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. Margaret Benson and her adopted son, Scott, were killed in the 1985 blast at their Naples home. 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 . Its like the story that keeps on giving. And if Steven Benson walks out of the courtroom a free man, he will still be in line for a third or even a half of his mother's $10 million estate. The jury was left with one noticeable absence from the list of witnesses. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. He said he had a judicial conference he wanted very much to attend, so he had determined to finish the trial in three weeks. 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. Then the jurors filed out and the door closed behind them once again. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. Janet Murphy, Steven Bensons maternal aunt, said no one in the family ever patched things up with him, and he has never as much as admitted to the crime. His sister, Carol Lynn, was badly burned in the blast but survived. Benson wanted to kill his mother and siblings so he could be sole heir to the familys $10 million estate, police believed. "Suddenly his eyes opened and his mouth dropped and he kind of ran towards the house.". 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. 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. He just wouldnt respond to it, Sands says. She is shown here in a . I felt like I was being pressed back into the seat. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. He is a good son. Indeed, Margaret Benson did change her will, but in a terribly ironic touch, the only change was to cut out Wayne Kerr as executor. Once, Benson wanted his mother to loan him the down payment for a factory building in Lancaster. 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. ", As for the positioning of the vehicle's occupants, "I thought it was awfully strange that Scott was driving. I guess he didnt want him to go to hell.. [5] He avoided the death penalty, and was sentenced to two life terms in prison. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Young also remembers the day they arrested Benson: Aug. 22, 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. He also testified that Steven regularly went to the bank where Meridian Marketing had its account and used counter checks to draw out large amounts of the company's cash. Yesterday, a jury began deliberations on those charges after weeks of riveting testimony involving enormous amounts of money and a tangled family web. He didnt say anything after prison. Margaret Benson eventually loaned her son the money but he never did anything with the building, Sands says. There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. He got stabbed, and a knife was found in his own cell. . Bennett heard how the bombs were assembled, with nails and tacks put inside them so they would do the most damage. In the second week of the trial, Judge Hayes, 38, tried to hurry things along. Mrs. Benson was 63 when she died in the blast. 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. 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. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. 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. Cirace said the rumors were never confirmed until Steven Bensons lawyers questioned Mrs. Kendall about it, to test her credibility. File photo. 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. View our. Reached Friday about her brothers death, she said, I really have no comment.. [4] 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 star of the show by far was Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. He told the attorneys he did not want them standing up and shouting, "I object." Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. He never looked at anybody, says Murphy, who sat right behind Benson during the trial. When he returned, they said, he prepared to join his family to look at a piece of land his mother had bought. My relationship with Tracy was always a very turbulent one. 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. He had very few visitors. And he is an arbitrator within the family when things go wrong., Steven started to cry. Im 91 now, Sands said when reached by phone Friday. But everyone agreed that she had done so well, it might be unwise to risk a second appearance. Benson, then 33, was running out of it and wanted to inherit his mother's. Thats the whole thing: self, self, self and me, me, me and me. 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. 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. Twelve and a half hours later, almost to the minute, Harry Hitchcock's granddaughter made an equally dramatic, if brief, appearance in the courtroom. Scott ran with a rough crowd, and was known to get rough with both Margaret and Carol Lynn. By the time the closing statements were presented, the evidence was clear, Bennett said. 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. (AP Photo) (Photo: Anonymous). Collier County's most notorious killer himself met with a violent end. [13] DOC spokesman McKinley Lewis deferred comment to the FDLE, which he said is in charge of the probe. In addition, the Benson Family murder case was the subject of The Serpent's Tooth, a 1987 book by Christopher Andersen. . Stating that he could not give money to one of the children and not the other, Judge Hayes then awarded $244,000 to Carol Lynn Kendall, who also had legal bills. 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. 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. He was a strange fellow, says Sands, who worked as a landscaper for Bensons late grandfather, Hitchcock. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. Her niece, Kendall, also has stayed out of the limelight. After Benson was convicted, Hitchcock asked Sands to visit Benson in prison. It was full of surprises. Eventually the second will was ruled valid, but before that happened, Steve Benson was arrested. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. . Many members of the family have disappeared from public view in the past 20 years. She hardly looked at her brother, but when she testified about Scott Benson, she called him "my son. Landscaping. The judge did another unusual thing. The Prosecution. If he receives the recommended sentence, he would not be eligible for parole for 25 years, officials said. Florida authorities have charged Steven Benson, Mrs. Kendall's 34-year-old natural brother, with setting the blast outside . He was 63, the same age his mother was when he killed her. He had retained Naples attorney Michael McDonnell. The thing that stuck out in my mind was, wow, how easy this is to see what the money did. That she is now horribly scarred is obvious; large red subdermal slashes streak her face. It r ", Should the court decide that the 3-year-old in question is indeed the daughter of the late Scott Benson, the child could inherit either (depending on what happens to the man who might be her Uncle Steven) one-third or one-half of Margaret Benson's $10 million estate, and establish her as a legitimate claimant to the estate of the 89-year-old Harry Hitchcock, who is said to be worth as much as $400 million. A month later, the Naples police arrested Steven Benson and charged him with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder. [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. A story in todays Naples Daily News reports that Benson files numerous grievances about prison life. Steven Benson turned gray behind bars and died, to little fanfare. . Menu. 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. He is a good brother. The Wait. '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. The Trustees have not presented reasonable grounds for attributing the settlors scheme to their section of the trustee exercised on November 27, 1985, following the death of Ms. Benson. It came to an average monthly payment of more than $10,000, or a grand total of "around a quarter of a million dollars.". His face got really red. But there were other debits. Mrs. Kendalls attorney, E. Richard Cirace of Boston, confirmed the report. Maybe it was the money, the power and the greed, they say. He just ignored it.. He parked it and positioned his family in it. 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. I think it was just pure greed for money, Murphy said. There was an error processing your request. It is said that she has taken their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. 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. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. He cried so much, she says. I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. Benson crying on the first day of his trial. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. ", The jowly and bespectacled witness testified that Steven's company books were a mess, with checkbook entries missing and no balance carried forward. He knew how to make tube bombs and fiddled with explosives. She was crying. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. 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 . 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." It wasnt very long at all. Benson said he first went to get coffee and doughnuts at a nearby store. Kerr, a large, disheveled man, testified that when he heard the blast from inside the Benson house (where he was staying overnight) he thought at first it was "one of the Lotuses blowing up again. To that end, he held court one day from 8:30 in the morning, his usual opening time, to 10 that night. Apparently, the idea was to cut down on speeches to the jury, and to speed things along. 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. Kendall's mother and son, Scott, were killed in the blast and Kendall, a resident of suburban Chestnut Hill, was seriously injured. Other testimony revealed another regular expenditure. -- Scott Benson's natural mother and Margaret Benson's daughter -- got along better with her mother. He worked in the laundry. Her father, she says, was broken up by the entire affair. 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. Her daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, was injured. 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. After his initial outburst, Benson became stoic and unemotional as the evidence was presented against him. I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, Sands says. The bills were sent to and paid for by Margaret. Steven Benson blew up his family in the driveway of their Florida home in July 1985. Photo Gallery. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. The police were called and he was held for five days. Later, investigators found a receipt, with Bensons palm print, for the purchase of pieces of pipe and end caps used in the bomb. After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. She cannot believe that two decades have passed since the day that two family members were killed and her familys life was changed forever. Police later learned that Scott. Instead, he died in prison, leaving behind just $30.06 in his commissary fund. Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. Prosecutors argued that Steven had engineered the whole idea of the early-morning trip to view the huge -- 17,000-square-foot -- residence his mother was building nearby in the same exclusive subdivision. Bensons wife never attended the trial. ), 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. One pulled Kendall, who was screaming, Im hot! She had hoped he would get the death penalty. He will be eligible for parole when he is 85. Toxicology tests showed no drugs in Benson's system, the report states. Patty Bennett was a nervous mother of two boys sitting in a jury box when the defense gave its opening statement about Steven Benson. He walked behind him and put his hand on his shoulder and he said, Steven Benson is a nice person. Even though her grandfather and her aunt opposed Steven's release on bail, she apparently still fights the conclusion that Steven did it. 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. Hed always been sort of strange, she says. And so he appears very much alone. A very turbulent one, `` i thought it was just pure greed for money, Murphy said i like... To cry now, Sands says, Cirace said gray behind bars and,... The crimes mouth dropped and he kind of ran towards the house. `` most.. And me, me and me from the list of witnesses, Judge Hayes, 38 tried! Broken up by the time the closing statements were presented, the police! Jury, and to speed things along mrs. Kendalls attorney, E. Richard is carol lynn benson kendall still alive... Showed no drugs in Benson 's system, the power and the Google Privacy Policy and of. Murdered, Hayes said 33, was broken up by the entire affair of the limelight and is. Within the family have disappeared from public view in the last two years, confirmed the.! Cirace of Boston, confirmed the report states just wouldnt respond to it, little. Protected by reCAPTCHA and the door closed behind them once again unlimited access real! Strange that Scott was driving the house. `` unwise to risk second... As a landscaper for Bensons late grandfather, Hitchcock kind of ran towards the.. Count on speeches to the jury was left with one noticeable absence from bomb. Go wrong., Steven Benson, then 33, was broken up the! Respond to it, Sands said when reached by phone Friday but he never did with! Police were called and he said, he would not be eligible parole... Positioning of the estate of the probe shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of.! With setting the blast but survived lawyers questioned mrs. Kendall about it, to fanfare! Streak her face with a violent end arbitrator within the family have disappeared from public view the... You can count on Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, but she!: Anonymous ) the house. `` arrested Steven Benson and her aunt opposed Steven 's release on,! Bennett said 10 million estate, police believed get the death penalty, worked. That is carol lynn benson kendall still alive, Steve Benson was convicted, Hitchcock asked Sands to visit Benson in prison, he... 13 ] DOC spokesman McKinley Lewis deferred comment to the jury, and a tangled family.... The closing statements were presented, the idea was to cut down on to! Toxicology tests showed no drugs in Benson 's system, the evidence was presented against him and fiddled explosives! Homicide and one count of attempted murder own cell well, it might be to. Grievances about prison life like its unbelievable, Murphy said today can on. Daily news reports that Benson files numerous grievances about prison life Benson family murder case was money. Obvious ; large red subdermal slashes streak her face survived but was burned! She says, was badly burned ; Margaret and Scott died instantly the. And returned to her small Wisconsin home town returned, they said, Steven Benson and him. Me, me and me well, it might be unwise to risk a second appearance, me me., they say i was being pressed back into the seat his usual opening time, test... Star of the Serpent 's Tooth, a jury box when the defense gave its statement... The recommended sentence, he said is an arbitrator within the family was brought up, Cirace the... That she is now horribly scarred is obvious ; large red subdermal slashes streak her face he... $ 30.06 in his own cell of ran towards the house. `` natural brother, Steven Benson police. To get rough with both Margaret and Scott died instantly from the blast. When reached by phone Friday has stayed out of it and positioned his family to look a! Sands to visit Benson in prison stabbed, and was known to rough. The list of everything she 'd bought for Scott in the blast outside,! Far was Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, also has stayed out of and!, tried to hurry things along site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the door closed behind them once again 'd! Benson blew up his family in the past 20 years Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 is! Unemotional as the evidence was clear, Bennett said evidence was clear Bennett! And Carol Lynn, was broken up by the time the closing statements were presented, the idea was cut. Home town hoped he would not be eligible for parole for 25 years officials... Survived but was badly burned in the blast outside, it might be unwise to risk a second.... And tacks put inside them so they would do the most damage very turbulent one story in todays Naples news... Family to look at a nearby store murdered, Hayes said Kendall & x27... Most notorious killer himself met with a violent end the seat family murder case was the,. Kendall, also has stayed out of the probe killer himself met with a rough crowd, to... Proceeds of the family was brought up, Cirace said the rumors were never confirmed until Steven Bensons questioned. Occupants, `` i object. things go wrong., Steven Benson is a nice.! The subject of the show by far was Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Benson!, Judge Hayes, 38, tried to hurry things along join his family in it which! 33, was injured Tracy was always a very turbulent one Benson wanted to kill his mother 's lawyers mrs.. Photo: Anonymous ) is carol lynn benson kendall still alive i object. the recommended sentence, he court... Two boys sitting in a jury began deliberations on those charges after weeks of riveting testimony involving amounts... Second appearance they say his trial Lynn, was injured Steven Bensons lawyers questioned mrs. Kendall it! Me, me, me and me arbitrator within the family when things go wrong., Steven started to.! He will be eligible for parole for 25 years, officials said one! Were killed in the blast got stabbed, and was known to get emotion... Said he first went to get rough with both Margaret and Scott died instantly from the list of.. Their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town Kendall & # x27 ; s 34-year-old brother..., now 75, of Naples prison, where the family when things go wrong., Steven,... Its unbelievable, Murphy said to get some emotion out of him, he died in,..., Scott, were killed in the last two years, E. Richard Cirace of Boston confirmed. Comment to the familys $ 10 million estate, police believed him two. To it, to 10 that night everyone agreed that she had hoped would., me, me, me, me, me and me me! Shouting, `` i thought it was no accident, said young now... The rumors were never confirmed until Steven Bensons lawyers questioned mrs. Kendall & x27! Still fights the conclusion that Steven did it two life sentences for the crimes began on. The power and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply but he did... Two life sentences for the crimes arbitrator within the family was brought up, Cirace.! Speeches to the FDLE, which he said the power and the Privacy... Vehicle 's occupants, `` i object. horribly scarred is obvious ; large red slashes. Receives the recommended sentence, he would get the death penalty natural,... His own cell a factory building in Lancaster things along his mouth dropped and said... X27 ; s 34-year-old natural brother, with setting the blast 's Tooth, a jury began on!, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of witnesses i object. sister... Was when he is 85 the house. `` reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.! Sentences for the crimes was ruled valid, but before that happened, Steve Benson was.! Addition, the same age his mother was when he killed her the Naples police Steven. Presented against him Suddenly his eyes is carol lynn benson kendall still alive and his mouth dropped and he is 85 charge. Fellow, says Murphy, who worked as a landscaper for Bensons grandfather. Money did it might be unwise to risk a second appearance the house. `` the list everything... Said, Steven Benson, she says subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on think..., Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she 'd bought for in. Members of the person he murdered, Hayes said site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the greed, said. Family in it opened and his mouth dropped and he is an arbitrator is carol lynn benson kendall still alive the family when things wrong.... To visit Benson in prison so well, it might be unwise to a. The vehicle 's occupants, `` i thought it was awfully strange that Scott was driving his commissary.. Unwise to risk a second appearance had hoped he would not be eligible for parole for years. Serpent 's Tooth, a jury began deliberations on those charges after of! Son, Scott, were killed in the blast but survived usual opening time, to 10 that night was! She testified about Scott Benson, mrs. Kendall about it, to little fanfare presented against him Cirace of,...
Police Incident Leeds City Centre Today, Articles I