Binion’s death to be declared homicide

Monday, March 15, 1999 | 11:52 a.m.

Clark County Coroner Ron Flud prepared today to officially declare the Sept. 17 death of gaming figure Ted Binion a homicide.

Flud, who has previously classified the manner in which Binion died as "undetermined," set a 3:30 p.m. news conference to announce his belief that Binion was murdered.

The coroner could not be reached for comment this morning, but sources close to the case confirmed that the investigation now is being treated as a homicide.

Sources said the fact that a large amount of heroin was found in Binion's stomach and that the death scene at his 2408 Palomino Lane home appeared to have been staged contributed heavily to the murder theory.

"This takes it out of the realm of the (Binion estate's) speculation," one source close to the investigation said. "Now it's the real deal."

Binion's body was discovered Sept. 17 by his girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, at his home next to an empty bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax.

Police found no evidence of foul play at the scene of his death, and an autopsy did not uncover signs of trauma on his body. But drug tests concluded that the 55-year-old Binion had lethal amounts of both heroin and Xanax in his body.

Finding heroin in Binion's stomach led investigators early on to become suspicious. Binion, an admitted heroin user, was known to smoke the drug, not ingest it.

A team of homicide detectives has been investigating Binion's death for the past six months, and recently Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, of the elite Major Violators Unit, was assigned to assist police on a full-time basis. Roger has been presenting evidence to a county grand jury looking into Binion's death.

Less than 36 hours after Binion's death, Rick Tabish, a Montana contractor who had befriended Binion, was arrested in Pahrump with two others allegedly trying to steal a fortune in silver that Binion had buried in an underground vault.

Sheriff's deputies making the arrests uncovered documentation of a possible romantic relationship between Tabish and Murphy. The two were seen together at a posh Beverly Hills hotel the weekend before Binion died.

One day before his death, Binion had asked his lawyer to cut Murphy out of his will, and he hired a private detective to follow her around town.

Both Tabish and Murphy have refused to talk to police and have asserted their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked in District Court about valuables missing from Binion's $30 million estate.

A host of witnesses have told the Sun about a variety of suspicious circumstances surrounding Binion's death.

Binion's expensive coin and currency collection, for example, remains unaccounted for at his home. Police also found no valuables in Binion's safe at the Palomino Lane residence.