After her testimony, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was nowhere to be seen. Benson crying on the first day of his trial. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. He was going to turn it into an apartment house. I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. 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. 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. Trending. Carol Lynn Kendall unsuccessfully ran for a Naples City Council seat while living in Port . 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. The Lancaster Township woman was playing golf on a July day at the Lancaster Country Club when she was asked to come in off the course. You could see a hateful heart in Steven then. Also Read : . 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. She hardly looked at her brother, but when she testified about Scott Benson, she called him "my son. Dysfunction, said Patty Bennett, a juror on the case, trying to describe the Benson family. malevolent." And he complained. How people were crooked. A maid testified that he was "the apple of his mother's eye." Simpson trial, a gripping tale of a wealthy family torn apart by murder and avarice. Also in the car were her two children, 21-year-old Scott, who died, and 41-year-old Carol Lynn, who was badly injured but survived. Steven's defense case, which lasted from Saturday, July 26, to last Monday, was marred by fights over the late introduction of witnesses (at one point Judge Hayes told the defense that such a practice was "just damn bush") and frequent bench conferences that resulted in the jury's being excused for the day. The family and everybody just treated his grandmother as Scotts mother, the attorney said. I must think of a better word. Also on the public record is a 3-year-old paternity suit filed by Scott's former live-in girl. [citation needed] The case was featured in Great Crimes and Trials and Infamous Murders. 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. Murphys daughter, Brenda, was there that day. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. In the second half of 2015, there were close to 200 inmate deaths in Florida's prisons. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. For his work, the man who once stood to gain millions received no compensation, prison officials said. 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. Cirace said the rumors were never confirmed until Steven Bensons lawyers questioned Mrs. Kendall about it, to test her credibility. He found Steven Benson inside his mothers house, talking on a telephone. The thing that stuck out in my mind was, wow, how easy this is to see what the money did. He walked behind him and put his hand on his shoulder and he said, Steven Benson is a nice person. She sat in the front row, not directly behind Steven, but on the other side -- in one of the seats reserved for the prosecution. 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. "I don't really know how to comment on it. 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. Daddy. Young also remembers the day they arrested Benson: Aug. 22, 1985. He cried so much, she says. . . The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn. The 63-year-old Pennsylvania tobacco heiress died when two pipe bombs ripped apart her car apart on July 9, 1985, in front of her North Naples home. 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 siblings did not return phone messages Friday. The bills were sent to and paid for by Margaret. That trip, which should have taken about 10 minutes, took more than an hour, according to Carol Lynn's testimony, and 20 to 30 minutes according to Steven's statements to investigators. He turned to the television cameras and delivered a stern warning to the "youth of Southwest florida" about the dangers of laughing gas. Did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation? The matricide was a huge point, she said. The Herald also reported that it was common knowledge among certain of Steven's childhood friends that he liked to make bombs. He just looked at me. 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. Margaret Benson and her adopted son, Scott, were killed in the 1985 blast at their Naples home. 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. On July 9, 1985 Benson placed a car bomb on the family car, in which Margaret, Scott, and Steven's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, (a former Miss Florida runner-up) were waiting for Steven to join them in the vehicle when the Suburban exploded. 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. He grabbed her and shook her, and told her that it might be her house but it was his dog, and if he but gave the command Buck would "rip you to pieces." Inmates told investigators that Washington planned to extort $1,000 from Benson within days after arriving at Taylor Correctional Institution. Hed claimed he had no money to pay his attorneys, so he claimed indigency -- and Judge Hayes approved the claim. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. Something is wrong with Daddy. I think it was the dumbest murder I ever solved that had been planned. But a witness for the defense, Steven's secretary, testifed Steven never left the office during the times when the pipe and end caps were purchased. Last Known Contact Information. The 12 members of the jury listen to arguments in the Florida courtroom where they convicted Steven Benson in 1986 of blowing up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Naples, Fla., home on July 9, 1985. 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. She is shown here in a photo shoot at. He returned and got everyone into the Suburban and then went back into the house to retrieve a tape measure. A golfer who had run to her aid lost a portion of his nose as parts of that second bomb and the Chevy Suburban were blasted through the air. * The prosecution's key evidence, along with the testimony of Steven's sister, were palm prints on sales receipts for pipe identical to that used in the bombs, as well as end caps. 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. However, according to a veteran Florida criminal attorney, "any time in a murder case when a defendant without a prior record fails to take the stand, it looks bad. 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. He was always doing things but never getting anything accomplished, Sands recalls. FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the agency had no updated information as of Friday afternoon. I know it happened to me and my family, she says, but it seems so surreal.. In addition, the Benson Family murder case was the subject of The Serpent's Tooth, a 1987 book by Christopher Andersen. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. 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. Bar Number: 555258. 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. Benson, now 53, is serving two life sentences in a Florida prison for killing his mother and brother, and trying to kill his sister. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The three children were to divide the estate equally. 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. Those involved with the case say they are surprised at how it still resonates in peoples minds, and their own lives. He was calm as a cucumber, he said. 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. 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. Steven Benson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2, and prosecutors have asked for a life sentence. . Also Read:Mustang used by Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt auctioned, Your email address will not be published. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC.
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