As for Carol Lynn, she too waited in Florida for the verdict. . Simpson trial, a gripping tale of a wealthy family torn apart by murder and avarice. 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. 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. "I couldn't understand why he wasn't coming over to help me," she testified to a packed but dead silent courtroom. But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. I guess you'd call them bombs." Then the bombs went off. It continued to prosper, and eventually both families had what some people call "real money," and what others disdain as "nouveau. He. Benson told Young that he and his family were going to look at piece of property where his mother wanted to build a home that morning. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. Macron wont let go off Africa so easily, he is love sick, Canadas Debt Crisis: A Never-Ending Burden Passed On From Generation to Generation, Alcohol tax in Canada: Canadian government is taking a sip out of your beer. You could see a hateful heart in Steven then. 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. 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 . The siblings did not return phone messages Friday. Nervously at first, but then more calmly, she testified in response to the prosecutor's questions. Hitchcock died in 1990, five years after the Florida killings. 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. Benson, he recalled, had a reputation as a wimp., He didnt fit in, Schelling said. To that end, he held court one day from 8:30 in the morning, his usual opening time, to 10 that night. The case still resonates three decades later. Is Carol Lynn Benson Kendall still alive? Im 91 now, Sands said when reached by phone Friday. The police were called and he was held for five days. McDonnell argued that palm print identification is not reliable. Margaret Benson and her adopted son, Scott, were killed in the 1985 blast at their Naples home. Reached Friday about her brother's death, she. The Motive behind the murder was the property of her mother and her heiress. https://insideeko.com/carol-lynn-benson-kendall-obituary-d/ insideeko.com He didnt say anything after prison. Here, prosecuting attorney Jerry Brock addresses members of the media outside the Florida courtroom where the case took place. Steven was paid $244,974.39 so he could pay his legal fees. "I don't really know how to comment on it. 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. Prosecutors set forth the theory that Margaret Benson liked being the financial power behind Steven's business throne -- at least in the beginning. 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. ", 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. Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. 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. He stared at her and walked away, said Kendall, who is now 70 and living somewhere in Florida. That's a negative as far as the jury is concerned. I knew she was scared of Scott, but that was a different situation. When the Challenger space shuttle exploded a year after the Florida murders, Hitchcock broke down, Murphy recalls. Electronics. 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. And he complained. In July 1985, 63-year-old Margaret, her 41-year-old daughter Caroline Benson Kendall, her 33-year-old son Stephen Benson, and her 21-year-old adopted son Scott Benson got into the car to drive away to check a piece of land in the city where Margaret planned to build another house for the family. In prison records, Benson listed the oldest of his three children, twins Victoria and Christopher, as his next of kin. Before the day was over, according to newspaper accounts, Steven had asked for and received a loan of $20,000 from his grandfather. Theyre all dead.. US fails miserably against Russia at the crucial UN Vote. The attorney said, I want you to meet Steven Benson, she recalled. It looks like we don't have any photos for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall yet. Not long after, Harry Hitchcock wrote to the judge, opposing his nephew's release: "Anyone capable of murdering his mother for money is capable of murdering his grandfather for the same reason. He was sobbing.. Then, as they got into the car, Caroline noticed Stephen asking them to get in. Kendall was retained by clients in two separate cases but failed to adequately represent them. 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. Also Read:Mariannette Miller-Meeks : Role during Iowa elections. He just kept a straight face.. The jury was split on the death penalty, and so gave him life in prison. Steven Benson denied all requests for media interviews. Collier Circuit Judge Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday. He seldom looked at Steven.The defendant watched his grandfather enter the courtroom, but after that he never looked at him. Shocked by the attack, she says that since then, her siblings have been completely uninterested in her physical and emotional well-being. Quinn, left-center, was watching the production with friend Kathleen Garvey, left, and daughter Debbie Quinn, right, as the crew worked on a production for Court TV about the 1985 murders of tobacco heiress Margaret Benson and her son Scott. Most recently, he was assigned as a houseman, performing maintenance and cleaning duties. The Defense. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a September 22 court order. Success! He had retained Naples attorney Michael McDonnell. Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. Tracking money - that was my forte, said Dwight Brock, who is now 61 and works as the Collier County Clerk of Courts in Florida. To my knowledge, Scott never confronted his mother with the question. Eyebrows were raised in the affluent Benson neighborhood, but Margaret prevailed and she raised the boy as her son. She also said that Steven was gone so long for coffee that she kidded he "could have gone all the way to Fort Myers. An investigator said later they probably didnt have a chance to move.. After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. Scott tried to start the vehicle, she testified, "and immediately after that I was surrounded by this orange thing.". 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. He had been driving it all that time, he said. 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. Office: 954-789-0834. I know it happened to me and my family, she says, but it seems so surreal.. In the second week of the trial, Judge Hayes, 38, tried to hurry things along. Photo Gallery. Minutes later the Suburban erupted into flames. 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. Her niece, Kendall, also has stayed out of the limelight. Murphys father, Harry Hitchcock, was fine. Collier County's most notorious killer himself met with a violent end. It is said that she has taken their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town. She wanted an accounting and, if it had to be, a confrontation with Steven. (AP Photo) (Photo: Anonymous). In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? Collier Judge Hugh Hayes presided over the trial. Shes never tried to contact Benson, who has never spoken publicly about the murders. Murphy herself doesnt have those feelings toward her nephew. I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, 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. Benson tried and failed at a succession of businesses. 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. . It came to an average monthly payment of more than $10,000, or a grand total of "around a quarter of a million dollars.". He was the last person to drive the SUV. 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. 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