body had been claimed by relatives. Murphy declined to say where she now is living and says she does not see her regularly. Kendall was injured in the car-bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret . His second wife Debra was not in the courtroom, or even in Florida. And so he appears very much alone. 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. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. 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. Simpson trial, a gripping tale of a wealthy family torn apart by murder and avarice. That's a negative as far as the jury is concerned. [citation needed], Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice, "Killer Succession" (Season 1, Episode 3), "Inmate Population Information Detail - Steven Benson", "In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? Benson, now 53, is serving two life sentences in a Florida prison for killing his mother and brother, and trying to kill his sister. She was crying. Margaret, Scott, and Stevens sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, were waiting for Benson to join them in the family car on July 9, 1985, when the Chevrolet Suburban exploded. Thats how Margaret died. I never saw him cry as much as he did with the Challenger. 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. Benson calmly talking on the phone about his burglar alarm companys profits when investigators arrived at the home where the shattered bodies of his mother, Margaret, 63, and his brother, Scott, 21, still lay outside on the driveway. The Miami Herald gave the following account of a groundskeeper who worked on Margaret Benson's Pennsylvania estate: He recalled that one day in 1982 he looked down from his ladder to see Steven carrying three copper tubes with wires protruding from them. 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. By the time the closing statements were presented, the evidence was clear, Bennett said. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. It wasnt very long at all. 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. Eric Strachan/Naples Daily News, 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. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn. At the trial, the man with whom he'd spent that evening testified that Steven had not set up the meeting until 6:30 that same night. Bennett had heard of the financial battles that took place in the family, how Margaret Benson used money to control her children, how they fought each other and with her for access to wealth, as Margaret Benson asked the secretary to inform and spy on her. But what is apparently harder is that she has to face the death of Scott Benson, who died at the age of 21 without ever knowing that the woman he thought was his much older sister, by adoption, was in fact his own natural mother. He and his wife had two children, Margaret and Janet, and when Margaret married she chose a quiet accountant from Baltimore named Edward Benson, with whom she had two children, Carol Lynn and Steven. Carol Lynn Kendall unsuccessfully ran for a Naples City Council seat while living in Port . "Malevolent" is what the prosecutors for the state call 35-year-old Steven Benson. Shocked by the attack, she says that since then, her siblings have been completely uninterested in her physical and emotional well-being. She said she will never forget that moment. 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. doesn't have anything to do with my mother anymore.". He was 63, the same age his mother was when he killed her. Hitchcocks daughter, Margaret, it turned out, was not really the mother of Scott Benson. Required fields are marked *. 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. How it wasnt run correctly. Florida authorities have charged Steven Benson, Mrs. Kendalls 34-year-old natural brother, with setting the blast outside the familys Naples, Fla., home because he believed he was about to be cut out of his mothers will. But in reality she had been alone with her thoughts -- the memory of that "malevolent orange thing," and her recollection of the day she took the stand and referred, for the first time in public, and in front of all those strangers, to the late Scott Benson as "my son.". Puncture wound of right temple made by a sharpened instrument ('shank')," the report states. Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. When he returned, they said, he prepared to join his family to look at a piece of land his mother had bought. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. ", 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. I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, Sands says. Benson was 33, just five years younger than Bennett at the time. Benson crying on the first day of his trial. The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. 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. He walked behind him and put his hand on his shoulder and he said, Steven Benson is a nice person. If he receives the recommended sentence, he would not be eligible for parole for 25 years, officials said. I guess you'd call them bombs." 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. Young said, I knew he did it immediately.. You can add or change photos at IMDb Pro. 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. But that changed over the next three weeks, as witness after witness took the stand. '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. Young also remembers the day they arrested Benson: Aug. 22, 1985. 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.". He just kept a straight face.. He is also charged with the attempted murder of his sister, Carol Lynn. Attorneys representing Steven Benson, 36, and Margaret Bensons daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 43, said they both probably will appeal Mondays ruling. The Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. Collier County's most notorious killer himself met with a violent end. Benson, he recalled, had a reputation as a wimp., He didnt fit in, Schelling said. Release Calendar Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. [3] On July 9, 1985, Benson placed a pipe bomb in the family car, in which Margaret, Scott, and Steven's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall (a former Miss Florida runner-up), were waiting for Benson to join them when the Chevrolet Suburban exploded. 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. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. 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. 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. Its still fresh in my memory, he said. He got stabbed, and a knife was found in his own cell. I did most of the talking.. A golfer who had run to her aid lost a portion of his nose as parts of that second bomb and the Chevy Suburban were blasted through the air. Inmates told investigators that Washington planned to extort $1,000 from Benson within days after arriving at Taylor Correctional Institution. He parked it and positioned his family in it. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. [8], Benson died at Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry, Florida of a stab wound to the right side of the head with a homemade knife on July 3, 2015. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. The jury deliberated just 12 hours before finding Benson guilty. The Lancaster Township woman was playing golf on a July day at the Lancaster Country Club when she was asked to come in off the course. He was going to turn it into an apartment house. The killings, prosecutors said, were sparked by one motive. Benson was convicted of killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister with a car-bomb on July 9, 1985. Bensons grandfather, the family patriarch and the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco magnate, the late Harry Hitchcock, was a congenial-looking, white-haired Christian businessman known for his tulip gardens in School Lane Hills. Bar Number: 555258. People are interested in that, and the way it was done every day, people dont blow up their mother and brother and sister in a prominent part of Naples., Young described Benson as calm, calculated, coldblooded., He thought he could get away with it, Young said. 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. Nervously at first, but then more calmly, she testified in response to the prosecutor's questions. I think it was the dumbest murder I ever solved that had been planned. She sat in the front row, not directly behind Steven, but on the other side -- in one of the seats reserved for the prosecution. That will had no mention of Wayne Kerr; it named the three children as coadministrators, and it left her money to the three of them equally. Oh no, she thought. 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. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. 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. At first, Murphy thought her niece, Carol Lynn Kendall, 40, also had died, but she found out that she was badly burned but had survived. 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. He became known for writing grievances against both inmates and correctional officers, complaining about anything from the amount of sales tax charged at commissary to the Spanish programs playing in the television room. Even though her grandfather and her aunt opposed Steven's release on bail, she apparently still fights the conclusion that Steven did it. 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. Collier Circuit Judge Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday. I can see what money can do when people get so tied up in self, he says. However, according to a veteran Florida criminal attorney, "any time in a murder case when a defendant without a prior record fails to take the stand, it looks bad. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? His grandson never acknowledged him again, not even when he came to Florida for the trial. He said Steven was laughing. The jury convicted Benson on the first vote, she said. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. he asked. Benson is also featured in an episode of the New Detectives entitled "Short Fuse" (Season 2, Episode 3) and an episode of Florida Man Murders entitled "Killer Succession" (Season 1, Episode 3). The chief prosecutor, Jerry Brock, argued she had made conflicting statements in earlier depositions. He turned to the television cameras and delivered a stern warning to the "youth of Southwest florida" about the dangers of laughing gas. Only Carol Lynn Benson survived in this tragic blast. The siblings did not return phone messages Friday. Then the bombs went off. Movies. 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. 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. He stared at her and walked away, said Kendall, who is now 70 and living somewhere in Florida. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. Dysfunction, said Patty Bennett, a juror on the case, trying to describe the Benson family. They had so much, and the family dynamic was about as whacked out as you could ask for.. By July 8, the day before the bombing, Margaret had learned of Steven's new house in Fort Myers, according to testimony. I still get recognized, said Michael McDonnell, Bensons defense attorney, who at 74 still practices in Naples and Fort Myers. 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. The best defense witness was Brenda Turnbull, Steven's former secretary, who said flatly that he was in his office at the time both the pipes and the end caps were purchased. Something is wrong with Daddy. She cannot believe that two decades have passed since the day that two family members were killed and her familys life was changed forever. Moments later, a second bomb, this one planted in the rear of the vehicle, exploded. I couldnt get through to him spiritually., Im no psychologist, Sands adds, but he lives in denial. Mrs. Kendalls attorney, E. Richard Cirace of Boston, confirmed the report. 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. That trip, which should have taken about 10 minutes, took more than an hour, according to Carol Lynn's testimony, and 20 to 30 minutes according to Steven's statements to investigators. 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