He looked, said one of the many reporters who cover the trial every day, "brain-dead." Then the jurors filed out and the door closed behind them once again. The Family The story goes back half a century to 1927, when Harry Hitchcock, Margaret Benson's father, founded the Universal Leaf Tobacco Co., which imported tobacco and resold it to manufacturers. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. Yesterday, a jury began deliberations on those charges after weeks of riveting testimony involving enormous amounts of money and a tangled family web. US fails miserably against Russia at the crucial UN Vote. An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup. [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. Naples Daily News", "Car Bomb Victim Was Son, Not Brother, Heiress Says", "`Heated Discussions` By Slain Heiress Told", "Benson Guilty Of Murders `He Doesn'T Believe It,' Lawyer Says", "Anniversary recalls notorious crime Marco Eagle", "Naples killer Steven Benson who sought $10 million family fortune dies in jail with $30 to his name", "Man who blew up his tobacco heiress mother and brother dies in Florida prison", "Simmering feud with another inmate led to stabbing death of Steven Benson, inmates say", "Not Guilty: Jury deliberates just under an hour in murder trial of former TCI inmate | Perry Newspapers", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steven_Benson_(murderer)&oldid=1131550360, This page was last edited on 4 January 2023, at 17:22. Murphy said her father sent Sands as a gesture of goodwill. "I don't really know how to comment on it. He found Steven Benson inside his mothers house, talking on a telephone. Hed claimed he had no money to pay his attorneys, so he claimed indigency -- and Judge Hayes approved the claim. Bensons aunt, Murphy, recalls him as being different as well. Puncture wound of right temple made by a sharpened instrument ('shank')," the report states. The siblings did not return phone messages Friday. They had a heckuva fight out of it, he says. 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. [13] Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Attorneys representing Steven Benson, 36, and Margaret Benson's daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 43, said they both probably will appeal Monday's ruling. He worked in the laundry. He got down from his ladder, and walked toward the tennis courts, where he found Steven holding what appeared to be a remote control device. [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. He spent a lot of money and never did anything with it. Beyond that, Young had little to say. After Harry Hitchcock had health problems in the late 1950s, Edward ran the company for him. He said he had a judicial conference he wanted very much to attend, so he had determined to finish the trial in three weeks. He will be eligible for parole when he is 85. And he is an arbitrator within the family when things go wrong., Steven started to cry. 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. The jury was left with one noticeable absence from the list of witnesses. Some who knew him werent really surprised. By the time the closing statements were presented, the evidence was clear, Bennett said. Defense lawyer Mike McDonnell, who represented Benson along with attorney Jerry Berry, said it was one of the first trials to have televised gavel-to-gavel coverage.. 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. But there were other debits. In prison records, Benson listed the oldest of his three children, twins Victoria and Christopher, as his next of kin. 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. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. ", 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. And Steven usually drove when we were together. 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. Before the day was over, according to newspaper accounts, Steven had asked for and received a loan of $20,000 from his grandfather. 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. 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. "Sharp force head trauma. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn. 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. 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. ", When they got back to Naples, Margaret told Steven she wanted to meet with him and Kerr that evening and "talk business." Joyce Quinn, Margaret Benson's quiet and polite young secretary who'd lasted but three months in the job before realizing there had to be saner employment, testified that Margaret "paid for everything for Scott" -- his cars (among them two Lotuses, a sports car that costs $45,000 to $50,000) his van, his Cigarette speedboat, his apartment and furniture, repairs, his tennis lessons, his clothes and his gas credit cards. She sat in the front row, not directly behind Steven, but on the other side -- in one of the seats reserved for the prosecution. When I see that, I pity people like that. Our prayers and thoughts are with the family and loved ones of Carol. Thats the whole thing: self, self, self and me, me, me and me. Kendall was injured in the car-bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret . ", Edward Benson died in 1980 at the age of 60, and his widow moved to Naples, Fla., a Gulf Coast enclave whose Chamber of Commerce boasts more millionaires per capita than any other U.S. city. I still get recognized, said Michael McDonnell, Bensons defense attorney, who at 74 still practices in Naples and Fort Myers. 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. 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. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. September 1, 1989. Murphys daughter, Brenda, was there that day. And trying to come to grips with the loss of her mother, with whom she had been close, at least from time to time, has been hard. 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. The problems, Sands says, were all Benson wanted to talk about during the visits. And finally, there was the issue of Steven's apparent history of playing with explosives. "), Near the end of his testimony, he said he had finally told Margaret Benson, "You have to stop being a bank for your children." The first thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, you know that. He thought that right away, Sands, now 81, remembered today. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. I dont think he believed he belonged in there.. How people were crooked. 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. She had retained Boston attorney E. Richard Cirace to advise her and represent her interests. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. Florida authorities have charged Steven Benson, Mrs. Kendall's 34-year-old natural brother, with setting the blast outside . Just sort of odd, very different.. I must think of a better word. Represented by attorney Michael McDonnell, Steven Benson was ultimately convicted of first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, and arson of a dwelling. When Benson refused to pay, Washington and another man, identified as Marvin Taylor, ambushed and shanked Benson. 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. He just stood there. 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. Dad was very religious, she said. 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. His second wife Debra was not in the courtroom, or even in Florida. An aerial shot of the home is shown in the background. It was full of surprises. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? Steven Benson is led into the Collier County jail complex on the day of his arrest in 1985. [9][10] Benson was in a long running feud with Cordell Washington, another inmate at the facility. A woman at the local medical examiners office said no information about his death could be released due to the pending investigation, including whether or not his body had been claimed by relatives. Her father, she says, was broken up by the entire affair. Another facet of the prosecutor's argument was that Steven had been very specific about where each one of the family's members was to sit in the wagon -- and then, just before the first blast, he said he had forgotten a tape measure and headed back to the house. ), 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. 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. Hes had no contact at all.. Also Read:Mustang used by Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt auctioned, Your email address will not be published. Privacy Policy Agreement * I agree to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy. The feud went back to at least 2012 after a series of assaults by Washington. He was sobbing.. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall came in to see her brother's jury be excused for the night. 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. It just never stopped, Cirace said. Scott tried to start the vehicle, she testified, "and immediately after that I was surrounded by this orange thing.". Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 42, of Brookline, Mass. 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. But showing little emotion after that. Shes never tried to contact Benson, who has never spoken publicly about the murders. He had been driving it all that time, he said. I have a strong feeling Steven Benson also knew, Cirace said. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Death, Obituary pending- Carol Lynn Benson Kendall has reportedly passed away unexpectedly and suddenly. She had hoped he would get the death penalty. doesn't have anything to do with my mother anymore.". After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. 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