Detective finally confronts Tabish, Murphy

Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2001 | 11:17 a.m.

Editor's note: This is the third in a series of seven excerpts from the book, "Murder in Sin City: The Death of a Las Vegas Casino Boss." The book, which takes the reader into the heart of the Ted Binion murder investigation, was written by Jeff German, the Sun's senior investigative reporter. The series, exclusive to the Sun, will run daily through Friday and conclude Sunday.

The day finally arrived when homicide detective James Buczek got a chance to confront Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, the two people he believed had killed Ted Binion.

It was a chilly Feb. 19, 1999, morning, and Buczek had awakened early knowing that this was the day he'd show up at Murphy's luxury Henderson apartment to execute search warrants in the homicide investigation. He was hoping to find Tabish there, as well.

Shortly after 7 a.m., with fellow detectives in tow, Buczek knocked on the apartment door. There was no answer, so he knocked again.

Then he heard the sound of Murphy's voice asking, "Who is it?"

"It's the Las Vegas police department," Buczek responded. "We have a search warrant."

"Well I'm going to call my attorney before I let you in," Murphy said.

"Sandy," Buczek explained in a stern voice, "if you don't open the door right now, I'm going to kick it in."

Murphy, looking disheveled in her white "moo-moo" pajamas, then opened the door. As he entered the apartment, Buczek saw an equally rumpled Tabish in gym shorts and a T-shirt sitting on the living room sofa.

"He looked like he had just combed his hair with a pillow," Buczek later said. "It was all matted down."

Buczek knew he had hit pay dirt. The two obviously had been sleeping together, and no longer could claim they weren't romantically involved.

"I knew you guys were coming," Murphy blurted out.

"What do you mean you knew we were coming?" Buczek responded.

"I had a dream this morning that I woke up, and you guys were in our apartment."

Buczek had to stop himself from laughing, as he observed Murphy walking around the apartment in her juvenile-looking white pajamas with sewn-on patterns of black cows.

Of all of the things police saw that day, the biggest find at the apartment was Tabish.

"That was big stuff," Buczek said. "I remember calling (lead prosecutor) David Roger from the apartment, and he was really jazzed up."

Roger later said he had been expecting Murphy and Tabish to be together.

"That's why we did (the raid) three days after Valentine's Day," he said. "I wanted them to be there."

Buczek telephoned Roger with the good news just 20 minutes after the search had begun.

"He said we got them together, and we found all of the clothing items we were looking for," Roger said. "They had been denying being part of a romantic relationship, and we knew that was pretty strong evidence of this conspiracy to murder.

"If they're having this relationship and Ted Binion doesn't know about it, then it makes sense that they're going to murder him and live happily ever after with his money. So that was pretty big. We had achieved our goal."

That afternoon, after Buczek returned to the office, Metro Lt. Wayne Petersen told him that he had received a telephone call from Murphy, who was complaining that something was wrong with the power in her apartment.

"She was blaming us for it," Buczek explained. "I told Wayne that something doesn't sound right. I said if I go back I'm carrying a recorder in my pocket. I'm going to play the game. And he said go ahead."

Buczek, with his tape recorder in his shirt pocket, then drove back across town to Henderson, where once more he knocked on the door of Murphy's apartment.

"Sandy opens the door, and she's all made up," Buczek said. "She's dressed nicely, and she's standing there with a glass of red wine. And I'm thinking maybe this is a set-up. Why else would she be standing there with a glass of wine trying to look seductive?"

Murphy immediately told Buczek, as he was standing in the doorway, that she had reset the breakers in the apartment and resolved the electrical problem.

"I was just thinking, God, you know what. It was working until they came and now it's not working, you know," she said.

"That's fine. I understand," Buczek responded. Then, Buczek suggested that it was time she tell her side of the story.

"You know we've been wanting to talk to you," he said.

"I know," Murphy replied.

"You could put a lot of questions aside."

"I wish I could. Let me tell you because there are so many things I could tell you that you would just go aaahhhh. But if I did,Oscar (Goodman) would drop me as a client and all the money that I've paid -- I had to sell my Mercedes -- I mean I'd probably get in trouble for saying that ... It's just been one nightmare after the next. And I'm just trying to follow their advice because if they drop me, then I lose everything I have."

Buczek then noticed a smiling Tabish standing in the loft above him.

"Come on in," Tabish said. "Don't stand out there. Everybody's looking at you."

"All right," Buczek responded, as he stepped inside.

"I'm going to Montana for the weekend," Tabish said looking at Murphy. "Why don't you get a beeper (number) from him. I'm concerned about her safety ..."

Tabish told Buczek that Murphy had been getting constant death threats from the Binion family, a charge the family denied.

One threat, Murphy said, was made to her sister-in-law, who was nine months pregnant

"And (they) threatened to murder me and my whole family, and she called the police and did a whole statement and the whole deal," Murphy said. "Now, it's like they know where I live, And trust me, they hated me when my old man was alive. Do you think that now that he's dead they don't hate me more?"

Tabish then said Nick Behnen, the husband of Horseshoe Club President Becky Behnen, was out to destroy him.

"This Nick is no good," he said. "I mean this guy's setting me up wanting me to come over and talk to them at their house and stuff ... He hates her for whatever reason ...

"And you gotta understand my position," Tabish continued. "She's got nobody. I mean I'm it. We're in this thing together."

Tabish then changed the subject.

"Trust me," he said. "She and I are delighted you guys are on (this). I mean the more you guys dig up, at least it's something legitimate, taking a legitimate statement ... That's all we're hoping for."

"OK," Buczek responded.

Murphy then decided it was time to end the 15-minute conversation.

"You're getting me in trouble," she said, before apologizing for summoning Buczek to the apartment.

As the homicide detective left, he felt relieved that he secretly had recorded the strange chat.

It was a long day, but Buczek finally had gotten his chance to confront the suspects in Binion's slaying. *

"Murder in Sin City" by Jeff German is available for $6.99 at all major bookstores in the greater Las Vegas area and around the country. It is published by Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers in New York.

WEDNESDAY:

Police finally gather enough evidence to arrest Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish on charges of killing Ted Binion.