Murphy seeking return to Ted's house

Ted Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, was back in District Court today, this time looking for permission to move back into the late gaming executive's Las Vegas home.

"There's no reason for her not to be there," said David Chesnoff, one of Murphy's lawyers. "It was her home."

The 27-year-old Murphy had moved out of the $900,000 house after Binion's Sept. 17 death at the request of his estate.

Chesnoff chastised the estate for treating Murphy like a "leper" in the five months after Binion's death.

"Everybody seems to forget she lost the man she loved," Chesnoff said.

Chesnoff also downplayed suspicions about Binion's death.

He compared Binion's demise to the deaths of entertainers Lenny Bruce, Jim Morrison and John Belushi, all of whom were drug abusers who died of overdoses. Toxicology tests found that Binion died of lethal levels of heroin and the prescription sedative, Xanax.

Lawyers for the estate, who for the first time publicly estimated Binion's worth at $30 million, opposed the move by Murphy to take possession of the 2408 Palomino Lane home, which currently is under 24-hour guard.

"There are a lot of serious unsolved issues, which have a great possibility of not going in her favor," estate attorney Bruce Judd said. "Caution is the better part of valor in this case."

Murphy, who has come under suspicion by police in Binion's death, was awarded the home, its contents and $300,000 in cash during estate proceedings last December. But she risks losing her inheritance because of her refusal to help the estate find valuables from the home that turned up missing after Binion's death.

The estate, which is trying to make an inventory of Binion's assets for the court, has accused Murphy and her reported lover, Montana contractor Rick Tabish, of either taking or knowing the whereabouts of the missing valuables, that include a $300,000 collection of rare currency.

Tabish faces charges of trying to steal a fortune in silver from Binion in Pahrump less than 36 hours after his death.

Earlier this month, both Murphy and Tabish, 33, asserted their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions about the items that have disappeared.

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