That she was once a beauty contest winner is easy to see. Release Calendar Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. The Herald also reported that it was common knowledge among certain of Steven's childhood friends that he liked to make bombs. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. The first thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, you know that. He thought that right away, Sands, now 81, remembered today. Collier County's most notorious killer himself met with a violent end. Later he approved a partial distribution from Margaret Benson's estate. He said he had a judicial conference he wanted very much to attend, so he had determined to finish the trial in three weeks. I mean, I was scared of Scott . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Theyre all dead.. I dont think he believed he belonged in there.. 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. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. . He found Steven Benson inside his mothers house, talking on a telephone. 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. 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. The Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. 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. After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. Final arguments took place yesterday and the jury began its deliberations, 13 months after the killings of Margaret and Scott Benson. Benson, now 53, is serving two life sentences in a Florida prison for killing his mother and brother, and trying to kill his sister. "), Near the end of his testimony, he said he had finally told Margaret Benson, "You have to stop being a bank for your children." But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. She was afraid her brother would come after her and her children if he ever got free. The matricide was a huge point, she said. Carol Lynn Kendall testifies during the trial of her brother, Steven Benson, during his 1986 trial. 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.. 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. You could see a hateful heart in Steven then. McDonnell argued that palm print identification is not reliable. Attorneys representing Steven Benson, 36, and Margaret Bensons daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 43, said they both probably will appeal Mondays ruling. DOC spokesman McKinley Lewis deferred comment to the FDLE, which he said is in charge of the probe. Minutes later the Suburban erupted into flames. It was very weird. Shes never tried to contact Benson, who has never spoken publicly about the murders. I know it happened to me and my family, she says, but it seems so surreal.. Your email address will not be published. [9][10] Benson was in a long running feud with Cordell Washington, another inmate at the facility. 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. That seemed more important to him than his family lying all over the golf course.. It was full of surprises. 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, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Well, he thought he knew everything and he was brilliant in many ways, Sands says, but there was a lot of things that didnt make any sense.. Also Read:Mariannette Miller-Meeks : Role during Iowa elections. 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 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. Her father, she says, was broken up by the entire affair. [citation needed], Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice, "Killer Succession" (Season 1, Episode 3), "Inmate Population Information Detail - Steven Benson", "In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? Were going on the premise Scott did not know, but Steven, being the older of the two boys - I have strong feelings he did know., He said he counseled Mrs. Kendall to tell the truth about Scotts birth and answer any and all questions they ask, no matter how private or embarrassing.. Steven Benson denied all requests for media interviews. Hed always been sort of strange, she says. I walk into a restaurant and people say, Didnt you do the Benson case? 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. Its like the story that keeps on giving. ", The jowly and bespectacled witness testified that Steven's company books were a mess, with checkbook entries missing and no balance carried forward. 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. The problems, Sands says, were all Benson wanted to talk about during the visits. And there was lots of squabbling over who got what. 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. The explosion was so loud that golfers ran off the course to see what had happened. A maid testified that he was "the apple of his mother's eye." 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. ), After a brief rebuttal by the prosecution, Judge Hayes let the jury go. The Trustees set up a trust for Kendall, a trust for Stephen, and a share for Scott. 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. It was like . She is shown here in a photo shoot at. 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. Collier Circuit Judge Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday. 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. 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. Mail Address: Law Offices of Carol Lynn B Kendall, Esq 2719 Hollywood Blvd Ste 164 Hollywood, FL 33020-4821. Police later learned that Scott. And what Benson was doing was spending the money, lots of it, for all kinds of things, including a house in Fort Myers and a car. And so he appears very much alone. 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. Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? Moments later there was a loud explosion. He walked behind him and put his hand on his shoulder and he said, Steven Benson is a nice person. 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. 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. Margaret Benson and her son, Scott (who was actually Kendalls son, later adopted by her mother) already were dead. How people were crooked. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. The Lancaster tobacco heir was convicted after a monthlong trial that was carried on Florida television, drew national headlines and spurred books and intense media coverage both here and in Florida. For years, she had paid for the lessons and the coaches and the trips, not to mention his 16 tennis racquets. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. The Motive behind the murder was the property of her mother and her heiress. 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. 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. There was none. On Monday, the state produced a witness whose testimony left a strong impression on those spectators who had seen the trial from the beginning. He said that "initially" he thought it was just sloppy bookkeeping. He was tall and thin and looked intellectual. Nor was he surprised when prosecutors said Benson had murdered his mother and sister to get at the familys fortune. The thing that stuck out in my mind was, wow, how easy this is to see what the money did. Also Read : . Patty Bennett was a nervous mother of two boys sitting in a jury box when the defense gave its opening statement about Steven Benson. It is said that she has taken their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town. She, not being blinded by the forces of sexuality, very quickly perceived the true character of Tracy Mullins and was very much opposed to my seeing her. Only Carol Lynn Benson survived in this tragic blast. Something is wrong with Daddy. I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, Sands says. Even though her grandfather and her aunt opposed Steven's release on bail, she apparently still fights the conclusion that Steven did it. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay . Within this circle, there was lots of money. That she is now horribly scarred is obvious; large red subdermal slashes streak her face. To Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, this question is, in a sense, peripheral. But everyone agreed that she had done so well, it might be unwise to risk a second appearance. My relationship with Tracy was always a very turbulent one. 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. 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. Puncture wound of right temple made by a sharpened instrument ('shank')," the report states. He will be eligible for parole when he is 85. 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. Steven was paid $244,974.39 so he could pay his legal fees. His face got really red. You can add or change photos at IMDb Pro. He said, Thats how Margaret died. Murphys father, Harry Hitchcock, was fine. Required fields are marked *. ", 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. [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. He became known for writing grievances against both inmates and correctional officers, complaining about anything from the amount of sales tax charged at commissary to the Spanish programs playing in the television room. I still get recognized, said Michael McDonnell, Bensons defense attorney, who at 74 still practices in Naples and Fort Myers. 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