Digging at Binion Pahrump ranch adds to mystery

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

Nye County Sheriff's deputies are investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding the discovery of two freshly dug holes at Ted Binion's Pahrump ranch.

The holes, in front of Binion's home, are believed to have been dug by intruders looking for buried treasure at the 125-acre ranch, where the murdered gambling figure is thought to have hidden valuables.

"We don't know if they got anything," said James J. Brown, an attorney for Binion's $50 million estate. "They just came out and dug holes."

Friends said it would be "exactly like" the colorful 55-year-old Binion to bury something of value in front of his house so that he could keep an eye on it.

The holes, about three feet long and two feet wide, were discovered three weeks ago by Binion ranch manager Ed Raap as the preliminary hearing for Binion's accused killers was winding down in Las Vegas.

Last week, Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti ordered Binion's 27-year-old girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, and her reported lover, Rick Tabish, to stand trial for Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, slaying. The two also are facing charges related to the theft of the former Horseshoe Club executive's silver fortune two days later from an underground vault in downtown Pahrump.

At the Binion estate's request, Raap, who lives at the ranch, filed a trespassing report with the Nye County Sheriff's Department, prompting the investigation.

Nye County Undersheriff Bill Weldon confirmed Tuesday that a probe was under way, but he declined to elaborate.

Prosecutors overseeing the murder case in Las Vegas have been informed of the investigation.

Private detective Tom Dillard, who is working for Binion's estate, said Tuesday he also was conducting an inquiry.

"It certainly is a coincidence that can't be ignored, and we're going to look into it," said Dillard, who has been working closely with Metro homicide detectives investigating Binion's murder.

Binion's longtime secretary, Cathy Rose, has told Dillard that she received a phone call from Murphy less than two weeks after his death in which Murphy suggested she knew where Binion had buried property under a tree at the ranch.

Murphy offered to split whatever was buried with Binion's older brother, Jack Binion, the executor of his estate, Rose told Dillard in a Sept. 29, 1998, interview.

In February, homicide detectives found a map of Binion's ranch when they executed search warrants at a Green Valley apartment Murphy and Tabish shared.

During last month's preliminary hearing, Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke testified that Binion told him two weeks before his death that he had buried property under trees near an irrigation system at the ranch.

Brown said the fresh holes, which were dug during the night without heavy equipment, were discovered in the front of Binion's house in the vicinity of some fruit trees.

Binion's sister, Horseshoe Club President Becky Behnen, told the Sun in February that her brother always talked about burying items of value to him.

Brown, however, said Tuesday that the estate has not yet found anything buried at the ranch.

As part of the efforts to protect the ranch, he said, additional security officers were being hired and video cameras and motion sensors were being installed.

Sources, meanwhile, said the dirt removed from the holes wasn't enough to refill them entirely, suggesting something might have been buried there.

The mystery over the holes has been fueled by the theft of Binion's buried silver fortune a couple of miles away two days after his murder.

Tabish, a 34-year-old Montana contractor, and two other men, including Binion's former ranch manager David Mattsen, were arrested after they had dug up an estimated $4 million in silver bars and coins from the underground vault in downtown Pahrump.

Tabish, who had befriended Binion several months earlier, built the vault for the former Horseshoe Club executive.