Columnist Jeff German: Who is Sandy’s backer?

Tuesday, July 1, 2003 | 11:29 a.m.

Like other inmates facing a long prison term, Sandy Murphy is lobbying for her freedom.

But what sets the 32-year-old convicted killer apart from the others is that she has money backing her efforts.

That money allowed Murphy to hire Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz to argue her appeal before the Nevada Supreme Court a year ago. And it allowed her to buy an $11,000 ad in Sunday's combined edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun proclaiming her innocence in the 1998 slaying of her live-in boyfriend, Ted Binion.

The question is, whose money is backing Murphy? It's not hers.

Murphy, a high school dropout, met Binion while dancing topless at Cheetahs nightclub in the spring of 1995. She took up dancing briefly to earn back $13,000 in gambling debts she had incurred during a weekend of partying at Caesars Palace.

Within a month of meeting Binion, Murphy moved into the wealthy gambling figure's home with basically the shirt on her back and mooched off him for three years until his Sept. 17, 1998, slaying. The day before he died, Binion cut Murphy out of his will.

But as luck would have it, Murphy found a new benefactor as homicide detectives moved to arrest her. His name? William Fuller, a mysterious 80-something millionaire who keeps his distance from the media.

It's possible that money for Sunday's full-page newspaper ad, which was an obvious attempt to sway public opinion, came from Fuller.

Then there's the other possibility -- however ironic -- that Binion's money is fueling Murphy's battle for freedom.

That's what Binion's sister Becky Behnen believes.

"There were millions of dollars in valuables taken from Ted's home that have never been recovered," Behnen said Monday.

Behnen isn't impressed with Murphy's ad, which contends Binion died of a drug overdose and wasn't murdered. She has a simple answer to the evidence Murphy presented.

"Ask her to explain why Ted's body was cleaned up and moved after his death," Behnen said. "Dead men don't get up and move. And they don't rob themselves before they die."

Police still are trying to track down Binion's missing valuables.

District Attorney David Roger said Monday negotiations are continuing with an inmate in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, to lead police to what the inmate says is $3.5 million in silver coins there.

But maybe it's time authorities take a closer look at whether any of Binion's missing fortune is in Las Vegas -- and whether Murphy has access to it.

Sunday's newspaper ad said it was paid for by Citizens to Ensure that Justice is Done.

By law, the group must register with the secretary of state, but that office has no record of this organization. A call to the 800 telephone number listed on the ad came back to an answering service and a message was not returned.

Bob Brown, director of advertising for the Review-Journal and Sun, wouldn't say who placed the ad. But there was a report that Murphy's father, Kenneth Murphy, who did not return a phone call, took it out.

So where's the money coming from?