Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Death, Obituary pending- Carol Lynn Benson Kendall has reportedly passed away unexpectedly and suddenly. Murphy s nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to. It also wanted to rehear some of what the government fingerprint expert had said about the palm prints. Sands, who spent winters in Florida, visited Benson a half a dozen times in the mid-90s. He was supposed to provide them the next day, the day the bomb went off.. Benson tried and failed at a succession of businesses. [4] Just follow the money, and you could see what he was doing.. But the jury only wanted to have portions of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's testimony read back. He is a good brother. . Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. On Monday, the state produced a witness whose testimony left a strong impression on those spectators who had seen the trial from the beginning. After nearly three decades behind bars, Benson died July 3 at 63, the same age his mother, Margaret Hitchcock Benson, was when she was killed by a pipe bomb he planted in her Chevrolet Suburban in the familys North Naples driveway in 1985. Your email address will not be published. But there were other debits. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. That she is now horribly scarred is obvious; large red subdermal slashes streak her face. As the trial date neared (there were several postponements before it finally began July 14) it became obvious that the large amounts of money involved meant that there would be a lot of lawyers on both sides of the courtroom trial. Its been decades since his trial attracted attention, though TV specials still pop up on cable channels from time to time. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. Simpson trial before the O.J. The judge made the sentences consecutive, in accordance with Bensons sisters wishes. Later he approved a partial distribution from Margaret Benson's estate. 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. ", Once all was set, she testified, Steven handed Scott the keys, and then said he had forgotten something and headed back toward the house. The feud went back to at least 2012 after a series of assaults by Washington. Benson, now 53, is serving two life sentences in a Florida prison for killing his mother and brother, and trying to kill his sister. Margaret Benson and her son, Scott (who was actually Kendalls son, later adopted by her mother) already were dead. 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. He just wouldnt respond to it, Sands says. 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 42, of Brookline, Mass. 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. . In July 1985, Margaret, 63, her 41-year-old daughter, Carolyn Benson Kendall, her 33-year-old son Steven Benson, and her 21-year-old adopted son, Scott Benson, all got into a vehicle to go check out a plot of land in the city, where Margaret was planning to build another home for the family. Menu. US fails miserably against Russia at the crucial UN Vote. Steven Benson blew up his family in the driveway of their Florida home in July 1985. Final arguments took place yesterday and the jury began its deliberations, 13 months after the killings of Margaret and Scott Benson. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. And he complained. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. That day, she and Wayne Kerr drove to Fort Myers, and when she saw Steven's new house, and the new Datsun sports car parked in front, she was, as Kerr testified, "angry. She is shown here in a 1975 photo, a decade before the murder. By July 8, the day before the bombing, Margaret had learned of Steven's new house in Fort Myers, according to testimony. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. Reached Friday about her brothers death, she said, I really have no comment.. (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. [citation needed] The case was featured in Great Crimes and Trials and Infamous Murders. 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. It r Only Carol Lynn Benson survived in this tragic blast. 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. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. 10-Year Discipline History: . I suppose I have a strong sex desire, and Tracy's voluptuous figure, plus her vast sexual knowledge, I think from the beginning just overwhelmed me. I think it was just pure greed for money, Murphy said. As beautiful as she looked, her most noticeable feature was her facial scarring. She suffered first-degree burns on her face and hands in the explosion and is still undergoing extensive reconstructive surgery. During a deposition taken by Bensons attorneys in Florida on Sept. 20, Mrs. Kendall, 40, said she was an unmarried teen-ager when she became pregnant, The Boston Herald reported today. File photo. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. Nervously at first, but then more calmly, she testified in response to the prosecutor's questions. It was then that she had her personal secretary run a tab of what her children owed her. 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. 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. Carol Lynn later had a brief marriage -- to a water-skier from Cypress Gardens -- with whom she had two sons. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. By the time the closing statements were presented, the evidence was clear, Bennett said. Collier Judge Hugh Hayes presided over the trial. 'Money is the last thing that's even on my mind.'. Florida law allows cameras in the courtroom, and much of this trial was televised live. I can see what money can do when people get so tied up in self, he says. I just cant imagine. 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. Indeed, Margaret Benson did change her will, but in a terribly ironic touch, the only change was to cut out Wayne Kerr as executor. Not just Steven, but the whole family was just ugly. I have a strong feeling Steven Benson also knew, Cirace said. Im 91 now, Sands said when reached by phone Friday. Bennett heard about the money battles that were going in within the family, how Margaret Benson used money to control her children, how they fought among themselves and with her to gain access to the fortune, how Margaret Benson asked a secretary to inform and spy on Steven. Office: 954-789-0834. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? It is said that she has taken their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town. He didnt say anything after prison. Kendall was retained by clients in two separate cases but failed to adequately represent them. Here, prosecuting attorney Jerry Brock addresses members of the media outside the Florida courtroom where the case took place. It was like . There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. How people were crooked. There was none. '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. 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. But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. Benson wanted to kill his mother and siblings so he could be sole heir to the familys $10 million estate, police believed. He had been driving it all that time, he said. Another daily attendee was a lawyer representing the trust funds left by Harry Hitchcock's late wife. I dont think he believed he belonged in there.. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay restitution of $1,075 to one client. Dwight Brock was an assistant state attorney in Florida, specializing in white collar crime, when Steven Benson was arrested. 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.". 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. 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. Lets go with disastrous hate. 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. My memorys getting pretty hazy. Daddy. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. "Sharp force head trauma. 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 Defense. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. Under the law, jurors are not supposed to take this into consideration. 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: . 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. 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. He told the attorneys he did not want them standing up and shouting, "I object." To him, sadly, its not a shocker, the terrible things people do to each other, the terrible things they do for money. Some who knew him werent really surprised. I guess you'd call them bombs." 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. 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. Maybe it was the money, the power and the greed, they say. He wanted his own way and he was going to get it one way or another, he says. 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. 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. The Herald also reported that it was common knowledge among certain of Steven's childhood friends that he liked to make bombs. How do we fathom in our heads that this boy plotted and schemed, and told them where to sit so he could do the most damage to the ones he hated the most?. . 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. His second wife Debra was not in the courtroom, or even in Florida. 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. 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. 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, Naples pipe bomb killer Steven Benson dies in prison. Thats the way Steve was.. (AP Photo). They were obliterated when a pipe bomb the size of a football planted between the two front seats exploded. 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. They have never learned to live, really.. 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. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. Beyond that, Young had little to say. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, a former Naples City Council candidate, is now a lawyer in Broward County focusing on family law and real estate. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. David Ahntholz/Staff (Photo: David Ahntholz .da-), Ajuror compares a police artist's sketch of the man who bought pipe at Hughes Supply to a mug shot of Steven Benson. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. Murphy said her father sent Sands as a gesture of goodwill. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall came in to see her brother's jury be excused for the night. In 1983, a fight with Margaret over the behavior of his bouvier des Flanders guard dog -- she'd let it in the house and it had wet on the expensive white carpet -- turned violent. While she was being helped by the golfer, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's brother Steven stood and watched the carnage. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Scott tried to start the vehicle, she testified, "and immediately after that I was surrounded by this orange thing.". Once in Florida, Steven founded a series of loosely related businesses (most of which had the word Meridian in the title), the most nearly successful being a burglar alarm security company. When I see that, I pity people like that. Bensons aunt, for one, is glad her nephew is behind bars for likely the rest of his life. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Disbarred . . . Scott ran with a rough crowd, and was known to get rough with both Margaret and Carol Lynn. Once Benson was in custody, investigators questioned him until he invoked his right to call an attorney. You can add or change photos at IMDb Pro. The jury convicted Benson on the first vote, she said. "I don't really know how to comment on it. She is shown here in a . Support local journalism. . Reached Friday about her brother's death, she. The murder of Margaret and Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen before and rarely since to Naples. In prison records, Benson listed the oldest of his three children, twins Victoria and Christopher, as his next of kin. His face got really red. 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. Shocked by the attack, she says that since then, her siblings have been completely uninterested in her physical and emotional well-being. emains listed on the DOC website as an open investigation led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. I saw you on TV. I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. Electronics. 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. In the second half of 2015, there were close to 200 inmate deaths in Florida's prisons. She sat in the front row, not directly behind Steven, but on the other side -- in one of the seats reserved for the prosecution. Apparently, the idea was to cut down on speeches to the jury, and to speed things along. That seemed more important to him than his family lying all over the golf course.. 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. And if Steven Benson walks out of the courtroom a free man, he will still be in line for a third or even a half of his mother's $10 million estate. [2] (Margaret Hitchcock Benson was heiress of the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co., Lancaster, Pa., and had no connection with Benson & Hedges brand cigarettes manufactured in the US by Philip Morris.) Steven Benson in the Florida courtroom where a jury convicted him in 1986 of blowing up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Naples, Fla., home on July 9, 1985. Police later learned that Scott. The Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. . It was just a tragic story. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. When he returned, they said, he prepared to join his family to look at a piece of land his mother had bought. The Prosecution. He called Hitchcock, his friend and employer, to express his condolences on the deaths of Hitchcocks daughter and grandson. Real estate. She wanted an accounting and, if it had to be, a confrontation with Steven. I guess he didnt want him to go to hell.. He was my main suspicion before I got out of the house with him.. His grandson never acknowledged him again, not even when he came to Florida for the trial. Im hot! from the burning car. 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. 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. Benson was convicted of killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister with a car-bomb on July 9, 1985. The jury was split on the death penalty, and so gave him life in prison. Shortly before his death in 1990, Harry Hitchcock the owner of Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co. asked a longtime family employee, gardener Amos Sands, to visit his grandson in prison on his behalf. Thats how Margaret died. I never saw him cry as much as he did with the Challenger. It was a journey, and every day we learned something new and awful., E. Richard Cirace, a Boston attorney who advised Kendall during the trial, said the case was compelling due to its colorful cast of characters.. They had a heckuva fight out of it, he says. The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. He returned and got everyone into the Suburban and then went back into the house to retrieve a tape measure. But Murphy will never forget how the deaths affected her father. Eventually the second will was ruled valid, but before that happened, Steve Benson was arrested. 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. 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. 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. Attorney (s) appearing for the Case The jury deliberated just 12 hours before finding Benson guilty. 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. Born on Christmas Day 1963 in a Baltimore hospital to Carol Lynn Benson, then an unmarried teen-ager, he was adopted by Margaret and Edward Benson. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. Through taxes, disbursements and attorneys fees, the estate has dwindled from $10 million to about $1.2 million, said Carl Westman, the estates attorney. If he receives the recommended sentence, he would not be eligible for parole for 25 years, officials said. 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. 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. Represented by attorney Michael McDonnell, Steven Benson was ultimately convicted of first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, and arson of a dwelling. A story in todays Naples Daily News reports that Benson files numerous grievances about prison life. Benson told Young that he and his family were going to look at piece of property where his mother wanted to build a home that morning. Benson was 33, just five years younger than Bennett at the time. 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. [12], Dominick Dunne's investigative crime show Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice devoted an hour for the case of 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. 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. I couldnt get through to him spiritually., Im no psychologist, Sands adds, but he lives in denial. 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. And what Benson was doing was spending the money, lots of it, for all kinds of things, including a house in Fort Myers and a car. After her testimony, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was nowhere to be seen. He said Steven was laughing. To my knowledge, Scott never confronted his mother with the question. An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup. 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. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. 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. Theyre all dead.. Steven Benson is serving two life sentences at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Fla. [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. He worked in the laundry. Young had several reasons to suspect Benson. Carol Lynn testified that she thought Scott's being there was a "silly request. 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. Most recently, he was assigned as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties. 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. The problems, Sands says, were all Benson wanted to talk about during the visits. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. [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. Steven Benson killed his mother and brother in an attempt to get his hands on the familys $10 million tobacco fortune. Success! He thought he was better than everybody else.. Something is wrong with Daddy. 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. 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. Is Carol Lynn Benson Kendall still alive? When the Challenger space shuttle exploded a year after the Florida murders, Hitchcock broke down, Murphy recalls. Then the jurors filed out and the door closed behind them once again. I guess people just exhibited good taste, he said. One pulled Kendall, who was screaming, Im hot! McDonnell argued that palm print identification is not reliable. He just ignored it.. I heard a lot of cursing and swearing.. Inmates told investigators that Washington planned to extort $1,000 from Benson within days after arriving at Taylor Correctional Institution. It was very weird. But Kendall, who was injured.