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. 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.. 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. If they had objections they were to say, quietly, "May we approach the bench?" As for Carol Lynn, she too waited in Florida for the verdict. He said Steven was laughing. Benson has had his share of problems behind bars. 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. It also wanted to rehear some of what the government fingerprint expert had said about the palm prints. 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?. I can see what money can do when people get so tied up in self, he says. By July 8, the day before the bombing, Margaret had learned of Steven's new house in Fort Myers, according to testimony. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. . Investigators also found on Bensons pants a single particle of zinc, which they said fell off the galvanized pipe while he was making the bombs that would later kill his mother and sister. Maybe it was the money, the power and the greed, they say. He worked in the laundry. Benson's death was reported soon after it happened on July 3. He went through money like crazy, Sands says. He said he had a judicial conference he wanted very much to attend, so he had determined to finish the trial in three weeks. The case still resonates three decades later. 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. Real estate. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. He found Steven Benson inside his mothers house, talking on a telephone. 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. Hitchcocks daughter, Margaret, it turned out, was not really the mother of Scott Benson. [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. Benson said he first went to get coffee and doughnuts at a nearby store. Error! He cried so much, she says. He had retained Naples attorney Michael McDonnell. Hitchcock died in 1990, five years after the Florida killings. After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. 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. Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? . To my knowledge, Scott never confronted his mother with the question. '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. 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. Some who knew him werent really surprised. Not Eligible to Practice Law in Florida . "Malevolent" is what the prosecutors for the state call 35-year-old Steven Benson. 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. 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. 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. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. Margaret Benson and her son, Scott (who was actually Kendalls son, later adopted by her mother) already were dead. . [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. Sands, who spent winters in Florida, visited Benson a half a dozen times in the mid-90s. The jury deliberated just 12 hours before finding Benson guilty. Its been decades since his trial attracted attention, though TV specials still pop up on cable channels from time to time. Carol Lynn later had a brief marriage -- to a water-skier from Cypress Gardens -- with whom she had two sons. I did most of the talking.. September 1, 1989. Thats the way Steve was.. 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. Then the bombs went off. Margaret Benson eventually loaned her son the money but he never did anything with the building, Sands says. She said, I want to know where all the money went. She wanted to see the books. 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. But the Florida Department of Corrections has been tight lipped about the cause and circumstances. 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. 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. She said she will never forget that moment. Murphy herself doesnt have those feelings toward her nephew. He was always doing things but never getting anything accomplished, Sands recalls. The Daughter and Her Son. Then the witness surprised the judge by asking if he could make a "statement." He never looked at anybody, says Murphy, who sat right behind Benson during the trial. He was talking to one of his associates - the phrase How much did we take in yesterday? sticks in my head. He was sobbing.. Simpson trial, a gripping tale of a wealthy family torn apart by murder and avarice. 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. 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." Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Disbarred . The siblings did not return phone messages Friday. Steven Benson killed his mother and brother in an attempt to get his hands on the familys $10 million tobacco fortune. Carol Lynn testified that she thought Scott's being there was a "silly request. After his initial outburst, Benson became stoic and unemotional as the evidence was presented against him. Young said they talked about Mothers Day, and how sad it would be to not have his mother around on that day. His grandson never acknowledged him again, not even when he came to Florida for the trial. Steven Bensons trial is scheduled to begin in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 13. Nobody else had time to put a bomb in there, Young said. [6][7] Over the course of his sentence, Benson was transferred to various prisons because of constant threats and abuse from other inmates. 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. Amos Sands of West Donegal Township remembers the day 20 years ago today as well. ), After a brief rebuttal by the prosecution, Judge Hayes let the jury go. Even though her grandfather and her aunt opposed Steven's release on bail, she apparently still fights the conclusion that Steven did it. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. Release Calendar Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. Its like the story that keeps on giving. The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. 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. 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. And he put a lot of planning in it but never covered his tracks at all., Tom Schelling, whom the Benson family had on the payroll to do maintenance and construction around their many estates, said he has known Steven Benson since high school. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. 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. It wasnt discussed. Thats how Margaret died. I never saw him cry as much as he did with the Challenger. A month later, the Naples police arrested Steven Benson and charged him with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder. While she was being helped by the golfer, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's brother Steven stood and watched the carnage. Reached Friday about her brothers death, she said, I really have no comment.. Steven Benson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2, and prosecutors have asked for a life sentence. Simpson trial before the O.J. It is said that she has taken their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town. Another daily attendee was a lawyer representing the trust funds left by Harry Hitchcock's late wife. 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: . Investigators said Steven Benson had embezzled up to $2 million from his mother and had recently learned he may be cut out of her will. Bensons 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. (He'd even set up a tobacco company in direct competition with his family's concern, but it fizzled immediately.). That she was once a beauty contest winner is easy to see. ", 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. Margaret Benson adopted her grandson as her son, to cover up the fact that her daughter, a former beauty queen, became pregnant with a water skier from Cypress Gardens, said Cirace, now 64. The thing that stuck out in my mind was, wow, how easy this is to see what the money did. But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. . It was then that she had her personal secretary run a tab of what her children owed her. An investigator said later they probably didnt have a chance to move.. Scott tried to start the vehicle, she testified, "and immediately after that I was surrounded by this orange thing.". They had so much, and the family dynamic was about as whacked out as you could ask for.. 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.. Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. You could see a hateful heart in Steven then. 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. It was obvious he was spending his mothers money on himself and his family, Brock said. After Benson was convicted, Hitchcock asked Sands to visit Benson in prison. He was the last person to drive the SUV. Cirace said the rumors were never confirmed until Steven Bensons lawyers questioned Mrs. Kendall about it, to test her credibility. He. Electronics. Her niece, Kendall, also has stayed out of the limelight. Final arguments took place yesterday and the jury began its deliberations, 13 months after the killings of Margaret and Scott Benson. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. She is shown here in a photo shoot at. For his work, the man who once stood to gain millions received no compensation, prison officials said. Steven Benson blew up his mother and brother, and tried to kill his sister, to get a $10 million fortune. When he returned, they said, he prepared to join his family to look at a piece of land his mother had bought. 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. 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. Instead, he died in prison, leaving behind just $30.06 in his commissary fund. 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. Support local journalism. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall came in to see her brother's jury be excused for the night. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. The family and everybody just treated his grandmother as Scotts mother, the attorney said. He was just not your usual teenager. 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. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. He was stabbed in the neck in 1991 by a prisoner who was later sent to a mental hospital. 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. I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. Benson was convicted of killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister with a car-bomb on July 9, 1985. Steven Benson is led into the Collier County jail complex on the day of his arrest in 1985. Hed always been sort of strange, she says. The Defense. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. He wont admit any wrong hes ever done, including the murder., Benson seemed, he says, like a man who was in there, but didnt know why he was in there. 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. 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. "I don't really know how to comment on it. Margarets blood was still all over the side of his van. When Benson refused to pay, Washington and another man, identified as Marvin Taylor, ambushed and shanked Benson. [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. Minutes later the Suburban erupted into flames. It seemed like a dumb thing." 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. A story in todays Naples Daily News reports that Benson files numerous grievances about prison life. Murphy said her father sent Sands as a gesture of goodwill. And there was lots of squabbling over who got what. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. And so he appears very much alone. But everyone agreed that she had done so well, it might be unwise to risk a second appearance. ", Once all was set, she testified, Steven handed Scott the keys, and then said he had forgotten something and headed back toward the house. There was an error processing your request. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, a former Naples City Council candidate, is now a lawyer in Broward County focusing on family law and real estate. Theyre all dead.. Landscaping. Oh no, she thought. I guess you'd call them bombs." I have a strong feeling Steven Benson also knew, Cirace said. The prosecution's evidence is entirely circumstantial. 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. Those involved with the case say they are surprised at how it still resonates in peoples minds, and their own lives. 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. 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 . That she is now horribly scarred is obvious; large red subdermal slashes streak her face. He didnt say anything after prison. Young also remembers the day they arrested Benson: Aug. 22, 1985. It came to an average monthly payment of more than $10,000, or a grand total of "around a quarter of a million dollars.". Trending. That seemed more important to him than his family lying all over the golf course.. Once Benson was in custody, investigators questioned him until he invoked his right to call an attorney. The Herald also reported that it was common knowledge among certain of Steven's childhood friends that he liked to make bombs. He returned and got everyone into the Suburban and then went back into the house to retrieve a tape measure. Sands said he was only allowed to speak with Steven Benson for a couple of minutes because he wasnt family. Prosecutors set forth the theory that Margaret Benson liked being the financial power behind Steven's business throne -- at least in the beginning. Had she not left the rear door of the unairconditioned Chevy Suburban wagon open on that miserably hot July morning 13 months ago in Naples, Fla., she, like her mother and her 21-year-old adopted "brother" Scott, would also be dead. 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. I hope he does, she said. But the jury only wanted to have portions of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's testimony read back. Twelve and a half hours later, almost to the minute, Harry Hitchcock's granddaughter made an equally dramatic, if brief, appearance in the courtroom. 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. 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