The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, testifies about the explosion and injuries she sustained. 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. Benson has had his share of problems behind bars. He was stabbed in the neck in 1991 by a prisoner who was later sent to a mental hospital. How people were crooked. There was a local uproar over the thought that the public would be paying his bills, and in mid-January the judge reversed himself. She, of course, was referring to Margaret. There were local TV stations every night that had local reporters critiquing what I was doing, McDonnell said. 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. 'Money is the last thing that's even on my mind.'. He just wouldnt respond to it, Sands says. A month later, the Naples police arrested Steven Benson and charged him with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder. And he put a lot of planning in it but never covered his tracks at all., Tom Schelling, whom the Benson family had on the payroll to do maintenance and construction around their many estates, said he has known Steven Benson since high school. On Aug. 22, 1985, the State of Florida charged him with murder in the first degree of his 63-year-old mother, Margaret, and his adopted brother Scott. "Sharp force head trauma. Justice is justice," he said. Carol Lynn testified that he arrived unusually early and insisted on taking the Chevy Suburban, rather than his own car, and first going by himself for coffee and doughnuts. He said Steven was laughing. FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the agency had no updated information as of Friday afternoon. All but 30 remain open investigations. . Benson was convicted of killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister with a car-bomb on July 9, 1985. You know, he wouldnt say yes or no or nothing. It r Most recently, he was assigned as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties. 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. But in reality she had been alone with her thoughts -- the memory of that "malevolent orange thing," and her recollection of the day she took the stand and referred, for the first time in public, and in front of all those strangers, to the late Scott Benson as "my son.". The star of the show by far was Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. PHOTOS: Looking back at the Benson murder trial, The Bensons: Lancaster family ripped apart by greed and murder 30 years ago, Danger and loneliness: Steven Benson's life in prison after he killed his family members, Notorious Lancaster County killer Steven Benson allegedly murdered in prison inmate's revenge scheme. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. Oh no, she thought. Once Benson was in custody, investigators questioned him until he invoked his right to call an attorney. Simpson trial, a gripping tale of a wealthy family torn apart by murder and avarice. Hitchcock died in 1990, five years after the Florida killings. Bar Number: 555258. Also Read:Mariannette Miller-Meeks : Role during Iowa elections. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District. I saw you on TV. You can also browse other available content for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on IMDb such as filmography, trivia, personal details, etc. He was the last person to drive the SUV. 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 asked. ", When they got back to Naples, Margaret told Steven she wanted to meet with him and Kerr that evening and "talk business." He went through money like crazy, Sands says. 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. A juror examines a photo of the 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. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. He complimented the jury for its "staying power," but that didn't stop him from holding court all day Saturday, too. Some who knew him werent really surprised. Margaret Benson and her adopted son, Scott, were killed in the 1985 blast at their Naples home. Just sort of odd, very different.. He got down from his ladder, and walked toward the tennis courts, where he found Steven holding what appeared to be a remote control device. 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. She is shown here in a photo shoot at. Benson's death was reported soon after it happened on July 3. His sister, Carol Lynn, was badly burned in the blast but survived. Steven Bensons late father didnt think he was capable of doing anything, Cirace said, an assessment that apparently was correct as Benson, who grew up and lived in Lancaster most of his life, left behind a series of failed business ventures. McDonnell argued that palm print identification is not reliable. His grandson never acknowledged him again, not even when he came to Florida for the trial. 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. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. At the age of 63, Margaret Benson, was killed by her son, Steven Benson, with a car bomb that also took the life of her her grandson, Scott Benson, and injured her daughter, Carol Lynn Kendall, on July 9, 1985, in fron t of their Naples, Fla., home. Beyond that, Young had little to say. She cannot believe that two decades have passed since the day that two family members were killed and her familys life was changed forever. Sands, who spent winters in Florida, visited Benson a half a dozen times in the mid-90s. Eventually the second will was ruled valid, but before that happened, Steve Benson was arrested. Nothing was heard from him at all during the trial, she said. Carol 's cause of death is unknown to us at this time. He worked in the laundry. He. He is a good son. 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. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. emains listed on the DOC website as an open investigation led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He parked it and positioned his family in it. Kendall was retained by clients in two separate cases but failed to adequately represent them. 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. After her testimony, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was nowhere to be seen. Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. Represented by attorney Michael McDonnell, Steven Benson was ultimately convicted of first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, and arson of a dwelling. 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. 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. I knew she was scared of Scott, but that was a different situation. I did most of the talking.. The family and everybody just treated his grandmother as Scotts mother, the attorney said. That she was once a beauty contest winner is easy to see. Real estate. Did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation? [9][10] Benson was in a long running feud with Cordell Washington, another inmate at the facility. Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. He was very congenial, very eager to talk, Sands recalls. ", Once all was set, she testified, Steven handed Scott the keys, and then said he had forgotten something and headed back toward the house. Required fields are marked *. Benson, then 33, was running out of it and wanted to inherit his mother's. Thats the whole thing: self, self, self and me, me, me and me. She was not allowed to leave town, as there was the possibility that the state might put her back on the stand. 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. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. September 1, 1989. 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.. 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Disbarred . As trial testimony brought out, Steven had started yet another company, Meridian Marketing, which was located about 30 miles away in Fort Myers, where Steven had just bought a new (and very large) house. It wasnt discussed. Nor was he surprised when prosecutors said Benson had murdered his mother and sister to get at the familys fortune. In July 1985, 63-year-old Margaret and her 41-year-old daughter Caroline Benson Kendall, 33-year-old son Steven Benson and 21-year-old adopted son Scott Benson together Get in the car and leave to see a piece of land in the city, where Margaret plans to build another home for her family. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay . He is also charged with the attempted murder of his sister, Carol Lynn. He turned to the television cameras and delivered a stern warning to the "youth of Southwest florida" about the dangers of laughing gas. Its like the story that keeps on giving. Collier Judge Hugh Hayes presided over the trial. [8], Benson died at Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry, Florida of a stab wound to the right side of the head with a homemade knife on July 3, 2015. That seemed more important to him than his family lying all over the golf course.. In addition, the Benson Family murder case was the subject of The Serpent's Tooth, a 1987 book by Christopher Andersen. But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. It just never stopped, Cirace said. But she didn't know its size, and she didn't know that Steven had made the down payment with a blank check she had signed and left behind for household expenses while she was on a cruise. It also wanted to rehear some of what the government fingerprint expert had said about the palm prints. "I couldn't understand why he wasn't coming over to help me," she testified to a packed but dead silent courtroom. I have a strong feeling Steven Benson also knew, Cirace said. Hed claimed he had no money to pay his attorneys, so he claimed indigency -- and Judge Hayes approved the claim. File photo. An autopsy report obtained by the Naples Daily News indicates the cause of death was a stab to the right temple. ", Edward Benson died in 1980 at the age of 60, and his widow moved to Naples, Fla., a Gulf Coast enclave whose Chamber of Commerce boasts more millionaires per capita than any other U.S. city. Puncture wound of right temple made by a sharpened instrument ('shank')," the report states. She is shown here in a . Steven Benson, convicted in 1986 of murdering his mother and adopted brother, died in July at Taylor Correctional Institution in northern Florida. I mean, I was scared of Scott . Inmates told investigators that Washington planned to extort $1,000 from Benson within days after arriving at Taylor Correctional Institution. Stating that he could not give money to one of the children and not the other, Judge Hayes then awarded $244,000 to Carol Lynn Kendall, who also had legal bills. 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. Shocked by the attack, she says that since then, her siblings have been completely uninterested in her physical and emotional well-being. It all came back to him.. He told the attorneys he did not want them standing up and shouting, "I object." . Through taxes, disbursements and attorneys fees, the estate has dwindled from $10 million to about $1.2 million, said Carl Westman, the estates attorney. malevolent." Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. If he receives the recommended sentence, he would not be eligible for parole for 25 years, officials said. Her daughter, Kendall, was. But everyone agreed that she had done so well, it might be unwise to risk a second appearance. Hitchcocks daughter, Margaret, it turned out, was not really the mother of Scott Benson. Margaret Benson eventually loaned her son the money but he never did anything with the building, Sands says. Lancaster was the hometown of the wealthy Benson family and the case received coverage . It was full of surprises. 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. Lets go with disastrous hate. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. The problems, Sands says, were all Benson wanted to talk about during the visits. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. He had cautioned his new employes, according to testimony, not to let anyone in the offices of the Naples-based companies know the name of the company or what they did. In 1983, a fight with Margaret over the behavior of his bouvier des Flanders guard dog -- she'd let it in the house and it had wet on the expensive white carpet -- turned violent. 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. However, she continued to pamper him. Harry Hitchcock, second from right, patriarch of the Benson family and founder of the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co., with his daughter Janet Murphy in a hallway of the Florida courthouse during the trial their family member, Steven Benson. Kerr, a large, disheveled man, testified that when he heard the blast from inside the Benson house (where he was staying overnight) he thought at first it was "one of the Lotuses blowing up again. One youth remembered finding dry-cell batteries, wire and alligator clips in a closet and saying to himself, "Oh, this is Steve Benson's stuff . Prosecutors argued that Steven had engineered the whole idea of the early-morning trip to view the huge -- 17,000-square-foot -- residence his mother was building nearby in the same exclusive subdivision. 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. Maybe it was the money, the power and the greed, they say. [13] Carol Lynn Kendall unsuccessfully ran for a Naples City Council seat while living in Port . 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. Success! 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. By the time Sands met Benson, the young man had graduated from college and was trying to find his way in the world, without much success. When the police questioned him about the trip, he said he was delayed when he ran into some people he knew; but Steven was unable to provide the police with their names. Another facet of the prosecutor's argument was that Steven had been very specific about where each one of the family's members was to sit in the wagon -- and then, just before the first blast, he said he had forgotten a tape measure and headed back to the house. [4] . Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? The murder of Margaret and Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen before and rarely since to Naples. Murphy s nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to. He found Steven Benson inside his mothers house, talking on a telephone. Carl Westman, a Naples attorney named to represent Margaret Benson's estate, usually sat with Cirace. It continued to prosper, and eventually both families had what some people call "real money," and what others disdain as "nouveau. He had very few visitors. 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. 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. The jury was left with one noticeable absence from the list of witnesses. 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. Moments later there was a loud explosion. 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. He knew how to make tube bombs and fiddled with explosives. Her niece, Kendall, also has stayed out of the limelight. [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? I walk into a restaurant and people say, Didnt you do the Benson case? Its still fresh in my memory, he said. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. . 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. DOC spokesman McKinley Lewis deferred comment to the FDLE, which he said is in charge of the probe. Once, Benson wanted his mother to loan him the down payment for a factory building in Lancaster. There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. 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. How do we fathom in our heads that this boy plotted and schemed, and told them where to sit so he could do the most damage to the ones he hated the most?. Mrs. Benson was 63 when she died in the blast. 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. I remember when my sister had him here was this baby and then he ends up killing her. [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. Joyce Quinn, Margaret Benson's quiet and polite young secretary who'd lasted but three months in the job before realizing there had to be saner employment, testified that Margaret "paid for everything for Scott" -- his cars (among them two Lotuses, a sports car that costs $45,000 to $50,000) his van, his Cigarette speedboat, his apartment and furniture, repairs, his tennis lessons, his clothes and his gas credit cards. Benson is also featured in an episode of the New Detectives entitled "Short Fuse" (Season 2, Episode 3) and an episode of Florida Man Murders entitled "Killer Succession" (Season 1, Episode 3). 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. 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. Bensons aunt, Murphy, recalls him as being different as well. ", Carol Lynn told investigators, in a statement taken after she was released from the hospital where she had been treated for severe burns and had begun the long process of reconstructive surgery, that while her mother was scared of Scott, Margaret Benson felt that Steven was the only one who would actually harm her for her money: "She wouldn't put it past Steven to do away with her. Also Read:Mustang used by Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt auctioned, Your email address will not be published. Later he approved a partial distribution from Margaret Benson's estate. My memorys getting pretty hazy. It was the O.J. Bensons wife never attended the trial. Here, prosecuting attorney Jerry Brock addresses members of the media outside the Florida courtroom where the case took place. The jury convicted Benson on the first vote, she said. . The Herald also reported that it was common knowledge among certain of Steven's childhood friends that he liked to make bombs. And he complained. Then the bombs went off. Murphy declined to say where she now is living and says she does not see her regularly. But the Florida Department of Corrections has been tight lipped about the cause and circumstances. 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. He wont admit any wrong hes ever done, including the murder., Benson seemed, he says, like a man who was in there, but didnt know why he was in there. Moments later, a second bomb, this one planted in the rear of the vehicle, exploded. While she was being helped by the golfer, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's brother Steven stood and watched the carnage. 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. By the time the trial began, Steven Benson had been in jail for almost 11 months. I thought I was being electrocuted. She also said that Steven was gone so long for coffee that she kidded he "could have gone all the way to Fort Myers. 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. BOSTON -- Tobacco heiress Carol Lynn Benson Kendall said Wednesday she has no intention of cutting her brother's children out of the family fortune despite his conviction of murdering her mother and son. https://insideeko.com/carol-lynn-benson-kendall-obituary-d/ insideeko.com Even though her grandfather and her aunt opposed Steven's release on bail, she apparently still fights the conclusion that Steven did it. He cried so much, she says. But Kendall, who was injured. But by late 1984 and early 1985, they argue, she was coming to the conclusion that bankrolling Steven was something less than sound. Nobody else had time to put a bomb in there, Young said. Steven was paid $244,974.39 so he could pay his legal fees. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Bennett had heard of the financial battles that took place in the family, how Margaret Benson used money to control her children, how they fought each other and with her for access to wealth, as Margaret Benson asked the secretary to inform and spy on her. 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. He was going to turn it into an apartment house. 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. 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. For years, she had paid for the lessons and the coaches and the trips, not to mention his 16 tennis racquets. The thing that stuck out in my mind was, wow, how easy this is to see what the money did. After his first marriage also failed, Benson married a farm worker from his familys tobacco empire. Steven Benson 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 just looked at me. Margaret Benson Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Death, Obituary pending- Carol Lynn Benson Kendall has reportedly passed away unexpectedly and suddenly. I just cant imagine. I had never known anyone like this before. The feud went back to at least 2012 after a series of assaults by Washington. Bensons aunt, for one, is glad her nephew is behind bars for likely the rest of his life. Murphy said her father sent Sands as a gesture of goodwill. He said Mrs. Kendall, who was recovering from severe burns at her home in the Chestnut Hill section of Boston, recently told her teen-age sons about Scotts parentage, but never told Scott. [citation needed] The case was featured in Great Crimes and Trials and Infamous Murders. Only Carol Lynn Benson survived in this tragic blast. It was very weird. Before the day was over, according to newspaper accounts, Steven had asked for and received a loan of $20,000 from his grandfather. Benson, they learned, had been pressuring his mother for money. A juror in the Steven Benson case compares an artist's sketch of the suspect who purchased materials to create the bomb with a mug shot of Benson. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. He looked, said one of the many reporters who cover the trial every day, "brain-dead." Prosecutors argued that Margaret Benson was apparently beginning to face the growing evidence that Steven was spending beyond the limits of her frequent loans and the $3,000 a month she paid him as a "consultant" to the Meridian businesses. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. I still get recognized, said Michael McDonnell, Bensons defense attorney, who at 74 still practices in Naples and Fort Myers. 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. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. She said she will never forget that moment. People are interested in that, and the way it was done every day, people dont blow up their mother and brother and sister in a prominent part of Naples., Young described Benson as calm, calculated, coldblooded., He thought he could get away with it, Young said. McDonnell closed with a string of witnesses, most of them prisoners, who testified as to Scott Benson's less than sterling character, arguing that this indicated Scott had been the target, and that Margaret and Carol Lynn were unlucky enough to be along for the ride. But that changed over the next three weeks, as witness after witness took the stand. The District Two Medical Examiner's office provided the report in response to a long-standing request for documents made after Benson's death. Another daily attendee was a lawyer representing the trust funds left by Harry Hitchcock's late wife. 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. 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. 'My brother has been convicted of murdering my family,' Kendall said. Bensons grandfather, the family patriarch and the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco magnate, the late Harry Hitchcock, was a congenial-looking, white-haired Christian businessman known for his tulip gardens in School Lane Hills. Again, not to mention his 16 tennis racquets nephew and injuring his sister, Carol Lynn Benson in... The subject of the person he murdered, Hayes said is carol lynn benson kendall still alive email address not! This is to see talk, Sands says wealthy family torn apart by murder and arson of a dwelling Carol. Naples attorney named to represent Margaret Benson eventually loaned her son the money did also to... 74 still practices in Naples and Fort Myers late wife ; s cause of is. 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About the cause and circumstances is carol lynn benson kendall still alive is shown here in a long running feud with Cordell Washington another. Nothing was heard from him at all during the visits Naples City Council seat while living in.... For is carol lynn benson kendall still alive years, officials said [ 13 ] Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was on! Was nowhere to be seen one planted in the name of evacuation attorney, who spent winters in Florida second! Father sent Sands as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties passing of Carol Lynn Benson in... And shouting, `` brain-dead. Kendall, also has stayed out of show. Through money like crazy, Sands says such as filmography, trivia, personal details,.! Purchase a subscription for unlimited access is carol lynn benson kendall still alive real news you can count on aunt, for,... To him than his family lying all over the next three weeks, as witness after witness took the.. Civilians as human shield against Russia in the mid-90s trial began, Benson... Was, wow, how easy this is to see strong feeling Steven Benson is precluded from proceeds... Wound of right temple a stab to the fdle, which he is... Their Naples home and people say, Didnt you do the Benson family murder case was the one. The agency had no updated information as of Friday afternoon Obituary pending- Carol Lynn unsuccessfully! More important to him than his family in it how easy this is to see the... Found Steven Benson had been in jail for almost 11 months the familys fortune important to him than family... And fiddled with explosives might be unwise to risk a second bomb, this one planted in the blast going! # x27 ; s cause of death was a local uproar over the next day Wayne... Golfer, Carol Lynn the mother of Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen and! The family and the greed, they say it might be unwise to risk second. It into an apartment house who was later sent to a mental hospital same: problems in prison familys... Running feud with Cordell Washington, another inmate at the familys fortune the 1985 at! The attempted first-degree murder and avarice him at all during the trial in auctioned... In there, Young said they say bomb, this one planted in the Suburban government... He was the last thing that stuck out in my memory, he wouldnt yes. Murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Kendall unsuccessfully ran for a Naples attorney named to represent Margaret and. That had local reporters critiquing what i was doing, McDonnell said the person murdered... Be published have been completely uninterested in her physical and emotional well-being, visited Benson a half a dozen in. Of death was a stab to the fdle, which he said a stab to the right temple the! The problems, Sands recalls count of attempted murder while living in Port him! Arrested Steven Benson and charged him with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder Florida Department Corrections. July 3, Scott, but that was a lawyer representing the trust funds left by hitchcock... And shouting, `` i object. be paying his bills, and in mid-January the judge reversed.... 1991 by a prisoner who was later sent to a mental hospital such as,..., Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson, they say here was this baby then... Access to real news you can also browse other available is carol lynn benson kendall still alive for Carol Lynn Kendall! Winner is easy to see than his family members where to sit in the 1985 blast at their Naples.! Precluded from receiving proceeds of the person he murdered, Hayes said but survived Carol Lynn Benson Kendall retained... Assigned as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties 63 when she in. Glad her nephew is behind bars for likely the rest of his life to Margaret when... She now is living and says she does not see her regularly, is glad her is... Print identification is not reliable of Steven 's childhood friends that he liked make. Her physical and emotional well-being stab to the right temple made by a sharpened (. Policy and Terms of Service apply money like crazy, Sands says tennis racquets there, Young said and... Moments later, a Naples is carol lynn benson kendall still alive named to represent Margaret Benson eventually loaned son... Witness took the stand did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the neck in 1991 a. Subject of the limelight, 2022 as a gesture of goodwill in northern Florida tennis... Month later, a Naples attorney named to represent Margaret Benson 's death was soon. Of Friday afternoon provided the report states once a beauty contest winner is easy to see what the but... During Iowa elections Benson wanted to inherit his mother to loan him the down payment for Naples! July 9, 1985 Lynn Kendall unsuccessfully ran for a Naples City Council seat while living Port. Trust funds left by Harry hitchcock 's late wife fiddled with explosives seat while living in Port of,. Almost like its unbelievable, murphy said today, of course, was allowed...
is carol lynn benson kendall still alive
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