Murphy told gaming agents that Binion killed himself

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.

While ducking homicide detectives, Sandy Murphy talked to a top gaming agent about her boyfriend's death hours before his funeral last year.

The 27-year-old Murphy, who later was charged with killing Binion, told Jerry Markling, the Gaming Control Board's deputy chief of enforcement, that she believed the well-known gambling figure had killed himself.

"Murphy stated that 'Teddy started using drugs again,' " Markling said in a confidential intelligence report obtained by the Sun. "She said that the only thing in life that he really wanted was his gaming license and that he was severely depressed about being denied.

"She said that 'Teddy did this (suicide) on his own' and that he was 'very, very depressed.' "

The comments were made on Sept. 22, 1998, five days after Binion's slaying and long before prosecutors brought in an experienced pathologist who concluded Binion had been suffocated.

Murphy had reported discovering Binion's body at his 2408 Palomino Lane home on Sept. 17, 1998, next to an empty bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax. An autopsy later found Xanax and heroin in his stomach.

Homicide detectives learned that Binion had returned to using heroin in the months after his gaming license was revoked because of ties to organized crime figures. The day before his death, he had obtained a bottle of Xanax and 12 balloons of heroin.

Following an intense, well-publicized investigation, police charged Murphy and her reported lover, 34-year-old Rick Tabish, on June 24 with killing Binion.

Detectives subsequently concluded that Binion's killers pumped his body with the drugs Binion had obtained, suffocated him, and then staged the death scene at his home.

Murphy went to the Control Board the morning of Sept. 22, 1998, with one of her civil lawyers, William Knudson. Later that day, she showed up in tears, flanked by criminal attorneys Oscar Goodman and David Chesnoff, at Binion's over-flowing funeral.

At the time, Goodman and Chesnoff, who no longer represent Murphy, had been refusing to allow homicide detectives probing Binion's death to interview Murphy. During the Control Board's investigation of Binion months earlier, Murphy had asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when called to testify.

Homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen declined comment Monday. So did Keith Copher, the Control Board's chief of enforcement.

But one source close to the murder case described Murphy's statements to Markling as self-serving and part of an attempt to set up her defense.

"It looked like she was trying to muddy the waters," the source said.

Markling provided detectives with a copy of his five-page confidential report, which is expected to be introduced as evidence by prosecutors during the March 13 trial of Murphy and Tabish.

Murphy called Tabish "my best friend in the whole world," Markling wrote. "She indicated that Ted felt that Tabish was the only person that he could trust."

Murphy also backed up the story Tabish had given Nye County sheriff's deputies when he was arrested with two other men for stealing Binion's silver fortune in Pahrump two days after the slaying.

"... Sandy said that Tabish was given specific instructions by Ted to dig up the silver and to get money for it and then just put it into a trust for Ted's daughter," Markling said. "She said that Ted didn't just want to give her the silver or cash because he didn't want his former wife to get the money and because his daughter wasn't that good a money manager."

Binion's daughter, 19-year-old Bonnie Binion, is the chief heir to his $50 million estate. Last week, she filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Murphy and Tabish, alleging they were carrying on a romantic affair while plotting to kill her father.

Murphy told Markling that the 55-year-old Binion hated his sister, Horseshoe Club owner Becky Behnen, and "most of the rest of his family."

"She stated that the Behnen family, and especially Becky, are 'treacherous' and "low-lifes."

Murphy blamed an unsolved drive-by shooting at Binion's home several months before his death on Behnen's husband, Nick, and her son, Benny. She provided Markling with a tape of phone calls Nick Behnen reportedly had made to Binion's home prior to the shooting.

But Becky Behnen, the first to suggest her brother was the victim of foul play, today called Murphy's statements to Markling an "act of desperation."

Nick Behnen added: "These are absurd rantings and ravings of someone who has a lot of problems. Like all people who find themselves in this type of circumstance, she's resorting to blaming others."

Markling said Murphy was "very upset" and crying throughout his conversation with her.

"She mentioned several times that she was being mistreated by just about everyone, especially the Behnen's and the press," Markling wrote. "She stated that she was being kept from going into her house and that she had to sell some diamonds to get enough money to live on."

Murphy, who once received a diamond ring from Binion, and Tabish have been charged with looting Binion's home of its valuables after his death. Among the items missing is a coin and currency collection the estate believes is worth more than $200,000.