Google Earth Community: Location of Ted Binion's vault

Location of Ted Binion's vault. (Pahrump Nugget Casino was built on this spot in 2000)

Binion owned a piece of property in Pahrump that consisted of several acres right in the center of town about a mile from his ranch, where Highway 160 intersects with Highway 372, the road to Death Valley. The property was situated on one side next to a Terrible Herbst casino known as "Terrible's Town," owned by the Herbst family, and on the other side a Burger King and a Smith's Food King supermarket. A McDonald's restaurant was located across the highway, as was a gas station and convenience store. It was the busiest intersection in Pahrump, where people came and went day and night. In keeping with his penchant for burying things, Binion wanted to build an underground cement vault on the site's northwest corner where he could store his seven million dollars in silver. Binion eventually asked Tabish to build the vault for him and, after surveying the area with Binion, Tabish agreed. When construction of the concrete vault was completed, Tabish, Binion and a group of men who worked for Tabish transported Binion's silver to Pahrump on July 4, 1998, and sealed it ten feet underground. Afterward, Tabish asked Binion if he wanted to change the combination to the vault's lock so that only Binion would know it. But Binion had declined, and said that he trusted Tabish.

At 2:10 a.m. on Saturday, September 19, 1998, barely two days following Ted Binion's death, Nye County Sheriff's Department Sergeant Ed Howard was out on routine patrol when he received a call from Detective Sergeant Steve Huggins who instructed Howard to drive by and check on Ted Binion's vault next to Terrible's Town Casino. There had been reports of a disturbance at the site. When Howard arrived a short time later, followed in another patrol car by Deputy Dean Pennock, he observed two pickup trucks, an excavator, lots of dust and three men, one of whom was operating heavy machinery at the site of Binion's vault. He also observed a tractor with a trailer used for hauling heavy equipment, and a belly-dump truck. As he turned off Highway 160 and into the area of the vault, he observed that a man operating the excavator was attempting to smooth out the dirt that had been disturbed near the road. Howard observed two men he would later identify as Rick Tabish and David Mattsen standing by, as the other man, Michael Milot, operated the excavator.

Tabish, Mattsen, and Milot were promptly arrested and booked on burglary, grand larceny, attempted grand larceny, suspicion of theft, attempted embezzlement, and conspiracy to commit grand larceny. The three men were each held on one hundred thousand dollars bond.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/binion/pahrump_12.html