In the second half of 2015, there were close to 200 inmate deaths in Florida's prisons. On Monday, the state produced a witness whose testimony left a strong impression on those spectators who had seen the trial from the beginning. Steven Benson denied all requests for media interviews. 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. He said Steven was laughing. I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. 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 . That's a negative as far as the jury is concerned. Just sort of odd, very different.. 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. Scott ran with a rough crowd, and was known to get rough with both Margaret and Carol Lynn. On July 11, two days after Margaret and Scott Benson were killed, Wayne Kerr, the lawyer from Philadelphia, filed a 1983 will that named him executor of the estate. That she was once a beauty contest winner is easy to see. 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. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. Shocked by the attack, she says that since then, her siblings have been completely uninterested in her physical and emotional well-being. He is a good son. Patty Bennett was a nervous mother of two boys sitting in a jury box when the defense gave its opening statement about Steven Benson. Once Benson was in custody, investigators questioned him until he invoked his right to call an attorney. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I dont know if it will ever go away or not., Information from: LNP, https://lancasteronline.com. Here, prosecuting attorney Jerry Brock addresses members of the media outside the Florida courtroom where the case took place. 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). Dysfunction, said Patty Bennett, a juror on the case, trying to describe the Benson family. 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. Police later learned that Scott. Steven said he was sorry but that he already had a business meeting. And he complained. It is said that she has taken their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town. Bar Number: 555258. After his initial outburst, Benson became stoic and unemotional as the evidence was presented against him. [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. 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. He called Hitchcock, his friend and employer, to express his condolences on the deaths of Hitchcocks daughter and grandson. He was my main suspicion before I got out of the house with him.. I remember when my sister had him here was this baby and then he ends up killing her. It was then that she had her personal secretary run a tab of what her children owed her. Scott tried to start the vehicle, she testified, "and immediately after that I was surrounded by this orange thing.". I mean, I was scared of Scott . (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. My relationship with Tracy was always a very turbulent one. 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. Benson crying on the first day of his trial. Quinn, left-center, was watching the production with friend Kathleen Garvey, left, and daughter Debbie Quinn, right, as the crew worked on a production for Court TV about the 1985 murders of tobacco heiress Margaret Benson and her son Scott. 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. View our. Collier Circuit Judge Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday. Scott was an aspiring tennis professional, but apparently the aspirations were Margaret's rather than his. A juror examines a photo of the 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. 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. If Steven Benson caused problems, then Scott caused traumas. Murphys nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to escape the fiery blast that day. He seldom looked at Steven.The defendant watched his grandfather enter the courtroom, but after that he never looked at him. Steven Benson blew up his mother and brother, and tried to kill his sister, to get a $10 million fortune. Within this circle, there was lots of money. 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." . Maybe it was the money, the power and the greed, they say. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. They had a heckuva fight out of it, he says. My memorys getting pretty hazy. But that changed over the next three weeks, as witness after witness took the stand. The 63-year-old Pennsylvania tobacco heiress died when two pipe bombs ripped apart her car apart on July 9, 1985, in front of her North Naples home. She is shown here in a photo shoot at Lancaster Country Club in 1974, more than a decade before the incident. 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. Margaret and Scott died instantly, and Caroline was rushed to the hospital with severe burns. "Sharp force head trauma. Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. Support local journalism. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Behind bars, Benson has worked in the laundry and on a painting detail. It was just a tragic story. Then you had Scott as an aspiring tennis player, but ordering nitrous oxide to be delivered to the house like some people get milk, he said, so he could carry on with his girlfriend, who was a stripper.. According to prosecution evidence, there was even talk that Steven might be cut out of his mother's will. Privacy Policy Agreement * I agree to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy. Her father, she says, was broken up by the entire affair. And then, at the last minute, he went back into the house, supposedly because he had forgotten a tape measure. Justice is justice," he said. McDonnell argued that palm print identification is not reliable. He turned to the television cameras and delivered a stern warning to the "youth of Southwest florida" about the dangers of laughing gas. There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. 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. 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. The Herald also reported that it was common knowledge among certain of Steven's childhood friends that he liked to make bombs. 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. The Money. He was calm as a cucumber, he said. The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. Once, Benson wanted his mother to loan him the down payment for a factory building in Lancaster. Minutes later the Suburban erupted into flames. It continued to prosper, and eventually both families had what some people call "real money," and what others disdain as "nouveau. 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. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. I walk into a restaurant and people say, Didnt you do the Benson case? "I don't really know how to comment on it. The first thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, you know that. He thought that right away, Sands, now 81, remembered today. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. You could see a hateful heart in Steven then. ", 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 Kendall, then 40, survived the explosion but was severely burned to make sure her brother was sentenced to life in prison for the murders. [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. Then the witness surprised the judge by asking if he could make a "statement." 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. She had hoped he would get the death penalty. The Wait. Reached Friday about her brothers death, she said, I really have no comment.. I think it was the dumbest murder I ever solved that had been planned. 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. 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. Tracking money - that was my forte, said Dwight Brock, who is now 61 and works as the Collier County Clerk of Courts in Florida. 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. There was a brief flurry of excitement when the foreman knocked on the door only two hours later. 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. Distraught over the bombing and what she says is her brother's complete lack of interest in her physical and emotional condition since then (she testified he has never contacted her in all that time, not even to inquire about her health), she is occupied with trying to hold herself together emotionally. [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? It wasn't the prison pallor that surprised people who had known him; it was the grim and almost affectless bearing. He walked behind him and put his hand on his shoulder and he said, Steven Benson is a nice person. 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. Were going on the premise Scott did not know, but Steven, being the older of the two boys - I have strong feelings he did know., He said he counseled Mrs. Kendall to tell the truth about Scotts birth and answer any and all questions they ask, no matter how private or embarrassing.. It r The Steven Benson case drew national media coverage in 1986. I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, Sands says. 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. This jail cell is similar to the ones in which Steven Benson spent the last 30 years in the Florida prison system, serving two life sentences for murdering his mother and brother, and trying to murder his sister, in a 1985 pipe bomb explosion to get his hands on his family's $10 million tobacco company fortune. Steven Benson blew up his family in the driveway of their Florida home in July 1985. FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the agency had no updated information as of Friday afternoon. 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. And there was lots of squabbling over who got what. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay . The Motive behind the murder was the property of her mother and her heiress. Last Known Contact Information. ", The jowly and bespectacled witness testified that Steven's company books were a mess, with checkbook entries missing and no balance carried forward. Trending. Carol Lynn testified that she thought Scott's being there was a "silly request. The case still resonates three decades later. 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. 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. Then, as they got into the car, Caroline noticed Stephen asking them to get in. Cirace said the rumors were never confirmed until Steven Bensons lawyers questioned Mrs. Kendall about it, to test her credibility. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. [4] Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? Daddy. He was a strange fellow, says Sands, who worked as a landscaper for Bensons late grandfather, Hitchcock. The murder of Margaret and Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen before and rarely since to Naples. He just ignored it.. The problems, Sands says, were all Benson wanted to talk about during the visits. 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. doesn't have anything to do with my mother anymore.". 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. The bombing took place July 9, 1985 in the Quail Creek community. 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 . Theres no record of him having a single visitor during his 28 years in prison, a Department of Corrections spokesman said. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. . Carol Lynn Benson Kendall came in to see her brother's jury be excused for the night. When the Challenger space shuttle exploded a year after the Florida murders, Hitchcock broke down, Murphy recalls. 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. "Malevolent" is what the prosecutors for the state call 35-year-old Steven Benson. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. Kendall was retained by clients in two separate cases but failed to adequately represent them. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. Carol 's cause of death is unknown to us at this time. The Prosecution. 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. Margaret Benson and her adopted son, Scott, were killed in the 1985 blast at their Naples home. Oh no, she thought. It was like . Bennett heard how the bombs were assembled, with nails and tacks put inside them so they would do the most damage. Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. 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. 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. For years, she had paid for the lessons and the coaches and the trips, not to mention his 16 tennis racquets. Also on the public record is a 3-year-old paternity suit filed by Scott's former live-in girl. Required fields are marked *. As the lead investigator in the Collier County Sheriffs Department, Harold Young was one of the first people to answer the call about a bombing at Margaret Bensons home in a gated golf course community on the morning of July 9, 1985. Florida authorities have charged Steven Benson, Mrs. Kendall's 34-year-old natural brother, with setting the blast outside . Its been decades since his trial attracted attention, though TV specials still pop up on cable channels from time to time. By the time the trial began, Steven Benson had been in jail for almost 11 months. 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. (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. 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. A month later, the Naples police arrested Steven Benson and charged him with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder. 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. The matricide was a huge point, she said. I heard a lot of cursing and swearing.. She thought he had been embezzling family funds and had called her attorney to check into it. Lets go with disastrous hate. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, a former Naples City Council candidate, is now a lawyer in Broward County focusing on family law and real estate. DOC spokesman McKinley Lewis deferred comment to the FDLE, which he said is in charge of the probe. 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 wanted his own way and he was going to get it one way or another, he says. Thats the way Steve was.. Carol Lynn was in the back seat, and, as she testified 2 1/2 weeks ago to a packed courtroom here, "I was suddenly surrounded by this orange thing. 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a September 22 court order. The siblings did not return phone messages Friday. McDonnell did not call Steven Benson in his own defense. Police officers also testified their investigation indicated Steven had acted out of character in several respects that morning, first by insisting that Scott be awakened and included in the group, and then by having Scott drive. 10-Year Discipline History: . And finally, there was the issue of Steven's apparent history of playing with explosives. Eventually the second will was ruled valid, but before that happened, Steve Benson was arrested. 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. Release Calendar Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a Sept. 22 court order. Sands said he was only allowed to speak with Steven Benson for a couple of minutes because he wasnt family. Young said they talked about Mothers Day, and how sad it would be to not have his mother around on that day. 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. Margaret Benson He said, Thats how Margaret died. 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. 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. Through taxes, disbursements and attorneys fees, the estate has dwindled from $10 million to about $1.2 million, said Carl Westman, the estates attorney. He knew how to make tube bombs and fiddled with explosives. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. Nor was he surprised when prosecutors said Benson had murdered his mother and sister to get at the familys fortune. I guess he didnt want him to go to hell.. 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. 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. Steven Bensons trial is scheduled to begin in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 13. He spent a lot of money and never did anything with it. There were local TV stations every night that had local reporters critiquing what I was doing, McDonnell said. Nobody else had time to put a bomb in there, Young said. It looks like we don't have any photos for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall yet. 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. I have a strong feeling Steven Benson also knew, Cirace said. The Trustees set up a trust for Kendall, a trust for Stephen, and a share for Scott. . He was going to turn it into an apartment house. How people were crooked. -- Scott Benson's natural mother and Margaret Benson's daughter -- got along better with her mother. Hed claimed he had no money to pay his attorneys, so he claimed indigency -- and Judge Hayes approved the claim. Prosecutors said it showed that while Carol Lynn owed her mother $118,560.33, Steven's IOU was $268,163.89. He said that "initially" he thought it was just sloppy bookkeeping. I knew she was scared of Scott, but that was a different situation. In prison records, Benson listed the oldest of his three children, twins Victoria and Christopher, as his next of kin. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Apparently, the idea was to cut down on speeches to the jury, and to speed things along. She suffered first-degree burns on her face and hands in the explosion and is still undergoing extensive reconstructive surgery. The bills were sent to and paid for by Margaret. Dwight Brock was an assistant state attorney in Florida, specializing in white collar crime, when Steven Benson was arrested. Those involved with the case say they are surprised at how it still resonates in peoples minds, and their own lives. Kendall's mother and son, Scott, were killed in the blast and Kendall, a resident of suburban Chestnut Hill, was seriously injured. She, of course, was referring to Margaret. I had never known anyone like this before. Eyebrows were raised in the affluent Benson neighborhood, but Margaret prevailed and she raised the boy as her son. 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 42, of Brookline, Mass. Also Read:Mariannette Miller-Meeks : Role during Iowa elections. The star of the show by far was Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. The motive was money. 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. They had so much, and the family dynamic was about as whacked out as you could ask for.. She was afraid her brother would come after her and her children if he ever got free. By this orange thing. `` Scott Benson in his own defense a! For global and local news bombs were assembled, with setting the blast outside never. Paid for the state call 35-year-old Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial the deaths of daughter. 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