Binion map seized in raid

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

Homicide detectives found a map of Ted Binion's 60-acre Pahrump ranch while executing search warrants last Friday against the late gaming executive's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, and her reported lover, Rick Tabish.

Homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen confirmed on Monday that the map was seized in the raid, but he would not comment on its significance to detectives investigating Binion's suspicious Sept. 17 death. Petersen also would not describe the map.

He said detectives found some of the "documentation" they were seeking in the searches, which occurred at a luxury Green Valley apartment shared by Murphy and Tabish, a Las Vegas company owned by Tabish and a home and a business of Tabish's in Missoula, Mont.

Friday's raid was the clearest indication yet that Murphy and Tabish -- who were present when police arrived at the 251 S. Green Valley Parkway apartment at 7 a.m. -- are considered targets of the investigation. Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, a member of the elite Major Violator's Unit, is spearheading the probe, which is making use of a Clark County grand jury.

"We want to determine the truth about Ted Binion's death, and we'll do anything we can to gather any information we can about the circumstances involving his death," Petersen said.

Tom Dillard, a private detective investigating Binion's death for his multimillion-dollar estate, said the discovery of the map raises more questions about the activities of Murphy and Tabish.

Dillard said he interviewed a Binion neighbor in Pahrump who saw a man and a woman using a backhoe to dig up property on Binion's ranch after he had died. The neighbor was unable to describe the couple, but Dillard said he planned to talk to the witness again.

Binion's sister, Horseshoe Club owner Becky Behnen, said she wasn't surprised to hear about the map.

"Ted was always talking about burying things," Behnen said. "Sometimes he would laugh about it because he could never find what he buried."

Attorney Harry Claiborne, a longtime Binion friend who represents Binion's daughter, Bonnie, in probate court, said Binion had a habit of hiding things from himself and then forgetting where he put them. "So I presume that would carry over to burying things," Claiborne said.

Murphy's lawyer, Oscar Goodman, said he knew nothing about a map being found and insisted that detectives took nothing of any investigative value from Murphy's Green Valley apartment. "They could have gone to my house and taken the same stuff," he said.

Tabish, a 33-year-old Montana contractor, faces charges of trying to steal a fortune in silver from Binion in Pahrump less than 36 hours after his death.

Both Tabish and Murphy, who turned 27 over the weekend, have been accused by Binion's estate of either taking or knowing the whereabouts of several hundred thousand dollars worth of valuables missing from Binion's 2408 Palomino Lane home.

Both asserted their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination earlier this month and refused to answer questions in probate court about the missing Binion assets. The two also have refused to be interviewed by homicide detectives.

Tabish, a convicted felon, faces a March 19 preliminary hearing in Pahrump on whether he should stand trial for trying to steal as much as $4 million in silver bars and coins from Binion on Sept. 19. The silver was buried in an underground vault built by Tabish on land Binion owned near his ranch. Tabish and two other men were arrested by Nye County sheriff's deputies after they allegedly had dug up the silver in the middle of the night.

According to copies of Friday's search-warrant returns in Las Vegas, homicide detectives also seized a Horseshoe Club money clip from Murphy's apartment with "Ted" inscribed on it, as well as a Kodak disposable camera and a computer disk attached to a credit report.

Also taken at the apartment were designer clothes that Murphy reportedly bought Tabish at Neiman Marcus before Binion's death. Among the items seized were Gucci jeans, black Armani pants and a black velour Armani shirt.

Murphy, meanwhile, expects to be in court again on Wednesday when her lawyers ask District Judge Michael Cherry to allow her back into the $900,000 Palomino Lane home that she stands to inherit. The estate, which currently has custody of the house, is opposing her request.

Murphy in December was awarded the house, its contents and $300,000 in cash, but she risks losing her inheritance because of her refusal to help the estate gather the missing valuables for its inventory to the court.

The estate has vowed to seek a probate judgment against Murphy.

In another development, Kasey Harney, a woman who claims to be a daughter of Binion's, has filed court papers contesting the will.

Harney, a Metro Police officer, alleged in her papers that Murphy coerced Binion into removing her from his will. She said she was promised $500,000.

Binion, Harney said, put Murphy in his will only to appease her.

Harney said Murphy felt threatened by her and once warned her to "leave Ted alone."

Harney indicated she was forced to carry on a secret relationship with Binion because of Murphy.

A hearing on Harney's claims is scheduled next week.