Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, 45, who German had been reporting on for months, was taken into custody Wednesday, police said. German, 69, was found dead Saturday morning, according to the county medical examiner’s office, and the cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma. Telles was a person of interest early in the investigation as authorities looked into possible complaints or work-related conflicts, Las Vegas Police Chief Dori Coren said at a news conference Thursday. He did not reveal a specific motive. After searching Telles’ home, police found a pair of shoes and a straw hat that matched those worn in a previously released photo of the suspect, police said Thursday. Both items were cut, possibly in an attempt to destroy evidence, Koren said. He added that Telles’ DNA was a positive match to DNA recovered from the crime scene. “Tels was upset about the articles being written by Germano as an investigative journalist uncovering possible wrongdoing, and Tells publicly expressed his problems with that reporting,” Koren said Thursday. A well-known journalist in Nevada, Germany covered the turmoil in Telles’ office, his alleged affair with a subordinate, and the allegations made against him by the county clerk’s employees, which included intimidation, favoritism and emotional distress. In June, Telles conceded a Democratic primary race for the seat to his deputy and criticized the German’s reports on Twitter. “Looking forward to fake spread #4 from @JGermanRJ,” Telles tweeted on June 18. “#onetrickpony I think he’s crazy that I haven’t crawled into a hole and died.” In the weeks before German was killed, he was planning a follow-up report on Telles, the Review-Journal reported. Please wait for a public records request. Tells made his first court appearance Thursday, where Judge Elana Lee Graham ruled that he be held without bond at the Clark County Detention Center. His next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday. “We are relieved Tells is in custody and outraged that a colleague of his appears to have been killed for reporting on an elected official,” Review-Journal Executive Editor Glenn Cook told the newspaper on Wednesday. “Journalists cannot do the important work our communities demand if they fear reporting the facts could lead to violent punishment.” Fifty journalists and media workers around the world have been killed this year, according to figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists. These deaths included people who died during dangerous missions and those who appeared to have been targeted. The German is the only reported death of a journalist or media worker in the United States this year. since 1992, 16 have been killed across the country. One of the worst attacks on an American newspaper was in 2018, when a gunman killed five people and injured several others in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Md. The gunman had previously lost a defamation suit against the newspaper over its reporting of criminal harassment. Prosecutors argued he was out for “revenge” and the court found him criminally responsible for the rampage. In a statement to the Review-Journal, German’s family said they were “shocked, saddened and angry at his death.” “Jeff was committed to seeking justice for others and would appreciate the hard work of local police and journalists in tracking down his killer,” the statement said. “We look forward to justice being served in this case.” Recounting the timeline of the incident, Koren said the German had an argument with the suspect around 11am on Friday near his home, after which he was stabbed multiple times. For decades, Germany covered labor, court, organized crime, political scandals and more in Las Vegas, joining the Review-Journal in 2010 after more than 20 years at the Las Vegas Sun. His colleagues remembered him as a fierce journalist who was devoted to his craft. During his career, German became known for his investigative work and coverage of high-profile stories on politics and organized crime. He wrote the 2001 true-crime book “Murder in Sin City: The Death of a Las Vegas Casino Boss” and led the paper’s investigation into the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, the deadliest in modern US history. He hosted the Review-Journal’s “Mobbed Up” podcast. Cook told The Washington Post in a statement that the German had not shared any concerns about his safety with management. Police said there was no threat to the public after the stabbing, the Review-Journal reported. On Monday, police released a surveillance image of the person suspected of killing the German. It showed a person wearing a large straw hat and an orange reflective shirt. The next day, police released a photo of the vehicle linked to the suspect: a maroon GMC Yukon Denali. After police released the image of the vehicle Tuesday, Review-Journal reporters saw Telles standing next to a matching vehicle in his driveway. The GMC and a second vehicle were towed away from Telles’ property Wednesday afternoon, the Review-Journal reported. On Thursday, Koren said the GMC was registered to Telles’ wife and police had video evidence showing the vehicle leaving around 9 a.m. on the day of the killing and returning after noon, matching the timing of the incident. Early Wednesday afternoon, Telles arrived at his home wearing a white hazmat suit, videos posted online by reporters show. “Did you commit this murder?” a reporter asked in the video. “Did you do that?” As reporters continued to ask questions, Telles quietly entered the garage and closed it. Local news outlets reported an hours-long disturbance at Telles’ home later Wednesday. Videos posted online showed SWAT team members outside the home and someone on a stretcher being taken to an ambulance. During Thursday’s press conference, police said Telles suffered self-inflicted injuries that were not life-threatening, but did not release further details. The investigation is ongoing and remains a priority for Las Vegas police, officials said. “Every murder is tragic, but the murder of a journalist is particularly disturbing,” said Sheriff Joseph Lombardo. In memory of German, Review-Journal cartoonist Michael Ramirez created a piece titled “His Light Will Shine.” The cartoon shows a typewriter illuminated by the halo of a candle next to a Bible verse: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never put it out.” Elahe Izadi contributed to this report.
