Probe revisits Binion home for ‘dynamics’ of death scene

Friday, Oct. 16, 1998 | 3:04 a.m.

Homicide detectives returned Thursday to the home of Ted Binion with Clark County Coroner Ron Flud to review the death scene.

Flud brought along the chief medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on the 55-year-old Binion.

"It gives us a better perspective on what may or many not have occurred there," Flud said today. "We want to have a better understanding of the dynamics of the scene."

Homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen today described the late-afternoon visit as "another step in the process.

"We haven't uncovered anything new," Petersen said. "The medical examiner just wanted to take a look for himself at the death scene."

Binion's Sept. 17 death has turned into a mystery that has attracted national publicity.

Petersen said detectives still have been unable to interview Binion's 26-year-old girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, who reported his death to police. An empty bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax was discovered next to his body in the den of his Las Vegas home.

A toxicology report found lethal levels of both heroin and Xanax in Binion's system, which led Flud to classify the manner in which he died as "undetermined."

Binion had a heroin addiction and occasionally would use Xanax to get himself off of the street drug. But his friends insisted he never would have taken fatal doses of both drugs by himself.

Though police found no evidence of foul play at Binion's home, a team of homicide detectives stepped up the investigation into his death following the release of the toxicology report.

Petersen has called Binion's death "suspicious," but he has refused to label it a murder.

But Binion's sister, Horseshoe Club hotel-casino owner Becky Behnen, along with his lawyers, Richard Wright and Harry Claiborne, all have suggested that foul play could have played a role in Binion's demise.

A number of Binion's friends and employees have told of suspicious occurrences, some involving Murphy, at his home in the days leading to his death.

And Nye County sheriff's deputies have uncovered evidence of a possible romantic link between Murphy and Rick Tabish, the leading suspect in the theft of $4 million in buried silver from Binion in Pahrump less than 36 hours after Binion's death.

Homicide detectives visited Binion's home last week looking for more clues to his death.

The stepped-up investigation has attracted attention from national and international news organizations.

The television tabloid show, "Hard Copy," picked up on the story this week.

Well-known criminal defense lawyer Oscar Goodman last week confirmed that he has joined his partner, David Chesnoff, in representing Murphy's interests during the investigation.