GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. — The death penalty trial of a contractor accused of killing a Fleming Island woman began Thursday. Susan Mauldin went missing in October of 2019 and Corey Binderim was charged with her murder. He was also doing work on her bathroom at the time
The state brought forth many witnesses who said that Mauldin was a neighbor and a friend. The state also told the jury the way that Mauldin’s body was found in a landfill in Georgia three months after she went missing.
“Medical waste, rotten food, dirty diapers, blood tubes from dialysis, the most disgusting things a person can think of, those items served as the burial ground for Ms. Mauldin," said the State Attorney Ashley Terry during opening statements.
The state posited that Binderim was the person who killed Mauldin and disposed of her body.
“He tossed her out like the garbage he thought she was," said Terry.
Binderim’s defense team paints him in a different light.
“The evidence will show that Corey Binderim is a hardworking family man," said defense attorney Jim Hernandez.
Binderim previously did work on the kitchen of Mauldin’s Fleming Island home. She paid him $12,000 upfront in the spring of 2019 to renovate her bathroom, but after six months of no updates after he demolished the bathroom, Mauldin’s friends said that she wanted her money back and was going to seek legal action against Binderim.
“She had given up, given up the fact that he was going to do anything for her, and she was intending to call the police,” said Lynn Fugate, a friend of Susan Mauldin.
One of the dozen witnesses called by the state was retired Clay County Sgt Mike Calhoun. He investigated the case as a homicide and examined Mauldin’s home office after her disappearance.
“I would say she was a little obsessive, organization and keeping files,” said Calhoun.
But detectives discovered the file on Binderim Home Remodeling was empty.
This death penalty trial in the case of a contractor accused of killing his client in Fleming Island will continue Friday morning.