The Murder of Margaret Benson (Crime Documentary)

Steven Wayne Benson (July 26, 1951 – July 3, 2015) was an American convicted double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson; and his brother (actually his nephew but later adopted), tennis player Scott Benson. (Margaret Hitchcock Benson was the heiress of the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co., Lancaster, Pa., and had no connection with Benson & Hedges brand cigarettes manufactured in the US by Philip Morris.) He was born in 1951 in Baltimore.

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 Benson to join them in the vehicle when the Chevrolet Suburban exploded. Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb impact. Represented by attorney Michael McDonnell, Steven Benson was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, arson of a dwelling. He avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to two life terms in prison. Over the course of his sentence, Benson was transferred to various prisons because of constant threats and abuse from other inmates.

Benson died at Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry, Florida of a stab wound to the head with a homemade knife on July 3, 2015.