by Susan Mauldin was tired.
After spending thousands of dollars on a complete remodeling of her bathroom in her home on Fleming Island in Clay County Florida, it was not only unfinished, it was left completely demolished.
Mauldin decided she was going to confront her contractor, Corey Binderim, and sue him for failing to complete the job.
On October 24, 2019, Binderim called the 65-year-old homeowner twice before going to a hardware store to get supplies. The next day, she was gone.
After a lengthy visit to the Mauldin home, Binderman, 49, drove across the state line into southern Georgia and dumped 300 pounds of material at a landfill. In January 2020, the FBI revealed Mauldin’s remains in the landfill, with the coroner’s ruling that she had been bludgeoned and strangled.
Almost five years later, on October 14, Binderman sat emotionless as he was found guilty of murder.
State’s attorney Ashley Terry said in her opening remarks last week that Binderman had the “face of a respectable contractor” who “will [Mauldin] out like the garbage he thought she was”.
Binderman was convicted of three felony counts including first-degree murder, assault and battery during a burglary, and destruction of evidence on October 14. Two days later, he narrowly avoided the death sentence with the jury recommending he face life in prison without parole.
On Wednesday, Binderman’s defense attorney Jim Hernandez filed a motion asking for a new trial.
Mauldin goes away
Mauldin was to fight Binderim seeking compensation for his unfinished bathroom.
Binderim was hired for $12,000 to renovate Mauldin’s bathroom, but repeatedly failed to work or complete the task at hand, court documents reveal. He told detectives he thought it was a $1,200 job.
A day before she went missing on October 23, 2019, she was expected to give the contractor an ultimatum threatening criminal and legal action, according to prosecutors.
Unbeknownst to her, weeks before the murder, Binderim made a quip to an employee, Leigh Stansbury, about where to bury a body, the staff member said.
Then, on October 24, 2019, Mauldin disappeared.
At about 7 a.m. ET that morning, CCTV footage shows Binderim visiting a Home Depot where he bought heavy duty demolition bags and two 60lb bags of concrete, according to an affidavit.
One of those bags would be the victim’s shroud, according to prosecutors.
After calling Mauldin twice, Binderim pulled up outside her house in his white truck at around 8am.
He initially denied entering the home but later told investigators he entered his property to get some tools.
By 9am it had arrived at the Rosemary Hill Waste Management transfer facility in County Clay. He sent garbage to a facility in Folkston, Georgia.
He then returned to his storage unit before going back to the hardware store again, according to prosecutors.
By October 25, 2019, Mauldin’s friend reported her missing.
Evidence devices
Duval County jail records show Binderim was booked on an unrelated forgery charge and was being held on $50,000 bond in December 2019.
It was completely separate from the missing Mauldin case, but Binderim had been a person of interest since November 2019 as authorities investigated the victim’s death.
Inside Mauldin’s home, crime scene technicians found blood smears on a lampshade and drops of blood on the living room floor, as well as blood in the kitchen, according to the arrest warrant.
Binderim also had deep scratches up his arms.
While searching Binderim’s storage unit, a K-9 unit smelled decomposition from a bag of tools inside Mauldin’s home.
A jailhouse informant who was incarcerated with Binderim gave a damning account, claiming that the defendant admitted to hitting and choking a client during a fight over payment.
“He said she started getting loud and he wanted to shut her up,” he testified last week.
Looking Maudlin
As of January 21, 2020 the FBI, along with investigators from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, State Attorney’s Office led the extensive search of the Chesser Island Road landfill in Folkston, Georgia.
About 40 personnel worked in 12-hour shifts scouring an area about the size of a baseball diamond, investigators said.
“This is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” State’s Attorney Melissa Nelson said at Bindermin’s arraignment in January 2020.
After nine days of digging through more than 7,300 tons of waste, Mauldin’s remains were found, according to Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels.
One member of the team came across part of a skull, and the next day, more remains were found, and dental records confirmed they belonged to Mauldin.
“What happened in her home, which really meant safety and comfort to her, is now a constant reminder of the horror and loss of my dearest friend,” Mauldin’s friend, Christine Wright, told the court.
Dr. Edmund Donoghue, a forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy, ruled the manner of death as homicide.
He concluded that the cause of death was blunt force trauma with “strangulation” as a contributing condition, due to a broken bone in Mauldin’s neck.
Binderim was arrested on 3 March 2020.
At Binderim’s criminal trial last week, the defense asked doctors to testify about his addictions and brain injuries that may have caused behavioral changes.
They noted a family history of mental illness, Binderim’s attempts to self-medicate with cocaine, and brain damage from more than five concussions, some from playing football in high school.
Bindermin now faces life in prison.
