is carol lynn benson kendall still alive

Carol Lynn Benson Kendall came in to see her brother's jury be excused for the night. Investigators also found on Bensons pants a single particle of zinc, which they said fell off the pipe while he was making the bombs. September 1, 1989. Cirace said the rumors were never confirmed until Steven Bensons lawyers questioned Mrs. Kendall about it, to test her credibility. I did most of the talking.. . But Kendall, who was injured. All but 30 remain open investigations. But there were other debits. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. His second wife Debra was not in the courtroom, or even in Florida. He is a good son. The murder of Margaret and Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen before and rarely since to Naples. Your email address will not be published. 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. Nobody else had time to put a bomb in there, Young said. 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. 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. Trending. Carol 's cause of death is unknown to us at this time. She is shown here in a . I just cant imagine. Mrs. Benson was 63 when she died in the blast. 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. When I see that, I pity people like that. The case still resonates three decades later. Nervously at first, but then more calmly, she testified in response to the prosecutor's questions. Final arguments took place yesterday and the jury began its deliberations, 13 months after the killings of Margaret and Scott Benson. Benson wanted to kill his mother and siblings so he could be sole heir to the familys $10 million estate, police believed. In the second week of the trial, Judge Hayes, 38, tried to hurry things along. Many members of the family have disappeared from public view in the past 20 years. "I couldn't understand why he wasn't coming over to help me," she testified to a packed but dead silent courtroom. Steven Benson and his wife, Debra, leave funeral services for his mother and brother, Margaret and Scott Benson, at St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster in 1985. It wasn't the prison pallor that surprised people who had known him; it was the grim and almost affectless bearing. 'My brother has been convicted of murdering my family,' Kendall said. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup. 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. Police later learned that Scott. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. Last Known Contact Information. McDonnell did succeed in keeping the jury from hearing the testimony of the groundskeeper who had said he had seen Steven playing with a remote-control bomb device in Pennsylvania, but he was not able to stop a former employe from telling the jury that at the wake, Steven mentioned to a small group that he had "made bombs as a kid.". The Money. Minutes later the Suburban erupted into flames. Once these equal trusts were created, the children of the settlor would receive a net income over their lifetime and an amount equal to 2% of the capital, which would be determined at the time of the establishment of the individual trusts on a quarterly basis. She also said that Steven was gone so long for coffee that she kidded he "could have gone all the way to Fort Myers. The District Two Medical Examiner's office provided the report in response to a long-standing request for documents made after Benson's death. Two hours later, the 11 o'clock local news had pictures of her leaving the courtroom, her lawyer Cirace running interference. Sands said he was only allowed to speak with Steven Benson for a couple of minutes because he wasnt family. 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. Bensons aunt, Murphy, recalls him as being different as well. * 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. He just wouldnt respond to it, Sands says. 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. Thats the way Steve was.. Its been decades since his trial attracted attention, though TV specials still pop up on cable channels from time to time. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. How it wasnt run correctly. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. He was the last person to drive the SUV. His face got really red. malevolent." . The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, testifies about the explosion and injuries she sustained. Kendall was retained by clients in two separate cases but failed to adequately represent them. (AP Photo). 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. . Carol Lynn Kendall unsuccessfully ran for a Naples City Council seat while living in Port . They were obliterated when a pipe bomb the size of a football planted between the two front seats exploded. My relationship with Tracy was always a very turbulent one. Inmates told investigators that Washington planned to extort $1,000 from Benson within days after arriving at Taylor Correctional Institution. 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. I must think of a better word. I walk into a restaurant and people say, Didnt you do the Benson case? Young said they talked about Mothers Day, and how sad it would be to not have his mother around on that day. Prosecutors said it showed that while Carol Lynn owed her mother $118,560.33, Steven's IOU was $268,163.89. When Benson refused to pay, Washington and another man, identified as Marvin Taylor, ambushed and shanked Benson. It was her sister, Margaret, 63, and her nephew, Scott, 21, who had died in a horrific car explosion in Florida. "Sharp force head trauma. https://insideeko.com/carol-lynn-benson-kendall-obituary-d/ insideeko.com '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.'. 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 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. 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. Murphy does not know whether the couple, who had three children, later divorced. 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. Its still fresh in my memory, he said. As for Carol Lynn, she too waited in Florida for the verdict. Steven Benson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2, and prosecutors have asked for a life sentence. 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." McDonnell did not call Steven Benson in his own defense. Collier Circuit Judge Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday. The three children were to divide the estate equally. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay restitution of $1,075 to one client. The Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. Nor was he surprised when prosecutors said Benson had murdered his mother and sister to get at the familys fortune. Attorneys, an investigator and a juror have never forgotten what Steven Benson did, and how it affected their lives in the years since he was convicted of killing his family in Naples, Florida. Her daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, was injured. He had been driving it all that time, he said. Did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation? Here, prosecuting attorney Jerry Brock addresses members of the media outside the Florida courtroom where the case took place. Though police initially called the blast, caused by two pipe bombs, a big mystery, it didnt take them long to zero on one suspect: Steven Benson. There was none. Simpson trial before the O.J. There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. . My memorys getting pretty hazy. Toxicology tests showed no drugs in Benson's system, the report states. Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. 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. 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. She cannot believe that two decades have passed since the day that two family members were killed and her familys life was changed forever. Scott Benson, who was originally thought to be Steven Benson's brother but was revealed during the trial to be his nephew, was killed at the age of 21 on July 9, 1985, in front of his Naples, Fla., home by the car bomb that also took the life of his grandmother, Margaret Benson, who was 63 at the time, and injured his mother, Carol Lynn Kendall. Bar Number: 555258. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. The police were called and he was held for five days. Hitchcocks daughter, Margaret, it turned out, was not really the mother of Scott Benson. Other testimony revealed another regular expenditure. Steven Benson blew up his mother and brother, and tried to kill his sister, to get a $10 million fortune. Beyond that, Young had little to say. . The first thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, you know that. He thought that right away, Sands, now 81, remembered today. 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. 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. She wanted an accounting and, if it had to be, a confrontation with Steven. Yesterday, a jury began deliberations on those charges after weeks of riveting testimony involving enormous amounts of money and a tangled family web. He worked in the laundry. He just looked at me. Amos Sands of West Donegal Township remembers the day 20 years ago today as well. Just sort of odd, very different.. Once, Benson wanted his mother to loan him the down payment for a factory building in Lancaster. Margaret Benson eventually loaned her son the money but he never did anything with the building, Sands says. For his work, the man who once stood to gain millions received no compensation, prison officials said. He got stabbed, and a knife was found in his own cell. 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. Steven Benson is serving two life sentences at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Fla. [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. There was an error processing your request. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay . It was the O.J. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. It is said that she has taken their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town. 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. Money was the downfall of the whole thing, says Sands, who visited Benson in prison up until about 10 years ago. 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. He knew how to make tube bombs and fiddled with explosives. If they had objections they were to say, quietly, "May we approach the bench?" It continued to prosper, and eventually both families had what some people call "real money," and what others disdain as "nouveau. Thats how Margaret died. I never saw him cry as much as he did with the Challenger. FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) _ The estate of murdered tobacco heiress Margaret Benson should be shared equally by the children of the son who killed her and by her daughter, a judge has ruled. 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. Indeed, Margaret Benson did change her will, but in a terribly ironic touch, the only change was to cut out Wayne Kerr as executor. 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. Florida authorities have charged Steven Benson, Mrs. Kendall's 34-year-old natural brother, with setting the blast outside . The family and everybody just treated his grandmother as Scotts mother, the attorney said. Hitchcock died in 1990, five years after the Florida killings. He was always doing things but never getting anything accomplished, Sands recalls. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. 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. 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. 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. Maybe it was the money, the power and the greed, they say. The matricide was a huge point, she said. 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