doesn't have anything to do with my mother anymore.". Represented by attorney Michael McDonnell, Steven Benson was ultimately convicted of first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, and arson of a dwelling. 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. It was the O.J. I had never known anyone like this before. Naples Daily News 0:00 1:22 Steven Benson is led into the Collier County jail complex on the day of his arrest in 1985. . 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. 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. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. When Benson refused to pay, Washington and another man, identified as Marvin Taylor, ambushed and shanked Benson. He doesnt know for sure why Benson has stuck with the public, and with him, all these years. Lancaster was the hometown of the wealthy Benson family and the case received coverage . The Daughter and Her Son. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall came in to see her brother's jury be excused for the night. Carol Lynn Kendall unsuccessfully ran for a Naples City Council seat while living in Port . 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. 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. Benson, then 33, was running out of it and wanted to inherit his mother's. 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. Murphy declined to say where she now is living and says she does not see her regularly. His second wife Debra was not in the courtroom, or even in Florida. He wanted his own way and he was going to get it one way or another, he says. Reached Friday about her brother's death, she. But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. ", The jowly and bespectacled witness testified that Steven's company books were a mess, with checkbook entries missing and no balance carried forward. And she also contradicted the wake testimony regarding bombs. 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. Lets go with disastrous hate. That's a negative as far as the jury is concerned. He got stabbed, and a knife was found in his own cell. 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. They had so much, and the family dynamic was about as whacked out as you could ask for.. Steven was paid $244,974.39 so he could pay his legal fees. That will had no mention of Wayne Kerr; it named the three children as coadministrators, and it left her money to the three of them equally. The murder of Margaret and Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen before and rarely since to Naples. 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. [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. There was none. 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: . The first thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, you know that. He thought that right away, Sands, now 81, remembered today. Beyond that, Young had little to say. It was very weird. But she didn't know its size, and she didn't know that Steven had made the down payment with a blank check she had signed and left behind for household expenses while she was on a cruise. Steven Benson is serving two life sentences at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Fla. He stared at her and walked away, said Kendall, who is now 70 and living somewhere in Florida. Her daughter, Kendall, was. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, a former Naples City Council candidate, is now a lawyer in Broward County focusing on family law and real estate. Young said, I knew he did it immediately.. 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. The judge made the sentences consecutive, in accordance with Bensons sisters wishes. Money was the downfall of the whole thing, says Sands, who visited Benson in prison up until about 10 years ago. Margaret and Scott died instantly, and Caroline was rushed to the hospital with severe burns. Within this circle, there was lots of money. You can also browse other available content for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on IMDb such as filmography, trivia, personal details, etc. Nothing was heard from him at all during the trial, she said. 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. The thing that stuck out in my mind was, wow, how easy this is to see what the money did. He had been driving it all that time, he said. . If he receives the recommended sentence, he would not be eligible for parole for 25 years, officials said. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. 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. 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 the witness surprised the judge by asking if he could make a "statement." Under the law, jurors are not supposed to take this into consideration. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. 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. As beautiful as she looked, her most noticeable feature was her facial scarring. McDonnell did not call Steven Benson in his own defense. I felt like I was being pressed back into the seat. 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. 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. His grandson never acknowledged him again, not even when he came to Florida for the trial. He said that "initially" he thought it was just sloppy bookkeeping. He was just not your usual teenager. 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. You can add or change photos at IMDb Pro. [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.) He said Steven was laughing. Carol 's cause of death is unknown to us at this time. I couldnt get through to him spiritually., Im no psychologist, Sands adds, but he lives in denial. "How long does it take to say a guy was stabbed in the temple?" Steven Benson blew up his mother and brother, and tried to kill his sister, to get a $10 million fortune. A maid testified that he was "the apple of his mother's eye." I just cant imagine. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, testifies about the explosion and injuries she sustained. Benson was 33, just five years younger than Bennett at the time. It just never stopped, Cirace said. 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 the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. Hed claimed he had no money to pay his attorneys, so he claimed indigency -- and Judge Hayes approved the claim. Shocked by the attack, she says that since then, her siblings have been completely uninterested in her physical and emotional well-being. I walk into a restaurant and people say, Didnt you do the Benson case? . 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. 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. 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. ", She said that Steven had called her the night before the bombing to make sure that both she and Scott would be coming along in the morning when he planned to stake the dimensions of his mother's new lot. Benson has had his share of problems behind bars. Steven Benson is led into the Collier County jail complex on the day of his arrest in 1985. Eventually the second will was ruled valid, but before that happened, Steve Benson was arrested. Daddy. 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. Mrs. Benson was 63 when she died in the blast. 'My brother has been convicted of murdering my family,' Kendall said. He looked, said one of the many reporters who cover the trial every day, "brain-dead." Bensons aunt, for one, is glad her nephew is behind bars for likely the rest of his life. Scott was an aspiring tennis professional, but apparently the aspirations were Margaret's rather than his. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 42, of Brookline, Mass. 10-Year Discipline History: . The Money. At the urging of Hitchcock, Sands tried to talk to Benson about religion, about accepting Jesus as his savior, but Benson did not want to talk about that. Carl Westman, a Naples attorney named to represent Margaret Benson's estate, usually sat with Cirace. She said, I want to know where all the money went. She wanted to see the books. It was just a tragic story. And Steven usually drove when we were together. 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. When the Challenger space shuttle exploded a year after the Florida murders, Hitchcock broke down, Murphy recalls. [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? 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. After his initial outburst, Benson became stoic and unemotional as the evidence was presented against him. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. 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. (AP Photo). 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. 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. ), After a brief rebuttal by the prosecution, Judge Hayes let the jury go. he asked. She hardly looked at her brother, but when she testified about Scott Benson, she called him "my son. Photo Gallery. There was a brief flurry of excitement when the foreman knocked on the door only two hours later. District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District. Its still fresh in my memory, he said. The bills were sent to and paid for by Margaret. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. US fails miserably against Russia at the crucial UN Vote. He didnt say anything after prison. File photo. Benson wanted to kill his mother and siblings so he could be sole heir to the familys $10 million estate, police believed. Is Carol Lynn Benson Kendall still alive? But there is no doubt that he had a rough crowd of friends -- the defense called several occupants of the Naples jail to testify about Scott and his various habits, in the hope that this possible alternative theory would raise a reasonable doubt as to whether Steven is guilty. . Benson, he recalled, had a reputation as a wimp., He didnt fit in, Schelling said. Steven Benson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2, and prosecutors have asked for a life sentence. 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. Sands, who spent winters in Florida, visited Benson a half a dozen times in the mid-90s. An investigator said later they probably didnt have a chance to move.. Benson, now 53, is serving two life sentences in a Florida prison for killing his mother and brother, and trying to kill his sister. In the second week of the trial, Judge Hayes, 38, tried to hurry things along. He was talking to one of his associates - the phrase How much did we take in yesterday? sticks in my head. Her daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, was injured. . . 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. 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. He told the attorneys he did not want them standing up and shouting, "I object." A month later, the Naples police arrested Steven Benson and charged him with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder. 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. Im 91 now, Sands said when reached by phone Friday. Error! '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. . 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. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. 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. 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. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. I did most of the talking.. 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. 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