Secretary: Binion cut off Murphy credit card

Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999 | 11:17 a.m.

Ted Binion's secretary provided investigators with additional evidence that his relationship with girlfriend Sandy Murphy was on the rocks prior to his Sept. 17 murder, records show.

The secretary, Cathy Rose, told private detective Tom Dillard in a series of interviews that the former casino executive had instructed her to put the kibosh on Murphy's $5,000-a-month credit card habit just days before his slaying.

Rose also told Dillard about a mysterious visit she got from Murphy about an hour before Murphy reported finding Binion's body at his home.

The Sun has obtained transcripts of the interviews, which took place from Sept. 29 to April 9. Dillard, hired by Binion's $30 million estate, has been working closely with homicide detectives investigating the gambling figure's death.

Rose, who doubled as the executive assistant to Binion's older brother Jack Binion, is among several people close to the younger Binion who have pointed out his rocky relationship with Murphy in the days leading to his murder.

His lawyer, James J. Brown, filed papers in District Court contending Binion had asked him to cut Murphy out of his will the day before he died. And that same day, private detective Don Dibble said Binion wanted him to put Murphy under surveillance.

Murphy, 27, and Rick Tabish, a 34-year-old Montana contractor police believe was romantically involved with Murphy, have been charged in his murder. Police have alleged that Binion died of forced overdoses of heroin and Xanax.

Both Murphy, who is under house arrest on $300,000 bail, and Tabish, who is in jail on no bond, have denied killing Binion. Their lawyers have refused to discuss the evidence that has surfaced against their clients in the past several weeks.

In a Sept. 29 interview with Dillard, Rose said Binion asked her to cut off Murphy's credit at the end of August. She said he wanted an accounting of how much she had spent on one of his Mastercards.

Rose estimated Murphy was spending about $5,000 a month.

She said it was not unusual for Binion to telephone her and instruct her to cut off Murphy. He did it on four or five previous occasions but always called her back to say he had changed his mind, she said.

Rose, meanwhile, said she was surprised to see Murphy at her office about 2:45 p.m. on Sept. 17.

She said Murphy called her out of a meeting to give her a $150 check from a Las Vegas couple who had received a loan from Binion.

Murphy, it turned out, showed up at Rose's office a little more than an hour before she reported discovering Binion's body next to an empty bottle of Xanax at his 2408 Palomino Lane home at 3:55 p.m.

Rose said Murphy made a point of telling her that Binion recently had obtained the Xanax, a prescription sedative he used to get off of heroin.

Murphy told Rose that Binion had asked her to stay up all night with him and that she had left to get some lunch after he finally had fallen asleep.

Both Murphy and Tabish have said they went to lunch together that day with one of their lawyers, William Knudson.

Police, who suspect Binion died between 5:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., believe Murphy's visit to Rose was part of an attempt to establish an alibi in Binion's murder.

Chief Medical Examiner Lary Simms, who performed the autopsy on Binion, has concluded Binion's body was moved and cleaned after he died and that the death scene at his home was staged by his killers.

An autopsy report obtained by the Sun shows Binion died of lethal levels of heroin and Xanax. It suggests he was given a fatal cocktail of the drugs.

Rose, meanwhile, told Dillard she received an unusual phone call Sept. 28 from Murphy looking to get in touch with Jack Binion and express her condolences.

"She said ... she was just so sorry for the loss and that she would never do anything to Ted, that she loved him," Rose said.

Then in the same breath, Rose added, Murphy said some rings Binion had given her were at his Pahrump ranch and she wanted to get them.

She also told Rose that Binion had showed her where he had buried something of value under a tree at the ranch and that she and Jack "could share it."

Rose said Murphy was able to use Binion's credit card on Sept. 19, even though records show it was canceled the day before he died. She had gotten $3,000 in cash while she was staying at the Desert Inn.

Rose pointed out another strange occurrence.

She said that sometime after Binion's death Sprint was asked to send the monthly phone bills for his Palomino Lane home to Murphy at a business owned by Tabish, instead of to Rose, who had always paid the bills.

The bills, however, never were paid by Murphy and eventually found their way back to Rose.