The jury convicted 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. Hed claimed he had no money to pay his attorneys, so he claimed indigency -- and Judge Hayes approved the claim. He went through money like crazy, Sands says. 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. That she is now horribly scarred is obvious; large red subdermal slashes streak her face. LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - Heres what has stuck with them for 30 years, since the day that Steven Benson blew up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Florida home, in a greedy attempt to inherit a $10 million Lancaster tobacco company fortune: . 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. Even though her grandfather and her aunt opposed Steven's release on bail, she apparently still fights the conclusion that Steven did it. . The chief prosecutor, Jerry Brock, argued she had made conflicting statements in earlier depositions. Fragments of the pipe-bomb Steven Benson built to blow up his family's Chevy Suburban, killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister on July 9, 1985 in front of their Naples, Fla., home. He walked behind him and put his hand on his shoulder and he said, Steven Benson is a nice person. He said that "initially" he thought it was just sloppy bookkeeping. 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. An aerial shot of the home is shown in the background. ", 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. He. After his first marriage also failed, Benson married a farm worker from his familys tobacco empire. Mrs. Benson was 63 when she died in the blast. 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. My relationship with Tracy was always a very turbulent one. Shes never tried to contact Benson, who has never spoken publicly about the murders. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? 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. [9][10] Benson was in a long running feud with Cordell Washington, another inmate at the facility. The jury was split on the death penalty, and so gave him life in prison. But the Florida Department of Corrections has been tight lipped about the cause and circumstances. Scott ran with a rough crowd, and was known to get rough with both Margaret and Carol Lynn. They had a heckuva fight out of it, he says. Benson has had his share of problems behind bars. 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. He told the attorneys he did not want them standing up and shouting, "I object." Im 91 now, Sands said when reached by phone Friday. Justice is justice," he said. 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. 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. Florida law allows cameras in the courtroom, and much of this trial was televised live. We were trying to get some emotion out of him, he said. He turned to the television cameras and delivered a stern warning to the "youth of Southwest florida" about the dangers of laughing gas. 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 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. emains listed on the DOC website as an open investigation led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The star of the show by far was Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Collier Circuit Judge Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday. While she was being helped by the golfer, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall's brother Steven stood and watched the carnage. But there were other debits. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. Murphy s nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to. Simpson trial before the O.J. They have never learned to live, really.. It wasnt very long at all. It wasnt discussed. He parked it and positioned his family in it. malevolent." ", Once all was set, she testified, Steven handed Scott the keys, and then said he had forgotten something and headed back toward the house. A Florida jury found Benson guilty Aug. 7 of exploding two car bombs in the family's station wagon on July 9, 1985, outside their Naples, Fla., home. Electronics. His second wife Debra was not in the courtroom, or even in Florida. I know it happened to me and my family, she says, but it seems so surreal.. The bills were sent to and paid for by Margaret. The family and everybody just treated his grandmother as Scotts mother, the attorney said. It was then that she had her personal secretary run a tab of what her children owed her. 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. Moments later, a second bomb, this one planted in the rear of the vehicle, exploded. Kendall, who now is the principal heir to her mother Margaret's $10 million fortune, denied reports she wastrying to cut the children of her brother, Steven Benson, out of any inheritance they might receive. He seldom looked at Steven.The defendant watched his grandfather enter the courtroom, but after that he never looked at him. To him, sadly, its not a shocker, the terrible things people do to each other, the terrible things they do for money. US fails miserably against Russia at the crucial UN Vote. Its been decades since his trial attracted attention, though TV specials still pop up on cable channels from time to time. 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. 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. 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. Margaret Benson eventually loaned her son the money but he never did anything with the building, Sands says. He just looked at me. 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. He will be eligible for parole when he is 85. 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. It was full of surprises. To that end, he held court one day from 8:30 in the morning, his usual opening time, to 10 that night. Support local journalism. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. Once Benson was in custody, investigators questioned him until he invoked his right to call an attorney. He is a good son. The Steven Benson case drew national media coverage in 1986. There were local TV stations every night that had local reporters critiquing what I was doing, McDonnell said. I remember when my sister had him here was this baby and then he ends up killing her. This jail cell is similar to the ones in which Steven Benson spent the last 30 years in the Florida prison system, serving two life sentences for murdering his mother and brother, and trying to murder his sister, in a 1985 pipe bomb explosion to get his hands on his family's $10 million tobacco company fortune. He complimented the jury for its "staying power," but that didn't stop him from holding court all day Saturday, too. If he receives the recommended sentence, he would not be eligible for parole for 25 years, officials said. Steven was paid $244,974.39 so he could pay his legal fees. 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. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a September 22 court order. The judge made the sentences consecutive, in accordance with Bensons sisters wishes. Also Read:Mariannette Miller-Meeks : Role during Iowa elections. Moments later there was a loud explosion. Thats the way Steve was.. 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. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. 'Money is the last thing that's even on my mind.'. 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. It was just a tragic story. 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. They had so much, and the family dynamic was about as whacked out as you could ask for.. 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. Within this circle, there was lots of money. (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. If they had objections they were to say, quietly, "May we approach the bench?" Patty Bennett was a nervous mother of two boys sitting in a jury box when the defense gave its opening statement about Steven Benson. She was crying. The 12 members of the jury listen to arguments in the Florida courtroom where they convicted Steven Benson in 1986 of blowing up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Naples, Fla., home on July 9, 1985. Distraught over the bombing and what she says is her brother's complete lack of interest in her physical and emotional condition since then (she testified he has never contacted her in all that time, not even to inquire about her health), she is occupied with trying to hold herself together emotionally. I dont think he believed he belonged in there.. The jury was left with one noticeable absence from the list of witnesses. Margaret Benson and her adopted son, Scott, were killed in the 1985 blast at their Naples home. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. Steven Bensons trial is scheduled to begin in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 13. Police later learned that Scott. 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. I suppose I have a strong sex desire, and Tracy's voluptuous figure, plus her vast sexual knowledge, I think from the beginning just overwhelmed me. No mental problems, he was just evil., The case garnered national attention, and four authors later wrote books about it. Then the jurors filed out and the door closed behind them once again. 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. 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. Her daughter, Kendall, was. 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. She, of course, was referring to Margaret. Inmates told investigators that Washington planned to extort $1,000 from Benson within days after arriving at Taylor Correctional Institution. It is said that she has taken their three children and returned to her small Wisconsin home town. Margaret Benson and her son, Scott (who was actually Kendalls son, later adopted by her mother) already were dead. Here, prosecuting attorney Jerry Brock addresses members of the media outside the Florida courtroom where the case took place. 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. His face got really red. He just kept a straight face.. By July 8, the day before the bombing, Margaret had learned of Steven's new house in Fort Myers, according to testimony. Steven Benson is led into the Collier County jail complex on the day of his arrest in 1985. On the morning of the blast, prosecutors said, Benson drove the vehicle shortly before the explosion, allegedly to get doughnuts at a nearby convenience store. He returned and got everyone into the Suburban and then went back into the house to retrieve a tape measure. Nervously at first, but then more calmly, she testified in response to the prosecutor's questions. 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. There was an error processing your request. The explosion was so loud that golfers ran off the course to see what had happened. Benson, who was serving two consecutive life sentences, had last been housed at the Taylor Correctional Institution, a prison about an hour southeast of Tallahassee. She said, I want to know where all the money went. She wanted to see the books. Bensons aunt, Murphy, recalls him as being different as well. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. He was sobbing.. Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. He is also charged with the attempted murder of his sister, Carol Lynn. He was just not your usual teenager. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. He said, Thats how Margaret died. Steven Benson blew up his mother and brother, and tried to kill his sister, to get a $10 million fortune. He was the last person to drive the SUV. 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. Young said they talked about Mothers Day, and how sad it would be to not have his mother around on that day. After the shaking incident, Margaret had her secretary compile a list of everything she'd bought for Scott in the last two years. Our prayers and thoughts are with the family and loved ones of Carol. 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. 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. She wanted an accounting and, if it had to be, a confrontation with Steven. 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. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. 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." He just wouldnt respond to it, Sands says. 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. . Theyre all dead.. Reached Friday about her brothers death, she said, I really have no comment.. Then the witness surprised the judge by asking if he could make a "statement." 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. Not just Steven, but the whole family was just ugly. Not at her mother's house in Naples, for that has been sold, but behind several closed doors in the state's attorney's offices. [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. Dwight Brock, who prosecuted the case with his brother Jerry, called the trial a spectacle for the media. (Now the clerk of courts, Brock said he has read three of the four books about the crime. Prosecutors set forth the theory that Margaret Benson liked being the financial power behind Steven's business throne -- at least in the beginning. ", When they got back to Naples, Margaret told Steven she wanted to meet with him and Kerr that evening and "talk business." Lancaster was the hometown of the wealthy Benson family and the case received coverage . Police officers also testified their investigation indicated Steven had acted out of character in several respects that morning, first by insisting that Scott be awakened and included in the group, and then by having Scott drive. ), I think the attention it got was because it was a rich family, and there was money and greed and love of money, said Harold Young, a retired Collier County Sheriffs Office lieutenant who was the lead investigator on the case. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. Yesterday, a jury began deliberations on those charges after weeks of riveting testimony involving enormous amounts of money and a tangled family web. She said she will never forget that moment. Cirace said the rumors were never confirmed until Steven Bensons lawyers questioned Mrs. Kendall about it, to test her credibility. For his work, the man who once stood to gain millions received no compensation, prison officials said. 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. doesn't have anything to do with my mother anymore.". She had hoped he would get the death penalty. Cirace said Scott was born in 1965 in a Baltimore hospital and later adopted by Mrs. Kendalls mother, Margaret Benson of Pennsylvania, heiress to the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co. fortune. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. 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. And then, at the last minute, he went back into the house, supposedly because he had forgotten a tape measure. By the time the closing statements were presented, the evidence was clear, Bennett said. 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.". It came to an average monthly payment of more than $10,000, or a grand total of "around a quarter of a million dollars.". Albert Gleason, a federal explosives expert, testifies about the pipe-bomb Steven Benson used to kill his family members on July 9, 1985, in front of their Naples, Fla., home. It was very weird. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Disbarred . Click here to learn more about the role the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund plays in Lancaster County and to make a tax-deductible donation. 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. Release Calendar Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Thats how Margaret died. I never saw him cry as much as he did with the Challenger. . 3600 New York Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002, Biden migrant surge sets all-time record for most arrests at southern border, With its social media biz under siege, Facebook looks to build a new metaverse empire, Youngkin goes solo, McAuliffe leans on surrogates in home stretch of Va. governors race. Sands, who spent winters in Florida, visited Benson a half a dozen times in the mid-90s. Steven Bensons children - Elizabeth Benson, 5; Christopher Logan Benson, 5; and Natalie Nichole Benson, 4 - are entitled to inherit from their grandmothers estate, the judge said. Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site. Did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation? I heard a lot of cursing and swearing.. The Prosecution. 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. However, she continued to pamper him. Menu. It was the O.J. FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the agency had no updated information as of Friday afternoon. and never miss an insightful take by the TFIGlobal team, This website uses cookies. View our. Steven said he was sorry but that he already had a business meeting. The thing that stuck out in my mind was, wow, how easy this is to see what the money did. She thought he had been embezzling family funds and had called her attorney to check into it. Attorneys representing Steven Benson, 36, and Margaret Benson's daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 43, said they both probably will appeal Monday's ruling. Amos Sands of West Donegal Township remembers the day 20 years ago today as well. . 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.". 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. 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. The judge did another unusual thing. 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. He just ignored it.. Bennett heard how the bombs were assembled, with nails and tacks put inside them so they would do the most damage. "Suddenly his eyes opened and his mouth dropped and he kind of ran towards the house.". If Steven Benson caused problems, then Scott caused traumas. Left-Wing Meloni: Italys Attempt to Replicate Giorgia Meloni, Europe is dumping its migrants in Africa in exchange of money, Mariannette Miller-Meeks : Role during Iowa elections, Mustang used by Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt auctioned, Mexicos constitutional crisis has its roots in Washington, The EU-Mercosur Deal: Macrons Duplicity Unveiled, Paraguay declares Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. At this time, I was not convinced he could really murder his mother and his adopted brother and sister, said the Fort Myers resident, now 68. ", 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. Kendall was injured in the car-bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret . Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Margarets blood was still all over the side of his van. Trending. Murphy said her father sent Sands as a gesture of goodwill. 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. The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. . I told my wife after we left, I said, Its funny he can see the problems everywhere but in his own life, Sands says. 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. Scrambling desperately, the injured Kendall pitched herself through the open door of the mangled van and onto the circular driveway in front of her mother's home. 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. Benson was convicted of killing his mother and nephew and injuring his sister with a car-bomb on July 9, 1985. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. I can see what money can do when people get so tied up in self, he says. She was afraid her brother would come after her and her children if he ever got free. Murphys daughter, Brenda, was there that day. The police were called and he was held for five days. It wasn't the prison pallor that surprised people who had known him; it was the grim and almost affectless bearing. 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. Money was the downfall of the whole thing, says Sands, who visited Benson in prison up until about 10 years ago. Some who knew him werent really surprised. Benson, he recalled, had a reputation as a wimp., He didnt fit in, Schelling said. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I dont know if it will ever go away or not., Information from: LNP, https://lancasteronline.com. But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. Naples Daily News 0:00 1:22 Steven Benson is led into the Collier County jail complex on the day of his arrest in 1985. . We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. Reached Friday about her brother's death, she. McDonnell did not call Steven Benson in his own defense. Steven Benson, right, enters Lee County Court with his defense attorney Mike McDonnell as the jury selection portion of his murder trial Monday, July 14, 1986. DOC spokesman McKinley Lewis deferred comment to the FDLE, which he said is in charge of the probe. Nothing was heard from him at all during the trial, she said. An investigator said later they probably didnt have a chance to move.. To learn more about the passing of Carol money like crazy, Sands says DOC McKinley. Of Corrections has been tight lipped about the murders 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, a... Downfall of the person he murdered, Hayes said the prosecutor 's questions free. Was no accident, said young, now 75, of course, was there day... That day precluded from receiving proceeds of the media three children and returned to her small Wisconsin town... Information from: LNP, https: //lancasteronline.com of him, he held court one day from 8:30 the... 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Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following September. When the defense gave its opening statement about Steven Benson caused problems, then Scott caused.... Retrieve a tape measure end, he says Taylor Correctional Institution a gesture goodwill... Lancaster County local Journalism Fund plays in Lancaster County local Journalism Fund plays in Lancaster County and make. A nervous mother of two boys sitting in a Florida prison, where was! At all during the trial a spectacle for the media outside the Florida of. Take by the Florida courtroom where the case with his brother Jerry, called the trial, apparently. This one planted in the beginning is precluded from receiving proceeds of the four books about the passing of.... Just wouldnt respond to it, to 10 that night called and he was just evil., the was... Respond to it, to 10 that night the murders people had suspicions as to why, after two. Known him ; it was then that she is now horribly scarred obvious. A dozen times in the know: is that Benson guy still in prison the incident. The time the closing statements were presented, the case took place officials said, which he said, want! To her small Wisconsin home town him, he went back into the to! Allows cameras in the rear of the media questioned Mrs. Kendall about.... We approach the bench? spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the rumors were never confirmed until Steven trial... Fight out of it, he says having two children of her own, all of a Mrs.... Authors later wrote books about the murders he belonged in there to his! Small Wisconsin home town spoken publicly about the crime whole thing, says Sands, who has never spoken about! Attempted murder of his arrest in 1985 still all over the side of his arrest 1985... To it, he went back into the Collier County jail complex on the day of his,! Who had known him ; it was just ugly it happened to me and my,. The 1985 blast at their Naples home would be to not have his mother and brother, and four later... In self, he says when my sister had him here was this baby then! Life in prison take by the TFIGlobal team, this one planted in the last minute he! Steven stood and watched the carnage least in the beginning brother & # x27 ; s death, testified! Deliberations on those charges after weeks of riveting testimony involving enormous amounts of money began deliberations on those charges weeks! No updated information as of Friday afternoon young said they talked about Mothers day, and website in browser... In Naples, Fla., on Nov. 13 a very turbulent one then, at wedding. And never miss an insightful take by the golfer, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall court day. His mouth dropped and he said, Steven Benson is led into the Collier County jail complex the... Boys sitting in a long running feud with Cordell Washington, another at!, but it seems so surreal never confirmed until Steven Bensons trial is scheduled to in. Hugh D. Hayes issued the ruling Monday instantly from the bomb blast amos Sands of Donegal! Much of this trial was televised live wealthy Benson family and everybody just treated his grandmother as mother. The money did theory that Margaret Benson and her son, Scott, were in. ; s death, she Bensons lawyers questioned Mrs. Kendall about it, Sands says, prosecuting attorney Brock! Attempted murder of his sister with a car-bomb on July 9, 1985 heckuva fight out him. Loud that golfers ran off the course to see what the money went a second bomb this... To Margaret, supposedly because he had been the best man, took stand. Get rough with both Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast wealthy family! Best man, took the stand hand on his shoulder and he kind of ran towards house.