FBI Jacksonville Evidence Response Team senior team leader and Special Agent Lauren Regucci (from left) discusses the search efforts with Pam Hazel of the Florida State Attorney Office and Clay County Sheriff’s Office Detective Howard Fryer as search crews comb through tons of garbage in search of Susan Mauldin at the Chesser Island Road Landfill in Folkston, Georgia
Five years ago, a murder victim’s story was buried under 7,200 tons of landfill debris. In January 2020, the FBI’s Jacksonville Evidence Response Team (ERT) leveraged their scientific expertise, critical partnerships, and relentless determination to recover the remains of missing Clay County, Florida, woman Susan Mauldin.
This historic case marked the FBI’s first successful landfill search for covered remains and underscores the Bureau’s unwavering commitment to justice for victims, said FBI Special Agent Lauren Regucci, senior lead of the Jacksonville Evidence Response Team.
On October 25, 2019, Florida’s Clay County Sheriff’s Office responded to a missing person’s report for 65-year-old Mauldin. Her friend told investigators that Mauldin had recently argued with her contractor, Corey Binderim, over an unfinished bathroom remodel and a $12,000 payment.
Binderim, who was named a person of interest, confirmed the dispute but claimed he gave Mauldin a $1,200 check on October 24. Surveillance footage and further investigation revealed key details: Binderim purchased contractor bags and concrete that morning, visited Mauldin’s home at 8:00 a.m., and, by 9:20 a.m., had disposed of 300 pounds of waste at a local waste facility, which was later transferred to a landfill in Georgia.
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“When we all come together … to tap into all our resources, it is amazing what we can do together.”
Lauren Regucci, special agent, FBI Jacksonville
Critical collaboration
The timing was critical, said FBI Special Agent William Logan. Four days after Mauldin went missing, Clay County investigators recognized the complex scale of the case and reached out to the FBI for help. They understood early on that both Bureau personnel and the specialized expertise of the FBI’s Evidence Response Team and Laboratory assets including the Technical Hazards Response Unit would be necessary in what was about to become a massive, multi-agency effort.
“This rapid response was made possible by the incredibly quick, professional, and thorough work of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office Robbery Homicide Unit,” said Logan. “Their efforts allowed us to confidently report to FBI executive management that Mauldin’s body was likely in the landfill, and that we would find her.”
Investigators identified and sectioned off an area about the size of a baseball diamond with depths that ranged from four feet to 25 feet—within the nearly 1,000-acre Chesser Island Road Landfill in southeast Georgia, where they believed Mauldin’s remains were located.
Steam rises from the mountain of garbage in the early morning hours of one day’s search efforts.
Regucci explained FBI Jacksonville had done a similar landfill search for human remains in 2018 and were able to lean on what they had just learned, as well as their strong relationships.
But for Regucci and the team, the mission was about more than just recovering human remains—it was about ensuring that Mauldin, a widow from the United Kingdom with no family to advocate for her, received the justice she deserved.
Searching the unsearchable
“There are endless reasons why a landfill is a bad environment to conduct a search, starting with the scale,” explained Logan “It’s very physically and technically difficult work. It’s household waste, construction waste, medical waste, in various states of decomposition. The smell is overwhelming.”
The FBI’s Jacksonville Evidence Response Team was up for the challenge.
Across the country, ERTs are deployed to complex crime scenes and catastrophic events, specializing in the collection and preservation of critical evidence, even in hazardous environments like landfills.
“Landfills are a business based on airspace. They can only go up so high,” said Regucci. “They have a vested interest in compacting everything down to the lowest level possible. When we went out to do the site survey, they had already finished spreading out and compacting a particular cell. That was incredibly helpful because it meant there were only two days of waste to sift through.”
The FBI’s Technical Hazards Response Unit (THRU) was instrumental in setting up the infrastructure necessary for such a massive operation, ensuring there were portable restrooms and climate-controlled tents while also ensuring the safety and health of the search teams.
Regucci explained that the search was grueling and physically exhausting. Photos cannot capture the grim conditions the teams endured—covered head to toe in protective gear, working 12-hour days, and racing against the clock.
“There was a level of desperation because we really felt that she was there,” said Regucci. “I remember Bill and I standing on the edge of the landfill and saying, ‘Susan, where are you? Help us find you.'”
On January 29, after nine days of searching, investigators found Mauldin’s skull and body parts.
“I remember Bill and I standing on the edge of the landfill and saying, ‘Susan, where are you? Help us find you.'”
Lauren Regucci, special agent, FBI Jacksonville
Search crews come together after working from the outside perimeter inward on a “deck” of garbage. Tons of garbage were taken bucket-by-bucket from the area of interest in the landfill and spread out in “decks”—or layers—just a few inches thick for crews to comb through.
“When I knelt down, I saw the back of her skull, with hair still attached,” said Regucci. “It was very overwhelming, just the culmination of, oh my gosh, we found her.”
The moment marked the end of a long journey but also the beginning of another: securing justice for Mauldin’s murder.
“We had confidence that we would find Susan Mauldin’s body, but we needed the resources to achieve that. The special agent in charge coordinated the dig with the landfill, excavators, and crews from their agency, local law enforcement, and state attorney office investigators,” said State Attorney Melissa Nelson. “The dedication of resources—funding, PPE, an onsite anthropologist—and time ultimately led us to find Mauldin’s remains. She was a vulnerable elderly woman with no family to fight for her, but our collective efforts made sure she was not forgotten.”
The Bureau’s commitment to justice
Corey Binderim was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, and evidence tampering in the death of Mauldin and in October 2024, he was sentenced to life in prison.
“The FBI’s expertise and resources were critical in finding Susan Mauldin’s remains and confirming the state’s theory,” said Pam Hazel, Clay County director and lead prosecutor on the case. “Every victim deserves justice and closure, and the FBI worked hand-in-hand with our office and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office to ensure all efforts were exhausted.”
This case is not just about subject matter expertise and innovation; it is about humanity and the care that the FBI takes for victims, said Logan.
“Mauldin is all of us and could be anyone,” said Regucci. “She didn’t know a lot of people, yet there was a huge following of support for her and of the FBI through this process.”
The recovery of Mauldin’s remains was not just a victory for law enforcement but for the community as a whole. Mauldin’s case stands as an example of the FBI’s unyielding pursuit of justice and the people, partnerships, and innovation that drive these efforts.
“This case taught me to trust the process,” said Regucci. “I had a lot of confidence that she was in the landfill. Whether or not we were going to find her was a different issue. When we all come together—the Bureau, ERT, THRU, waste management personnel, and local partners—to tap into all our resources, it is amazing what we can do together.”
