CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – A Clay County contractor who was accused of killing a client in 2019 was found guilty of first-degree murder on Monday after hours of deliberation.
The guilty verdict on murder and two other counts came about four hours after attorneys gave their closing arguments in the trial of Corey Binderim who was accused of killing Susan Mauldin.
The trial will now move to the penalty phase.
In closing arguments Monday morning, the government portrayed Binderim as a man on the brink, afraid of his drug use being exposed and his wife leaving him as a result and they said he feared Mauldin calling the police on him to try to get her money back, which he couldn’t pay.
“On October 24, 2019, instead of bringing a $12,000 check that he did not have, he brought this sturdy demo contractor bag and after strangling Ms. Mauldin to death, he used that contractor bag as her tomb,” said prosecutor Pamela Hazel.
Last week, a Clay County inmate testified that Binderim confessed to him that he strangled Mauldin, a widow, in a dispute over money and took her body to a dump.
The jury also saw images from the nine-day search for Mauldin in a south Georgia landfill, as well as disturbing images of the remains they found.
Two of Mauldin’s nails were found at the landfill. One was found to have just her DNA on it and one was found to have her DNA and that of one or two unknown males, but not Binerim’s DNA. The prosecution said the nail with other DNA was found outside the bag in which Mauldin’s remains were found, but the defense said the opposite.
The jury asked a little less than two hours into deliberations for the court to clarify, but the judge told them they would need to rely on their own recollection.
Binderim, 49, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Mauldin. The state is seeking the death penalty.
Mauldin was reported missing from her Fleming Island home in October 2019. Her remains were found three months later at the landfill in Folkston, Georgia.
Investigators said Binderim was the last person to see her alive.
Binderim’s ex-wife testified, telling the court he had had a problem with cocaine in the past, which had led to money problems.
Meanwhile, the defense continued to note that no blood evidence connecting Binderim to the crime had been recovered.
The jailhouse informant, Thomas Smith, said he and Binderim bonded over doing similar work in construction and Binderim told him he went to Mauldin’s house when he was high to collect payment and they got into an argument that escalated.
“He said that she started getting loud and that he was trying to shut her up,” Smith said.
Earlier in the trial, the state played surveillance video for the jury showing Binderim’s movements around the time Mauldin went missing.
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In December 2019, Binderim, who was a person of interest in Mauldin’s disappearance, was arrested on an unrelated charge. He was charged a couple of months later with Mauldin’s murder.
Court records show Binderim was hired to complete a $12,000 remodel on Mauldin’s home before she disappeared. Documents released by prosecutors say he repeatedly failed to show up for work and finish the job.
Binderim was seen in a surveillance video at Home Depot around 7 a.m. the day after friends said Mauldin was planning to confront him. He was seen buying demolition bags and concrete mix. The prosecution said a bag he bought became her shroud.
Surveillance video showed Binderim’s truck in Mauldin’s driveway a little after 8 a.m. and then around 9 a.m., he checked in at a local landfill where prosecutors say he left Mauldin’s body. He’s accused of dumping 300 pounds of materials at the landfill.
Surveillance video showed Binderim back at Home Depot around 11 a.m. that morning wearing different clothes.
The lead detective in the case also testified that a few weeks after Mauldin went missing, Binderim was the target of an investigation in Jacksonville Beach where he was accused of stealing a $5,000 check from another client.
The detective also testified that Binderim fled to Colorado using a burner phone and eventually turned himself in in December.
Prosecutors said on Oct. 23, a day before her disappearance, Mauldin gave an ultimatum to Binderim due to the unfinished work.
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The state also said Mauldin was strangled and there was a struggle, with scratches seen on Binderim’s arm and hand.
Binderim’s defense called it a “circumstantial case” and said that based on the 37 minutes captured on surveillance video, it was not enough time for Binderim to kill Mauldin and clean up afterward.
Moreover, Binderim’s lawyer said his DNA was not found on Mauldin’s two fingernails that were found at the landfill in Georgia but DNA was detected from an unknown man and an unknown woman. With that, the defense said there would be “reasonable doubt.”
The defense claims Binderim was a hardworking contractor and a father and noted that he goes to Home Depot and buys supplies often because of his line of work and that scratches like the ones on his hand and arm are occupational hazards. They also said he dumps waste at the landfill often for his job and that was nothing unusual.
They also claim the work at Mauldin’s home was taking so long because she was having trouble making design decisions.