For years, she had paid for the lessons and the coaches and the trips, not to mention his 16 tennis racquets. Collier Circuit Judge Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday. 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. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. 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. Steven Benson and his wife, Debra, leave funeral services for his mother and brother, Margaret and Scott Benson, at St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster in 1985. 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. 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 worked in the laundry. There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. Steven was paid $244,974.39 so he could pay his legal fees. Nervously at first, but then more calmly, she testified in response to the prosecutor's questions. TV show Monday features Benson family murders, one of Naples' notorious crimes, Lighthouse Project - History: Murderers, moonshiners, swindlers lead rogues gallery of SW Florida crooks, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. When I see that, I pity people like that. [9][10] Benson was in a long running feud with Cordell Washington, another inmate at the facility. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. He said that "initially" he thought it was just sloppy bookkeeping. Reached Friday about her brother's death, she. Last Known Contact Information. . 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. 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. emains listed on the DOC website as an open investigation led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. 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. I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, Sands says. There was a local uproar over the thought that the public would be paying his bills, and in mid-January the judge reversed himself. Im hot! from the burning car. After her testimony, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was nowhere to be seen. She, not being blinded by the forces of sexuality, very quickly perceived the true character of Tracy Mullins and was very much opposed to my seeing her. Indeed, Margaret Benson did change her will, but in a terribly ironic touch, the only change was to cut out Wayne Kerr as executor. Another facet of the prosecutor's argument was that Steven had been very specific about where each one of the family's members was to sit in the wagon -- and then, just before the first blast, he said he had forgotten a tape measure and headed back to the house. Puncture wound of right temple made by a sharpened instrument ('shank')," the report states. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. The first thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, you know that. He thought that right away, Sands, now 81, remembered today. The prosecution's evidence is entirely circumstantial. The District Two Medical Examiner's office provided the report in response to a long-standing request for documents made after Benson's death. Its been decades since his trial attracted attention, though TV specials still pop up on cable channels from time to time. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Even though he had a fancy car" -- the Lotus -- "he didn't like to drive. Not just Steven, but the whole family was just ugly. Murphy s nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. Benson's death was reported soon after it happened on July 3. They have never learned to live, really.. Real estate. No mental problems, he was just evil., The case garnered national attention, and four authors later wrote books about it. 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. BOSTON -- Tobacco heiress Carol Lynn Benson Kendall said Wednesday she has no intention of cutting her brother's children out of the family fortune despite his conviction of murdering her mother and son. He was sobbing.. He told the attorneys he did not want them standing up and shouting, "I object." 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. 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. 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 Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. Trending. Dwight Brock, who prosecuted the case with his brother Jerry, called the trial a spectacle for the media. (Now the clerk of courts, Brock said he has read three of the four books about the crime. She also said that Steven was gone so long for coffee that she kidded he "could have gone all the way to Fort Myers. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. One youth remembered finding dry-cell batteries, wire and alligator clips in a closet and saying to himself, "Oh, this is Steve Benson's stuff . I still get recognized, said Michael McDonnell, Bensons defense attorney, who at 74 still practices in Naples and Fort Myers. Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. September 1, 1989. 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. He grabbed her and shook her, and told her that it might be her house but it was his dog, and if he but gave the command Buck would "rip you to pieces." An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup. The Defense. How people were crooked. Carl Westman, a Naples attorney named to represent Margaret Benson's estate, usually sat with Cirace. Benson has had his share of problems behind bars. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Then the jurors filed out and the door closed behind them once again. I guess people just exhibited good taste, he said. Some who knew him werent really surprised. How it wasnt run correctly. Later, investigators found a receipt, with Bensons palm print, for the purchase of pieces of pipe and end caps used in the bomb. 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. He found Steven Benson inside his mothers house, talking on a telephone. ", As for the positioning of the vehicle's occupants, "I thought it was awfully strange that Scott was driving. 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. 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. Also Read : . Hed claimed he had no money to pay his attorneys, so he claimed indigency -- and Judge Hayes approved the claim. View our. I did most of the talking.. The three children were to divide the estate equally. He turned to the television cameras and delivered a stern warning to the "youth of Southwest florida" about the dangers of laughing gas. Carol Kendall currently lives in Hollywood, FL; in the past Carol has also lived in Norfolk VA. Other names that Carol uses includes Carol Lyn Falkiner, Carol Lynn Benson, Carol Lynn Benson-kendall, Carol Lynn Falkiner and Carol Lynn Kendall. Instead, he died in prison, leaving behind just $30.06 in his commissary fund. The motive was money. I guess you'd call them bombs." 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. Benson, then 33, was running out of it and wanted to inherit his mother's. US fails miserably against Russia at the crucial UN Vote. Thats the whole thing: self, self, self and me, me, me and me. Release Calendar Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. 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. Under the law, jurors are not supposed to take this into consideration. But showing little emotion after that. Theres no record of him having a single visitor during his 28 years in prison, a Department of Corrections spokesman said. The jury was split on the death penalty, and so gave him life in prison. . FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the agency had no updated information as of Friday afternoon. Attorneys, an investigator and a juror have never forgotten what Steven Benson did, and how it affected their lives in the years since he was convicted of killing his family in Naples, Florida. This orange thing was all around me. The bills were sent to and paid for by Margaret. Benson was 33, just five years younger than Bennett at the time. "), Near the end of his testimony, he said he had finally told Margaret Benson, "You have to stop being a bank for your children." . Benson was arrested and ultimately convicted of planting two pipe bombs in the family's SUV, then coaxing everyone into the vehicle before blowing it up. Error! She is shown here in a photo shoot at Lancaster Country Club in 1974, more than a decade before the incident. Then, as they got into the car, Caroline noticed Stephen asking them to get in. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? 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. Dysfunction, said Patty Bennett, a juror on the case, trying to describe the Benson family. But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. He was always doing things but never getting anything accomplished, Sands recalls. (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. It all came back to him.. Shocked by the attack, she says that since then, her siblings have been completely uninterested in her physical and emotional well-being. You can add or change photos at IMDb Pro. Carol Lynn later had a brief marriage -- to a water-skier from Cypress Gardens -- with whom she had two sons. She said she will never forget that moment. The 12 members of the jury listen to arguments in the Florida courtroom where they convicted Steven Benson in 1986 of blowing up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Naples, Fla., home on July 9, 1985. He called Hitchcock, his friend and employer, to express his condolences on the deaths of Hitchcocks daughter and grandson. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. 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. Attorney (s) appearing for the Case (One witness, Scott's psychiatrist, testified that the young man had a serious nitrous oxide habit, which had started when he'd go to the supermarket and sniff Reddi-Whip cans. Murphy herself doesnt have those feelings toward her nephew. ", Once all was set, she testified, Steven handed Scott the keys, and then said he had forgotten something and headed back toward the house. It was then that she had her personal secretary run a tab of what her children owed her. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a Sept. 22 court order. Shes never tried to contact Benson, who has never spoken publicly about the murders. Through taxes, disbursements and attorneys fees, the estate has dwindled from $10 million to about $1.2 million, said Carl Westman, the estates attorney. In prison records, Benson listed the oldest of his three children, twins Victoria and Christopher, as his next of kin. All but 30 remain open investigations. She suffered first-degree burns on her face and hands in the explosion and is still undergoing extensive reconstructive surgery. To Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, this question is, in a sense, peripheral. Most recently, he was assigned as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties. Despite claims by the defense that Scott was heavily involved in drug use and possibly even drug dealing (and that the bombing was therefore drug-related) there was little testimony that Scott was anything more than a regular user of nitrous oxide and an occasional user of marijuana and cocaine. He had been driving it all that time, he said. Nothing was heard from him at all during the trial, she said. 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. McDonnell closed with a string of witnesses, most of them prisoners, who testified as to Scott Benson's less than sterling character, arguing that this indicated Scott had been the target, and that Margaret and Carol Lynn were unlucky enough to be along for the ride. Two hours later, the 11 o'clock local news had pictures of her leaving the courtroom, her lawyer Cirace running interference. and never miss an insightful take by the TFIGlobal team, This website uses cookies. The case still resonates three decades later. Though police initially called the blast, caused by two pipe bombs, a big mystery, it didnt take them long to zero on one suspect: Steven Benson. 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. He was talking to one of his associates - the phrase How much did we take in yesterday? sticks in my head. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. [4] He just ignored it.. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. Harold Young, the lead Collier County sheriff's detective who pegged Benson as his primary suspect the day of the killings, said he is more surprised by the length of the investigation than the way Benson died. Toxicology tests showed no drugs in Benson's system, the report states. Steven Benson, convicted in 1986 of murdering his mother and adopted brother, died in July at Taylor Correctional Institution in northern Florida. Benson, they learned, had been pressuring his mother for money. I can see what money can do when people get so tied up in self, he says. Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Patty Bennett was a nervous mother of two boys sitting in a jury box when the defense gave its opening statement about Steven Benson. 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. "How long does it take to say a guy was stabbed in the temple?" He was just not your usual teenager. Benson wasnt much more popular in the penitentiary: At one point, he was stabbed by another prisoner and had to be transferred to a different facility for his own safety. Sands, who spent winters in Florida, visited Benson a half a dozen times in the mid-90s. 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. 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. On the morning of the explosion, the entire family agreed to inspect the land at Stevens suggestion. The jury convicted Benson on the first vote, she said. The Trustees set up a trust for Kendall, a trust for Stephen, and a share for Scott. Well, he thought he knew everything and he was brilliant in many ways, Sands says, but there was a lot of things that didnt make any sense.. He was 63, the same age his mother was when he killed her. Support local journalism. My mother and I were very, very close and we didn't have anybody else except each other because Scott went his own way, and Steven . The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn. Benson, he recalled, had a reputation as a wimp., He didnt fit in, Schelling said. I have a strong feeling Steven Benson also knew, Cirace said. Brocks brother, Jerry, the lead prosecutor in the case, asked him to help with the financial issues in the case as it was going to trial. Inmates told investigators that Washington planned to extort $1,000 from Benson within days after arriving at Taylor Correctional Institution. malevolent." Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. That she is now horribly scarred is obvious; large red subdermal slashes streak her face. I hope he does, she said. Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. 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. 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. 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. The murder of Margaret and Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen before and rarely since to Naples. He smiles with his attorneys on occasion when the jury is out, but the men he seems most comfortable with, the men he sometimes even kids with, are the huge-armed deputy sheriffs, his jailers. , you know that he says inmate at the crucial UN Vote to live,... 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