Amos Sands of West Donegal Township remembers the day 20 years ago today as well. He just stood there. 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. Steven Benson is led into the Collier County jail complex on the day of his arrest in 1985. 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 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. 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. 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. Margaret Benson Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Disbarred . 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. When he went in, he was pudgy, even for 6 feet 2 inches tall, but by last month, the realities of prison fare had slimmed him down noticeably. Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. She had retained Boston attorney E. Richard Cirace to advise her and represent her interests. Thats the way Steve was.. And so he appears very much alone. Most recently, he was assigned as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties. 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. Behind bars, Benson has worked in the laundry and on a painting detail. He was the last person to drive the SUV. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a September 22 court order. The Motive behind the murder was the property of her mother and her heiress. McDonnell closed with a string of witnesses, most of them prisoners, who testified as to Scott Benson's less than sterling character, arguing that this indicated Scott had been the target, and that Margaret and Carol Lynn were unlucky enough to be along for the ride. 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. 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. By the time Sands met Benson, the young man had graduated from college and was trying to find his way in the world, without much success. [9][10] Benson was in a long running feud with Cordell Washington, another inmate at the facility. There was a local uproar over the thought that the public would be paying his bills, and in mid-January the judge reversed himself. Later he approved a partial distribution from Margaret Benson's estate. Lets go with disastrous hate. ", The jowly and bespectacled witness testified that Steven's company books were a mess, with checkbook entries missing and no balance carried forward. I heard a lot of cursing and swearing.. She is shown here in a photo shoot at Lancaster Country Club in 1974, more than a decade before the incident. In the second half of 2015, there were close to 200 inmate deaths in Florida's prisons. By July 8, the day before the bombing, Margaret had learned of Steven's new house in Fort Myers, according to testimony. 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. That she is now horribly scarred is obvious; large red subdermal slashes streak her face. He doesnt know for sure why Benson has stuck with the public, and with him, all these years. Reached Friday about her brothers death, she said, I really have no comment.. I couldnt get through to him spiritually., Im no psychologist, Sands adds, but he lives in denial. 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 . emains listed on the DOC website as an open investigation led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. 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. 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. 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. Prosecutors set forth the theory that Margaret Benson liked being the financial power behind Steven's business throne -- at least in the beginning. But Kendall, who was injured. 3600 New York Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002, Biden migrant surge sets all-time record for most arrests at southern border, With its social media biz under siege, Facebook looks to build a new metaverse empire, Youngkin goes solo, McAuliffe leans on surrogates in home stretch of Va. governors race. I dont think he believed he belonged in there.. Toxicology tests showed no drugs in Benson's system, the report states. Related story: Naples pipe bomb killer Steven Benson dies in prison. Young said, I knew he did it immediately.. 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. When he returned, they said, he prepared to join his family to look at a piece of land his mother had bought. Benson was convicted of killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister with a car-bomb on July 9, 1985. Simpson trial before the O.J. 20 years later, friends and family still try to make sense of Benson murders: 'It still seems unreal', By opting into newsletters you are agreeing to our. Margaret Benson and her adopted son, Scott, were killed in the 1985 blast at their Naples home. No mental problems, he was just evil., The case garnered national attention, and four authors later wrote books about it. Debra divorced Steven shortly after his August 22, 1985, arrest. She hardly looked at her brother, but when she testified about Scott Benson, she called him "my son. Its been decades since his trial attracted attention, though TV specials still pop up on cable channels from time to time. He just kept a straight face.. . (AP Photo). He got stabbed, and a knife was found in his own cell. He didnt say anything after prison. 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. Bensons wife never attended the trial. He just looked at me. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He. And she also contradicted the wake testimony regarding bombs. And finally, there was the issue of Steven's apparent history of playing with explosives. The siblings did not return phone messages Friday. Hitchcocks daughter, Margaret, it turned out, was not really the mother of Scott Benson. "Sharp force head trauma. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. McDonnell did not call Steven Benson in his own defense. 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. Im 91 now, Sands said when reached by phone Friday. 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. Only Carol Lynn Benson survived in this tragic blast. Electronics. It wasnt very long at all. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, testifies about the explosion and injuries she sustained. 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. 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. Murphy herself doesnt have those feelings toward her nephew. I have a strong feeling Steven Benson also knew, Cirace said. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a Sept. 22 court order. In a rare moment of emotion during his trial, Steven Benson cries 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. The bombing took place July 9, 1985 in the Quail Creek community. In addition, the Benson Family murder case was the subject of The Serpent's Tooth, a 1987 book by Christopher Andersen. Oh no, she thought. View our. 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. While she was being helped by the golfer, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's brother Steven stood and watched the carnage. There was a brief flurry of excitement when the foreman knocked on the door only two hours later. The thing that stuck out in my mind was, wow, how easy this is to see what the money did. It looks like we don't have any photos for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall yet. It just never stopped, Cirace said. There was an error processing your request. Not at her mother's house in Naples, for that has been sold, but behind several closed doors in the state's attorney's offices. He is a good son. 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. She also said that Steven was gone so long for coffee that she kidded he "could have gone all the way to 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. "), Near the end of his testimony, he said he had finally told Margaret Benson, "You have to stop being a bank for your children." After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. Thats how Margaret died. I never saw him cry as much as he did with the Challenger. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay restitution of $1,075 to one client. 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. 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 attorney said, I want you to meet Steven Benson, she recalled. 'Money is the last thing that's even on my mind.'. US fails miserably against Russia at the crucial UN Vote. He wanted his own way and he was going to get it one way or another, he says. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. . Justice is justice," he said. The Miami Herald gave the following account of a groundskeeper who worked on Margaret Benson's Pennsylvania estate: He recalled that one day in 1982 he looked down from his ladder to see Steven carrying three copper tubes with wires protruding from them. A month later, the Naples police arrested Steven Benson and charged him with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder. David Ahntholz/Staff (Photo: David Ahntholz .da-), Ajuror compares a police artist's sketch of the man who bought pipe at Hughes Supply to a mug shot of Steven Benson. He was supposed to provide them the next day, the day the bomb went off.. It all came back to him.. It r An autopsy report obtained by the Naples Daily News indicates the cause of death was a stab to the right temple. He told the attorneys he did not want them standing up and shouting, "I object." Naples killer Steven Benson who sought $10 million family fortune dies in jail with $30 to his name, Naples pipe bomb killer Steven Benson dies in prison. Born on Christmas Day 1963 in a Baltimore hospital to Carol Lynn Benson, then an unmarried teen-ager, he was adopted by Margaret and Edward Benson. . His sister, Carol Lynn, was badly burned in the blast but survived. She sat in the front row, not directly behind Steven, but on the other side -- in one of the seats reserved for the prosecution. 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. Attorney (s) appearing for the Case Young also remembers the day they arrested Benson: Aug. 22, 1985. [5] He avoided the death penalty, and was sentenced to two life terms in prison. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay . Real estate. Some who knew him werent really surprised. 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. This orange thing was all around me. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. 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. Lending her emotional support was her grandfather, Harry Hitchcock, who had made a dramatic appearance in the courtroom at 8:25 a.m. and stayed the entire day. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. Trending. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. The mangled Benson family 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. Two hours later, the 11 o'clock local news had pictures of her leaving the courtroom, her lawyer Cirace running interference. Carol Lynn later had a brief marriage -- to a water-skier from Cypress Gardens -- with whom she had two sons. https://insideeko.com/carol-lynn-benson-kendall-obituary-d/ insideeko.com 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. Attorneys representing Steven Benson, 36, and Margaret Benson's daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 43, said they both probably will appeal Monday's ruling. Mrs. Kendalls attorney, E. Richard Cirace of Boston, confirmed the report. ", 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. (Photo: File), Cameraman Al Durruthy records video footage of a Chevrolet Suburban outside the home of Mary Quinn, Wednesday afternoon (June 4), in the Quail Creek Estates in North Naples. TV show Monday features Benson family murders, one of Naples' notorious crimes, Lighthouse Project - History: Murderers, moonshiners, swindlers lead rogues gallery of SW Florida crooks, Naples pipe bomb killer Steven Benson dies in prison. It was obvious he was spending his mothers money on himself and his family, Brock said. 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. Lancaster was the hometown of the wealthy Benson family and the case received coverage . By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Sands said he was only allowed to speak with Steven Benson for a couple of minutes because he wasnt family. When Benson refused to pay, Washington and another man, identified as Marvin Taylor, ambushed and shanked Benson. Even though her grandfather and her aunt opposed Steven's release on bail, she apparently still fights the conclusion that Steven did it. The Herald also reported that it was common knowledge among certain of Steven's childhood friends that he liked to make bombs. I guess he didnt want him to go to hell.. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. 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. Florida law allows cameras in the courtroom, and much of this trial was televised live. To that end, he held court one day from 8:30 in the morning, his usual opening time, to 10 that night. 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