Widow complained about contractor’s shoddy renovation on her house. He strangled her and dumped her body in a landfill
Corey Binderim didn’t initially raise suspicions when he went to a Home Depot to pick up demolition bags and concrete one October morning. One of those bags would later be used to shroud a woman he murdered, James Liddell writes
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Susan Mauldin was fed up.
After spending thousands of dollars for a complete remodel of her bathroom at her Fleming Island home in Florida’s Clay County, it wasn’t just unfinished, it had been left completely demolished.
The widow decided she was going to confront her contractor, Corey Binderim, and sue him for failing to finish the job.
On October 24, 2019, Binderim called the 65-year-old homeowner twice before heading to a hardware store to get supplies. A day later, she had disappeared.
After making a fleeting visit to Mauldin’s home, Binderman, 49, drove across the state border to south Georgia and dumped 300lbs of material at a landfill site. In January 2020, the FBI uncovered Mauldin’s remains in the landfill, with the coroner ruling she had been bludgeoned and strangled.
Almost five years later, on October 14, Binderman sat emotionless as he was found guilty of homicide.
State attorney Ashley Terry said in her opening remarks last week that Binderman had the “façade of a respectable contractor” who “tossed [Mauldin] out like the garbage he thought she was”.
Binderman was convicted on three felony counts including first-degree murder, assault and battery during a burglary, and destroying evidence on October 14. Two days later, he narrowly avoided the death sentence with the jury instead recommending he face life in prison without parole.
On Wednesday, Binderman’s defense attorney Jim Hernandez filed a motion requesting a new trial.
Mauldin vanishes
Mauldin was due to confront Binderim seeking reparations for her unfinished bathroom.
Binderim was hired for $12,000 to renovate Mauldin’s bathroom, but repeatedly failed to work or finish the task at hand, court documents reveal. He told detectives he thought it was a $1,200 job.
A day before her disappearance on October 23, 2019, she was expected to give the contractor an ultimatum threatening criminal and legal action, according to prosecutors.
She didn’t know that weeks before the murder, Binderim made a quip to an employee, Leigh Stansbury, about where to bury a body, the staff member testified.
Then, on October 24, 2019 Mauldin vanished.
At approximately 7am ET that morning, CCTV footage shows Binderim visiting a Home Depot where he purchased heavy-duty demolition bags and two 60lb bags of concrete, according to an affidavit.
One of those bags would become the victim’s shroud, according to prosecutors.
After calling Mauldin twice, Binderim pulled up outside her home in his white truck at approximately 8am.
He initially denied entering the home but later told investigators that he went inside her property to retrieve some tools.
By 9am he had arrived at Rosemary Hill Waste Management transfer facility in Clay County. It sent garbage to a facility in Folkston, Georgia.
He then returned to his storage unit before once again heading back to the hardware store, according to prosecutors.
By October 25, 2019, Mauldin’s friend reported her missing.
Evidence mounts
Duval County jail records show Binderim was booked on an unrelated forgery charge and was being held on a $50,000 bond in December 2019.
It was completely separate to 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.
Upon a search of Binderim’s storage unit, a K-9 unit smelled decomposition from a tool bag that had been 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 that she started getting loud and that he was trying to shut her up,” he testified last week.
Finding Maudlin
From January 21, 2020 the FBI, joined by investigators from Clay County Sheriff’s Office, State Attorney’s Office led the extensive search of Chesser Island Road landfill in Folkston, Georgia.
About 40 personnel worked in 12-hour shifts scouring through an area about the size of a baseball diamond, investigators said.
“This is like searching for a needle in a haystack,” said State Attorney Melissa Nelson 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 a portion of a skull, and the following day, more remains were found, and dental records confirmed they belonged to Mauldin.
“What took place in her home, which really represented a safety and comfort for her, is now a constant reminder of the horror and loss of my true friend,” Mauldin’s friend Christine Wright told the court.
Dr Edmund Donoghue, a forensic pathologist who conducted 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 fractured bone in Mauldin’s neck.
Binderim was arrested on March 3, 2020.
At Binderim’s criminal trial last week, the defense also called doctors to testify about his addictions and brain injuries which 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 of them from playing football in high school.
Bindermin now faces life in prison.