Tuesday, April 13, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.
Craig Bingaman used speaker wires to strangle his wife, then he wrapped her body in a blanket and put her in a trash can, according to a Metro Police report.
Bingaman, 26, fled with his 5-year-old son Donovan to Primm, where he considered making a run to Mexico, Capt. Teresa Lesney of Metro's crimes against youth and family bureau, said.
After a three-day manhunt, Bingaman surrendered to Metro Police on Friday morning and turned over his son to authorities. Donovan Bingaman is staying with his maternal grandmother, Lesney said.
Bingaman was being held this morning at the Clark County Detention Center without bail.
He is scheduled to appear before a judge at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday in Las Vegas Justice Court.
According to the police report, a few hours after 23-year-old Tiffany Bingaman died, Craig Bingaman called a firearms detective with whom he was acquainted and said he "was in a lot of trouble and that someone was hurt really bad."
Bingaman's cell phone kept disconnecting and he called back several times with more information, crying as he spoke.
He said that in the morning "he and Tiffany got into an argument and Tiffany was screaming and hitting him with speaker wire," the report says. "Craig said he got angry and took the speaker wire and choked her with it."
A man down the street offered to help cover up the crime and told Bingaman he should buy a trash can, the report says.
Police found Tiffany Bingaman's body in a garbage can which was stashed inside the master bedroom closet of the apartment in the 5300 block of Redberry Street near Rancho Drive and Cheyenne Avenue.
Also in the closet police found a blue plastic bag containing broken sunglasses, a broken beaded necklace and two knotted RCA cables with strands of hair caught between them, according to the report.
The property manager, who lives below the apartment where the Bingamans lived, told police she heard fighting between 10:30 p.m. April 5 and 12:30 a.m. April 6.
Around 1:30 a.m., the property manager heard fighting down the street and went outside to check it out. She saw Bingaman outside his apartment and he apologized for making noise earlier, saying he thought Tiffany was leaving him.
The property manager didn't hear Tiffany get ready for work at 6 a.m. the next day like she normally did. Around 8 a.m., she saw Bingaman sitting on the stairs in front of his apartment and asked him why Tiffany hadn't gone to work.
Bingaman told the property manager that Tiffany lost her car keys and a friend had driven her to work, the report says. The property manager was suspicious, so she called Tiffany's workplace, Greg Hess Electric, and was told she hadn't shown up.
Police believe Bingaman, who does not own a car, got a ride from someone to Primm to "get away from the heat and the pressure and form a game plan."
He considered surrendering to Metro and also thought about fleeing to Mexico, but after a few hours, he decided to return to Las Vegas, Lesney said.
Bingaman and Donovan checked into the Country Inn on Blue Diamond Road and Industrial. The room was not registered to him, police said.
About 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, police called upon the services of A Child Is Missing, a Florida nonprofit organization that uses "reverse 911" technology to make thousands of calls within a targeted area within a few minutes.
A recording tells residents that a child is missing and asks them to look outside and call police if they see anything suspicious.
About 9,000 calls went out to residents of certain areas where people had reported seeing Bingaman and his son.
An Amber Alert was issued shortly before 3 p.m. last Wednesday. The alert wasn't issued the day before, when Tiffany Bingaman's body was found, because police were still tracking down promising leads which ultimately did not pan out, police said.
Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said this was a nontraditional use of the Amber Alert system, as Bingaman had legal custody of his son, but he thought it was a legitimate use of the system because it put pressure on Bingaman to give himself up.
The strategy paid off. Bingaman was taken into custody Friday morning at the Country Inn after Las Vegas attorney Michael Amador negotiated his surrender with Metro Police. Bingaman's family had contacted Amador and he persuaded Bingaman to turn himself in, Sgt. Tom Wagner of Metro's missing persons section said.
Lesney credited the media for putting the pressure on Bingaman, leading to his surrender.
"He couldn't step outside the hotel room to smoke a cigarette without being afraid he would be spotted," Lesney said, adding that she gave the Amber Alert system an "A plus" because it was "directly responsible" for Bingaman's surrender.
Donovan Bingaman was clean and looked well-fed when his father turned him over to authorities Friday, Lesney said.
But, Lesney said, "there will be some emotional issues. He was on the run with his father and his mother was killed in a violent manner."
Police are still considering filing charges against friends or family who may have been harboring Bingaman.
Bingaman told reporters Friday that he was defending himself last week when Tiffany died.
Asked if people commonly commit strangulation homicides in self-defense, Monahan said, "I've never seen one," adding that he has investigated about 350 murders.
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