Reluctant Binion witness awaited

The prosecutor spearheading the Ted Binion murder case questioned Monday whether reluctant witness Linda Susan Carroll would show up for a date this week with a county grand jury.

"I'll be awaiting her arrival, but I won't be holding my breath," Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger told the Sun. "She's made plans to come to meet with me on two prior occasions, and I was stood up both of those times."

Attorney Richard Wright and private detective Tom Dillard, who work for Binion's $30 million estate, have said that Carroll told them she was reluctant to testify because she was concerned about her safety.

Roger said Monday the search for the 42-year-old Carroll, who has been eluding authorities in Southern California for weeks, would continue until she comes to Las Vegas on Thursday.

"I'm not calling off the dogs," Roger said.

Metro homicide detectives and the FBI's Criminal Apprehension Team in Las Vegas, armed with a warrant seeking Carroll's arrest as a material witness in the Binion probe, have been participating in the search. The syndicated television show, "America's Most Wanted," recently aired a police-issued photo of Carroll.

Carroll, a former cocktail waitress at Cheetah's topless nightclub, is wanted to testify about the hours she spent with Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, after Binion was murdered.

The activities of Murphy, who also once worked at Cheetah's, and her reported lover, Montana contractor Rick Tabish, have come under the grand jury's scrutiny.

Last week, the Sun reported that the wife of Pahrump resident David Mattsen, who with Tabish was charged with trying to steal a fortune in silver from Binion in Pahrump after his death, was summoned to the panel probing the homicide.

Before she went into the grand jury room, Thressa Mattsen said Roger wanted to ask her questions about Murphy and Tabish.

On Monday Carroll's Huntington Beach, Calif., lawyer, Chet Bennett, said he had informed Roger that he was bringing Carroll to the grand jury on Thursday.

"She's ready and willing to come," Bennett said, adding the prosecutor had set up time for her appearance in the late morning or early afternoon.

Bennett said there was no need for Carroll to testify under a grant of immunity from prosecution.

He said his client has done nothing wrong and planned to answer all of the grand jury's questions.

archive