The "Money Bags Benson" Story

It was an ordinary day. Reading the "25 Years Ago Today" column in the Lancaster Newspaper and immediately recognized the lead story they had. About a friend of mine from church who we called Money Bags Benson. She was in my Sunday School class at St. James Church with about a dozen other friends. My friend Barry, who I wrote about a few times and who died almost a year ago, and I thought she was really pretty. Carol Benson lived in a huge house that had a gadzillion rooms. Her parents were members at church as were my parents. But, I was no way rich enough to be really good friends with her. Neither was Barry who lived in the city and went to McCaskey High School. Money Bags went to Lancaster Country Day School, a private school in Manheim Township. Well, the story that appeared in the paper 25 years ago was about Carol's younger brother Steven who had killed his mother and her mother's adopted son and almost killed Carol when he planted 2 pipe bombs in his Chevy Suburban and as his family entered the car he triggered the bombs from the house. This all happened in Naples, Florida where the family moved years after we all graduated from high school. The story goes like this. Carol's grandfather, Harry Hitchcock, was a wealthy business man in Lancaster. Owned Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Company and imported tobacco when smoking was at it's height. Very wealthy! His daughter, Carol's mom, married her dad who worked at the company. The dad traveled quite a bit and I never got to know him. I suspect that Carol and her brother Steven, who came along 8 years later, never knew him that well either. Her father died young and left over 10 million to Carol's mom. Both Carol and Steven always had everything they ever wanted. At age 10, Steven was given a power boat and when he turned 16 was given an MG which he drove every day to high school. And Carol had the best clothes you ever saw. That's why we called her Money Bags. Well, it seems that Carol did more than dress nice. She had an illegitamate child when she was 21. Barry and I had heard about her extracurricular activities, even in high school, but we were never part of that. Honest! I think she went to college in Florida after high school and it was at this time that she entered the Miss Florida contest and came in as 1st runner-up. Her family kept Carol's child a secret (easier since she was living in Florida at the time) and her mom eventually adopted him as her son. He was the second person killed in the car bombing, along with Carol's mom. Lost yet? It continues ....... Steven in the meantime had gotten married, divorced, and re-married. Carol married a guy whose last name was Kendall. Don't remember his first name. What a family! In 1980, shortly after her father (who she barely knew) died, Carol's mom sold her house in Lancaster and moved to Naples, Florida with her adopted son and bought a house. Shortly after, Steven and his wife defaulted on a home in Columbia, since his mother stopped paying the mortgage, and moved to Fort Myers. Shortly after that Carol moved, also! Don't remember if she was still married at the time or not. They all were following the money! Carol's mom stated to realize that her real son, Steven, was drainingher of all her money and stopped giving him any and made arrangements to cut him out of her will. And ...... Steven found out. So, wanting to be the sole heir of all the money, he planned to kill the whole batch of them; mom, sister, and adopted brother. The car blast killed the mom and adopted brother, but Carol was blown away from the car and received severe burns, mostly to her face. Almost worked, but shortly after the blast, the police found a receipt for the pipe, end caps and explosives in the house with Steven's palm print on it. A year later he was convicted of the double homicide, attempted murder, arson, and a slew of other charges. Steven recently turned 60 and will be eligible for parole when he reaches 85. As for Carol, she ran unsuccessfully in 1996 and again in 2000 for a Naples City Council seat while living in Port Royal. Last I heard, she was living in Norfolk, Va. Does money bring happiness? Evidently not for Money Bags Benson and her family. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top are Steven after his arrest in Naples, Steven at trial in Florida taken by Lancaster Newspaper photographer Dan Marschka, Steven in 2008 while in prison and his 2011 prison photo. Couldn't find a photo of Carol to share with you.