No mental problems, he was just evil., The case garnered national attention, and four authors later wrote books about it. She was crying. The police were called and he was held for five days. 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. Also Read : . Office: 954-789-0834. The explosion was so loud that golfers ran off the course to see what had happened. In prison records, Benson listed the oldest of his three children, twins Victoria and Christopher, as his next of kin. Nothing was heard from him at all during the trial, she said. There was a local uproar over the thought that the public would be paying his bills, and in mid-January the judge reversed himself. He was going to turn it into an apartment house. I guess you'd call them bombs." Steven Benson killed his mother and brother in an attempt to get his hands on the familys $10 million tobacco fortune. Macron wont let go off Africa so easily, he is love sick, Canadas Debt Crisis: A Never-Ending Burden Passed On From Generation to Generation, Alcohol tax in Canada: Canadian government is taking a sip out of your beer. Moments later there was a loud explosion. Hitchcocks daughter, Margaret, it turned out, was not really the mother of Scott Benson. Menu. Not long after, Harry Hitchcock wrote to the judge, opposing his nephew's release: "Anyone capable of murdering his mother for money is capable of murdering his grandfather for the same reason. He is also charged with the attempted murder of his sister, Carol Lynn. The case still resonates three decades later. 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.. 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. But by late 1984 and early 1985, they argue, she was coming to the conclusion that bankrolling Steven was something less than sound. Benson was convicted of killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister with a car-bomb on July 9, 1985. -- Scott Benson's natural mother and Margaret Benson's daughter -- got along better with her mother. . Reached Friday about her brother's death, she. Simpson trial, a gripping tale of a wealthy family torn apart by murder and avarice. You know, he wouldnt say yes or no or nothing. Later, investigators found a receipt, with Bensons palm print, for the purchase of pieces of pipe and end caps used in the bomb. Not at her mother's house in Naples, for that has been sold, but behind several closed doors in the state's attorney's offices. There was an error processing your request. . Error! 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. Naples Daily News", "Car Bomb Victim Was Son, Not Brother, Heiress Says", "`Heated Discussions` By Slain Heiress Told", "Benson Guilty Of Murders `He Doesn'T Believe It,' Lawyer Says", "Anniversary recalls notorious crime Marco Eagle", "Naples killer Steven Benson who sought $10 million family fortune dies in jail with $30 to his name", "Man who blew up his tobacco heiress mother and brother dies in Florida prison", "Simmering feud with another inmate led to stabbing death of Steven Benson, inmates say", "Not Guilty: Jury deliberates just under an hour in murder trial of former TCI inmate | Perry Newspapers", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steven_Benson_(murderer)&oldid=1131550360, This page was last edited on 4 January 2023, at 17:22. 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. [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. Police later learned that Scott. He went through money like crazy, Sands says. He was my main suspicion before I got out of the house with him.. Steven Benson, convicted in 1986 of murdering his mother and adopted brother, died in July at Taylor Correctional Institution in northern Florida. You can also browse other available content for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on IMDb such as filmography, trivia, personal details, etc. 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. He cried so much, she says. . 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 Money. For years, she had paid for the lessons and the coaches and the trips, not to mention his 16 tennis racquets. 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. Steven said he was sorry but that he already had a business meeting. Prosecutors said it showed that while Carol Lynn owed her mother $118,560.33, Steven's IOU was $268,163.89. That she was once a beauty contest winner is easy to see. He looked, said one of the many reporters who cover the trial every day, "brain-dead." "How long does it take to say a guy was stabbed in the temple?" 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. The jury deliberated just 12 hours before finding Benson guilty. District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District. 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. 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. 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. A maid testified that he was "the apple of his mother's eye." Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Last Known Contact Information. Young had several reasons to suspect Benson. Another daily attendee was a lawyer representing the trust funds left by Harry Hitchcock's late wife. 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. The family and everybody just treated his grandmother as Scotts mother, the attorney said. 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. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, testifies about the explosion and injuries she sustained. 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. 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. Once, Benson wanted his mother to loan him the down payment for a factory building in Lancaster. Cirace said the rumors were never confirmed until Steven Bensons lawyers questioned Mrs. Kendall about it, to test her credibility. Steven Benson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2, and prosecutors have asked for a life sentence. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. 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. 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. I heard a lot of cursing and swearing.. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC To Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, this question is, in a sense, peripheral. He will be eligible for parole when he is 85. The thing that stuck out in my mind was, wow, how easy this is to see what the money did. 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. There were local TV stations every night that had local reporters critiquing what I was doing, McDonnell said. And Steven usually drove when we were together. There was none. Mrs. Kendalls attorney, E. Richard Cirace of Boston, confirmed the report. But that changed over the next three weeks, as witness after witness took the stand. And she also contradicted the wake testimony regarding bombs. . 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. 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. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. 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. Murphy s nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to. 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. ), 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. 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." Benson was sentenced to life in prison. The attorney said, I want you to meet Steven Benson, she recalled. She is shown here in a photo shoot at. Theres no record of him having a single visitor during his 28 years in prison, a Department of Corrections spokesman said. She said, I want to know where all the money went. She wanted to see the books. Carol 's cause of death is unknown to us at this time. The prosecution's evidence is entirely circumstantial. 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. After Harry Hitchcock had health problems in the late 1950s, Edward ran the company for him. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. She suffered first-degree burns on her face and hands in the explosion and is still undergoing extensive reconstructive surgery. Nobody else had time to put a bomb in there, Young said. he asked. [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. Retired U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agent Frank Kendall -- no relation to Carol Lynn -- testified that the palm print Steven Benson voluntarily gave the police in the summer of 1985 and the palm print on the pipe invoice were "made by the same person." She was not allowed to leave town, as there was the possibility that the state might put her back on the stand. Not just Steven, but the whole family was just ugly. He stared at her and walked away, said Kendall, who is now 70 and living somewhere in Florida. 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. ", 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 Lynn Benson Kendall Death, Obituary pending- Carol Lynn Benson Kendall has reportedly passed away unexpectedly and suddenly. 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. The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. I dont know if it will ever go away or not., Information from: LNP, https://lancasteronline.com. Amos Sands of West Donegal Township remembers the day 20 years ago today as well. [12], Dominick Dunne's investigative crime show Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice devoted an hour for the case of Steven Benson. Murphy does not know whether the couple, who had three children, later divorced. A lot. 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. 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