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. "Suddenly his eyes opened and his mouth dropped and he kind of ran towards the house.". 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. He just kept a straight face.. I heard a lot of cursing and swearing.. The Prosecution. He returned and got everyone into the Suburban and then went back into the house to retrieve a tape measure. Also on the public record is a 3-year-old paternity suit filed by Scott's former live-in girl. Steven Benson turned gray behind bars and died, to little fanfare. Later he approved a partial distribution from Margaret Benson's estate. 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. 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Obituary - Death, Cause Of Death, Funeral: Friends and others affected mourn the death of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, has suddenly passed away.click to read and leave tributes. 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.. 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. 'It's hard for me to even put into words the devastation emotionally that this has caused me and my children,' Kendall told reporters at Logan International Airport after flying home from Florida. She sat in the front row, not directly behind Steven, but on the other side -- in one of the seats reserved for the prosecution. Behind bars, Benson has worked in the laundry and on a painting detail. Also Read:Mustang used by Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt auctioned, Your email address will not be published. His deposition in that case reads like pulp fiction of old: "My mother (meaning Margaret Benson) who had 38 years of marriage to my father, a greatly respected man of the highest character both in business and his personal life, is herself a religious person of high integrity and moral values. Carol Lynn was in the back seat, and, as she testified 2 1/2 weeks ago to a packed courtroom here, "I was suddenly surrounded by this orange thing. She, of course, was referring to Margaret. Our prayers and thoughts are with the family and loved ones of Carol. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall came in to see her brother's jury be excused for the night. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a Sept. 22 court order. I dont know if it will ever go away or not., Information from: LNP, https://lancasteronline.com. There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. 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. 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. Eyebrows were raised in the affluent Benson neighborhood, but Margaret prevailed and she raised the boy as her son. Steven Bensons trial is scheduled to begin in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 13. He was 63, the same age his mother was when he killed her. Bensons wife never attended the trial. Last Known Contact Information. Margaret Benson eventually loaned her son the money but he never did anything with the building, Sands says. 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, Naples pipe bomb killer Steven Benson dies in prison. 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. They had so much, and the family dynamic was about as whacked out as you could ask for.. She is shown here in a 1975 photo, a decade before the murder. Kendall was retained by clients in two separate cases but failed to adequately represent them. 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. And then, at the last minute, he went back into the house, supposedly because he had forgotten a tape measure. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. The bombing took place July 9, 1985 in the Quail Creek community. The first thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, you know that. He thought that right away, Sands, now 81, remembered today. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was a former Miss Florida runner-up and was survived in a murder attempt by her brother Steven Wayne Benson in 1985. 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, Appellant/Petitioner, v. Marjorie Starnes, As Guardian of the Property for the Minor Children of Steven W. Benson, and Steven W. Benson, Appellees/Respondents. One pulled Kendall, who was screaming, Im hot! 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. 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. He was calm as a cucumber, he said. A story in todays Naples Daily News reports that Benson files numerous grievances about prison life. But what is apparently harder is that she has to face the death of Scott Benson, who died at the age of 21 without ever knowing that the woman he thought was his much older sister, by adoption, was in fact his own natural mother. The Wait. Even though he had a fancy car" -- the Lotus -- "he didn't like to drive. He never looked at anybody, says Murphy, who sat right behind Benson during the trial. Murphy s nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to. He complimented the jury for its "staying power," but that didn't stop him from holding court all day Saturday, too. As the lead investigator in the Collier County Sheriffs Department, Harold Young was one of the first people to answer the call about a bombing at Margaret Bensons home in a gated golf course community on the morning of July 9, 1985. Twelve and a half hours later, almost to the minute, Harry Hitchcock's granddaughter made an equally dramatic, if brief, appearance in the courtroom. That's a negative as far as the jury is concerned. (Photo: File), Cameraman Al Durruthy records video footage of a Chevrolet Suburban outside the home of Mary Quinn, Wednesday afternoon (June 4), in the Quail Creek Estates in North Naples. I guess you'd call them bombs." It is said that she has taken their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town. When he returned, they said, he prepared to join his family to look at a piece of land his mother had bought. "I couldn't understand why he wasn't coming over to help me," she testified to a packed but dead silent courtroom. Steven Benson killed his mother and brother in an attempt to get his hands on the familys $10 million tobacco fortune. Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. I did most of the talking.. It was her sister, Margaret, 63, and her nephew, Scott, 21, who had died in a horrific car explosion in Florida. Dwight Brock was an assistant state attorney in Florida, specializing in white collar crime, when Steven Benson was arrested. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. That she was once a beauty contest winner is easy to see. The three children were to divide the estate equally. Benson, he recalled, had a reputation as a wimp., He didnt fit in, Schelling said. Hes had no contact at all.. Jul 23, 2015. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. Real estate. I guess people just exhibited good taste, he said. I felt like I was being pressed back into the seat. [13] I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, Sands says. 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. McDonnell argued that palm print identification is not reliable. 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. 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. The judge made the sentences consecutive, in accordance with Bensons sisters wishes. 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 can also browse other available content for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on IMDb such as filmography, trivia, personal details, etc. I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. The jury deliberated just 12 hours before finding Benson guilty. 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 Motive behind the murder was the property of her mother and her heiress. 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. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. 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.". Estate equally wimp., he said that right away, Sands says though he forgotten... Https: //lancasteronline.com affluent Benson neighborhood, but Margaret prevailed and she raised the boy as son. Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said also on the record. Had no contact at all.. 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