To that end, he held court one day from 8:30 in the morning, his usual opening time, to 10 that night. Margaret and Scott died instantly, and Caroline was rushed to the hospital with severe burns. '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.'. Most recently, he was assigned as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties. . How it wasnt run correctly. Oh no, she thought. The Money. The siblings did not return phone messages Friday. Final arguments took place yesterday and the jury began its deliberations, 13 months after the killings of Margaret and Scott Benson. 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. After her testimony, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was nowhere to be seen. Lets go with disastrous hate. Attorney (s) appearing for the Case 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. . 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. Justice is justice," he said. 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. 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." That's a negative as far as the jury is concerned. Here, prosecuting attorney Jerry Brock addresses members of the media outside the Florida courtroom where the case took place. All but 30 remain open investigations. Steven Benson, convicted in 1986 of murdering his mother and adopted brother, died in July at Taylor Correctional Institution in northern Florida. The Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. It seemed like a dumb thing." He just wouldnt respond to it, Sands says. 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. He was very congenial, very eager to talk, Sands recalls. September 1, 1989. Benson wasnt much more popular in the penitentiary: At one point, he was stabbed by another prisoner and had to be transferred to a different facility for his own safety. Nothing was heard from him at all during the trial, she said. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a September 22 court order. Kendall was injured in the car-bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret . I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. He seldom looked at Steven.The defendant watched his grandfather enter the courtroom, but after that he never looked at 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. 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. Just sort of odd, very different.. 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. Margaret Benson Im hot! from the burning car. Florida authorities have charged Steven Benson, Mrs. Kendalls 34-year-old natural brother, with setting the blast outside the familys Naples, Fla., home because he believed he was about to be cut out of his mothers will. The star of the show by far was Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. I still get recognized, said Michael McDonnell, Bensons defense attorney, who at 74 still practices in Naples and Fort Myers. 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. This orange thing was all around me. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. She is shown here in a . Steven Benson was taken into police custody on August 22, 1985, after being accused of blowing up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Naples, Fla., home on July 9 of the same year. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling in 1986, and he spent the rest of his life in jail. I guess he didnt want him to go to hell.. Daddy. Harold Young, the lead Collier County sheriff's detective who pegged Benson as his primary suspect the day of the killings, said he is more surprised by the length of the investigation than the way Benson died. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. Through taxes, disbursements and attorneys fees, the estate has dwindled from $10 million to about $1.2 million, said Carl Westman, the estates attorney. The Prosecution. I thought I was being electrocuted. The blast blew apart the Benson familys Chevrolet Suburban sometime between 9:17 and 9:20 a.m. on July 9, 1985, in the driveway of Margaret Bensons home, just off a golf course in an exclusive Naples, Fla., community. He returned and got everyone into the Suburban and then went back into the house to retrieve a tape measure. 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. 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. He parked it and positioned his family in it. Except for that last-minute surprise appearance, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall had spent the day out of sight, with her lawyer and the lawyer for her mother's estate. You could see a hateful heart in Steven then. 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. There was an error processing your request. Thats the whole thing: self, self, self and me, me, me and me. Steven Wayne Benson[1] (July 26, 1951 July 3, 2015) was an American convicted double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson; and his brother (actually his nephew but later adopted), tennis player Scott Benson. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC 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. He spent a lot of money and never did anything with it. 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. -- Scott Benson's natural mother and Margaret Benson's daughter -- got along better with her mother. Reached Friday about her brothers death, she said, I really have no comment.. Before the day was over, according to newspaper accounts, Steven had asked for and received a loan of $20,000 from his grandfather. She was afraid her brother would come after her and her children if he ever got free. He had very few visitors. He thought he was better than everybody else.. 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.. [6][7] Over the course of his sentence, Benson was transferred to various prisons because of constant threats and abuse from other inmates. Steven Benson's palm print was one of the major points in the prosecution's case against him, a case that ultimately convinced a jury to convict him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling in the killing of his mother and nephew and injuring of his sister with car-bomb in front of their Naples, Fla., home. Attorneys representing Steven Benson, 36, and Margaret Bensons daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 43, said they both probably will appeal Mondays ruling. [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. [2] (Margaret Hitchcock Benson was heiress of the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co., Lancaster, Pa., and had no connection with Benson & Hedges brand cigarettes manufactured in the US by Philip Morris.) Margaret, Scott, and Stevens sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, were waiting for Benson to join them in the family car on July 9, 1985, when the Chevrolet Suburban exploded. At this time, I was not convinced he could really murder his mother and his adopted brother and sister, said the Fort Myers resident, now 68. 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. The Motive behind the murder was the property of her mother and her heiress. Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. But there is no doubt that he had a rough crowd of friends -- the defense called several occupants of the Naples jail to testify about Scott and his various habits, in the hope that this possible alternative theory would raise a reasonable doubt as to whether Steven is guilty. Bar Number: 555258. doesn't have anything to do with my mother anymore.". (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay restitution of $1,075 to one client. Also on the public record is a 3-year-old paternity suit filed by Scott's former live-in girl. You know, he wouldnt say yes or no or nothing. While she was being helped by the golfer, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's brother Steven stood and watched the carnage. After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. [5] He avoided the death penalty, and was sentenced to two life terms in prison. And he complained. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. During a deposition taken by Bensons attorneys in Florida on Sept. 20, Mrs. Kendall, 40, said she was an unmarried teen-ager when she became pregnant, The Boston Herald reported today. And Steven usually drove when we were together. In addition, the Benson Family murder case was the subject of The Serpent's Tooth, a 1987 book by Christopher Andersen. 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. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn. 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. (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. Thats how Margaret died. I never saw him cry as much as he did with the Challenger. He was always doing things but never getting anything accomplished, Sands recalls. 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