Justice is justice," he said. The family and everybody just treated his grandmother as Scotts mother, the attorney said. * The prosecution's key evidence, along with the testimony of Steven's sister, were palm prints on sales receipts for pipe identical to that used in the bombs, as well as end caps. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. That she was once a beauty contest winner is easy to see. Her daughter, Kendall, was. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. For his work, the man who once stood to gain millions received no compensation, prison officials said. 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. 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 jowly and bespectacled witness testified that Steven's company books were a mess, with checkbook entries missing and no balance carried forward. Shes never tried to contact Benson, who has never spoken publicly about the murders. They have never learned to live, really.. When Benson refused to pay, Washington and another man, identified as Marvin Taylor, ambushed and shanked Benson. 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. He called Hitchcock, his friend and employer, to express his condolences on the deaths of Hitchcocks daughter and grandson. . She hardly looked at her brother, but when she testified about Scott Benson, she called him "my son. And he is an arbitrator within the family when things go wrong., Steven started to cry. 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. [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. Dad was very religious, she said. He just stood there. 'Money is the last thing that's even on my mind.'. 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. 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. He had retained Naples attorney Michael McDonnell. It r In July 1985, 63-year-old Margaret and her 41-year-old daughter Caroline Benson Kendall, 33-year-old son Steven Benson and 21-year-old adopted son Scott Benson together Get in the car and leave to see a piece of land in the city, where Margaret plans to build another home for her family. Some who knew him werent really surprised. Through taxes, disbursements and attorneys fees, the estate has dwindled from $10 million to about $1.2 million, said Carl Westman, the estates attorney. 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. Hitchcock died in 1990, five years after the Florida killings. I heard a lot of cursing and swearing.. (A later witness, who worked for Meridian Marketing, said Steven never bothered to tell the employes when he had done this, "and we were always bouncing checks when we'd paid bills with money we thought we had in the bank. 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. He just ignored it.. He will be eligible for parole when he is 85. He just kept a straight face.. It was the O.J. Murphy s nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to. 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. Dwight Brock was an assistant state attorney in Florida, specializing in white collar crime, when Steven Benson was arrested. ", 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. But by late 1984 and early 1985, they argue, she was coming to the conclusion that bankrolling Steven was something less than sound. He just looked at me. Her niece, Kendall, also has stayed out of the limelight. After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. 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. Murphy does not know whether the couple, who had three children, later divorced. He thought he was better than everybody else.. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. 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." I guess he didnt want him to go to hell.. They had so much, and the family dynamic was about as whacked out as you could ask for.. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. 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. You can add or change photos at IMDb Pro. The judge did another unusual thing. The explosion was so loud that golfers ran off the course to see what had happened. He stared at her and walked away, said Kendall, who is now 70 and living somewhere in Florida. 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. 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. 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. In addition, the Benson Family murder case was the subject of The Serpent's Tooth, a 1987 book by Christopher Andersen. When I see that, I pity people like that. I have a strong feeling Steven Benson also knew, Cirace said. No mental problems, he was just evil., The case garnered national attention, and four authors later wrote books about it. A maid testified that he was "the apple of his mother's eye." Murphys father, Harry Hitchcock, was fine. Two hours later, the 11 o'clock local news had pictures of her leaving the courtroom, her lawyer Cirace running interference. 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. Then the witness surprised the judge by asking if he could make a "statement." Steven's defense case, which lasted from Saturday, July 26, to last Monday, was marred by fights over the late introduction of witnesses (at one point Judge Hayes told the defense that such a practice was "just damn bush") and frequent bench conferences that resulted in the jury's being excused for the day. Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Maybe it was the money, the power and the greed, they say. The jury was split on the death penalty, and so gave him life in prison. 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. That seemed more important to him than his family lying all over the golf course.. Benson, who was serving two consecutive life sentences, had last been housed at the Taylor Correctional Institution, a prison about an hour southeast of Tallahassee. Its been decades since his trial attracted attention, though TV specials still pop up on cable channels from time to time. 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. Benson's own sister, Carol Lynn Kendall, then 40, who survived the blast but was severely burned, wanting to make sure her brother was sentenced to life in prison for the killings. They were obliterated when a pipe bomb the size of a football planted between the two front seats exploded. 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. Prosecutors argued that Margaret Benson was apparently beginning to face the growing evidence that Steven was spending beyond the limits of her frequent loans and the $3,000 a month she paid him as a "consultant" to the Meridian businesses. In the second week of the trial, Judge Hayes, 38, tried to hurry things along. Only Carol Lynn Benson survived in this tragic blast. 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.". The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Just sort of odd, very different.. Minutes later the Suburban erupted into flames. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. Benson was 33, just five years younger than Bennett at the time. Required fields are marked *. For years, she had paid for the lessons and the coaches and the trips, not to mention his 16 tennis racquets. Then the bombs went off. His sister, Carol Lynn, was badly burned in the blast but survived. [citation needed] The case was featured in Great Crimes and Trials and Infamous Murders. 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. '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. An autopsy report obtained by the Naples Daily News indicates the cause of death was a stab to the right temple. But the topic was always the same: problems 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. 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. Beyond that, Young had little to say. The Trustees set up a trust for Kendall, a trust for Stephen, and a share for Scott. Hed always been sort of strange, she says. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. 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. 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. Those involved with the case say they are surprised at how it still resonates in peoples minds, and their own lives. She said, I want to know where all the money went. She wanted to see the books. It continued to prosper, and eventually both families had what some people call "real money," and what others disdain as "nouveau. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. But the jury only wanted to have portions of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's testimony read back. But showing little emotion after that. The Chevrolet Suburban was blown all to bits and pieces, with a body lying out on each side.. Even though he had a fancy car" -- the Lotus -- "he didn't like to drive. "), Near the end of his testimony, he said he had finally told Margaret Benson, "You have to stop being a bank for your children." 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 was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) _ The estate of murdered tobacco heiress Margaret Benson should be shared equally by the children of the son who killed her and by her daughter, a judge has ruled. Young said, I knew he did it immediately.. She had retained Boston attorney E. Richard Cirace to advise her and represent her interests. Police later learned that Scott. 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. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. 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. 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. Bensons wife never attended the trial. And he complained. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. The three children were to divide the estate equally. I had never known anyone like this before. It was obvious he was spending his mothers money on himself and his family, Brock said. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Obituary - Death, Cause Of Death, Funeral: Friends and others affected mourn the death of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, has suddenly passed away.click to read and leave tributes. It was just a tragic story. 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. 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. ", Once all was set, she testified, Steven handed Scott the keys, and then said he had forgotten something and headed back toward the house. 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. Murphy said her father sent Sands as a gesture of goodwill. But there were other debits. She, of course, was referring to Margaret. The Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. It was her sister, Margaret, 63, and her nephew, Scott, 21, who had died in a horrific car explosion in Florida. Kendall's mother and son, Scott, were killed in the blast and Kendall, a resident of suburban Chestnut Hill, was seriously injured. Support local journalism. Patty Bennett was a nervous mother of two boys sitting in a jury box when the defense gave its opening statement about Steven Benson. To my knowledge, Scott never confronted his mother with the question. 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. Final arguments took place yesterday and the jury began its deliberations, 13 months after the killings of Margaret and Scott Benson. My relationship with Tracy was always a very turbulent one. While she was being helped by the golfer, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's brother Steven stood and watched the carnage. 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. (AP Photo). Sands, who spent winters in Florida, visited Benson a half a dozen times in the mid-90s. An aerial shot of the home is shown in the background. Bennett heard Kendall, who was disfigured in the bombing, testify that after the first blast blew her out of the car, she was still conscious, and she yelled to her brother to help her. I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, Sands says. . 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. Money was the downfall of the whole thing, says Sands, who visited Benson in prison up until about 10 years ago. Steven Benson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2, and prosecutors have asked for a life sentence. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn. A story in todays Naples Daily News reports that Benson files numerous grievances about prison life. [4] 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. 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 . 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. He is a good brother. It also wanted to rehear some of what the government fingerprint expert had said about the palm prints. It was very weird. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. 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.. 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.. "How long does it take to say a guy was stabbed in the temple?" 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. Benson was convicted of killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister with a car-bomb on July 9, 1985. 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