But that same day, local attorney Guion DeLoach showed up with a second and more recent will, one that Margaret Benson had him draw up and that she signed Jan. 29, 1985. "), Near the end of his testimony, he said he had finally told Margaret Benson, "You have to stop being a bank for your children." Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. [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. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay . 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. The feud went back to at least 2012 after a series of assaults by Washington. Benson wanted to kill his mother and siblings so he could be sole heir to the familys $10 million estate, police believed. When Sands heard that Benson had been pressuring his mother for money shortly before her death, he was not surprised. He had been driving it all that time, he said. he asked. 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. Kendall was retained by clients in two separate cases but failed to adequately represent them. 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. By July 8, the day before the bombing, Margaret had learned of Steven's new house in Fort Myers, according to testimony. He walked behind him and put his hand on his shoulder and he said, Steven Benson is a nice person. Carol Lynn Kendall unsuccessfully ran for a Naples City Council seat while living in Port . Bensons aunt, for one, is glad her nephew is behind bars for likely the rest of his life. Behind bars, Benson has worked in the laundry and on a painting detail. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? 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. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. 'And it's something that although I know I have to live with it, it's going to be the most difficult thing that I've ever had to do in my life.'. Murphys nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to escape the fiery blast that day. . Then you had Scott as an aspiring tennis player, but ordering nitrous oxide to be delivered to the house like some people get milk, he said, so he could carry on with his girlfriend, who was a stripper.. 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. Scott ran with a rough crowd, and was known to get rough with both Margaret and Carol Lynn. He. Young had several reasons to suspect Benson. On July 11, two days after Margaret and Scott Benson were killed, Wayne Kerr, the lawyer from Philadelphia, filed a 1983 will that named him executor of the estate. The star of the show by far was Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. After Harry Hitchcock had health problems in the late 1950s, Edward ran the company for him. Also Read:Mariannette Miller-Meeks : Role during Iowa elections. and never miss an insightful take by the TFIGlobal team, This website uses cookies. The motive was money. (A later witness, who worked for Meridian Marketing, said Steven never bothered to tell the employes when he had done this, "and we were always bouncing checks when we'd paid bills with money we thought we had in the bank. Toxicology tests showed no drugs in Benson's system, the report states. Beyond that, Young had little to say. Steven was paid $244,974.39 so he could pay his legal fees. (AP Photo) (Photo: Anonymous). 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 sister, Carol Lynn, was badly burned in the blast but survived. Steven Benson is serving two life sentences at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Fla. He was just not your usual teenager. 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. He just wouldnt respond to it, Sands says. That she is now horribly scarred is obvious; large red subdermal slashes streak her face. It continued to prosper, and eventually both families had what some people call "real money," and what others disdain as "nouveau. I think it was the dumbest murder I ever solved that had been planned. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. . 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. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. 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. The case still resonates three decades later. 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. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. Some who knew him werent really surprised. 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. But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. Albert Gleason, a federal explosives expert, testifies about the pipe-bomb Steven Benson used to kill his family members on July 9, 1985, in front of their Naples, Fla., home. Attorney (s) appearing for the Case 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. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. An aerial shot of the home is shown in the background. "Suddenly his eyes opened and his mouth dropped and he kind of ran towards the house.". Her father, she says, was broken up by the entire affair. Her niece, Kendall, also has stayed out of the limelight. By the time the closing statements were presented, the evidence was clear, Bennett said. In August 1986, Margaret Bensons son, Steven Wayne Benson, was convicted in the slaying of his mother and her adopted son, Scott R. Benson, 21. She thought he had been embezzling family funds and had called her attorney to check into it. . Twelve and a half hours later, almost to the minute, Harry Hitchcock's granddaughter made an equally dramatic, if brief, appearance in the courtroom. 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. "How long does it take to say a guy was stabbed in the temple?" ), After a brief rebuttal by the prosecution, Judge Hayes let the jury go. Benson crying on the first day of his trial. Before the day was over, according to newspaper accounts, Steven had asked for and received a loan of $20,000 from his grandfather. 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. Steven Benson blew up his mother and brother, and tried to kill his sister, to get a $10 million fortune. I can see what money can do when people get so tied up in self, he says. . And so he appears very much alone. 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. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. [5] He avoided the death penalty, and was sentenced to two life terms in prison. She, of course, was referring to Margaret. The Chevrolet Suburban was blown all to bits and pieces, with a body lying out on each side.. 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. 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." You can also browse other available content for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on IMDb such as filmography, trivia, personal details, etc. McDonnell did not call Steven Benson in his own defense. My relationship with Tracy was always a very turbulent one. His second wife Debra was not in the courtroom, or even in Florida. Privacy Policy Agreement * I agree to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. That's a negative as far as the jury is concerned. Another daily attendee was a lawyer representing the trust funds left by Harry Hitchcock's late wife. Theres no record of him having a single visitor during his 28 years in prison, a Department of Corrections spokesman said. (One witness, Scott's psychiatrist, testified that the young man had a serious nitrous oxide habit, which had started when he'd go to the supermarket and sniff Reddi-Whip cans. Murphy said her father sent Sands as a gesture of goodwill. Even though her grandfather and her aunt opposed Steven's release on bail, she apparently still fights the conclusion that Steven did it. As for Carol Lynn, she too waited in Florida for the verdict. Margarets blood was still all over the side of his van. Release Calendar Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. Scott was an aspiring tennis professional, but apparently the aspirations were Margaret's rather than his. [12], Dominick Dunne's investigative crime show Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice devoted an hour for the case of Steven Benson. Get so tied up in self, he said was badly burned in the background, Edward the... 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