LAS VEGAS — Police say they have arrested a local politician in connection to the murder of Marquette University alum and investigative reporter Jeff German in Las Vegas last Friday.
Metro Las Vegas police said during a press conference on Thursday that officers arrested Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, 45, and booked him on one count of open murder. The case is still open and they are investigating leads.
Officers said it "has been an unusual case from the beginning."
Police said German was stabbed multiple times and died from the stab wounds. He graduated from Marquette University and started his news career in Milwaukee. At the time of his death, he was working as an investigative reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. German was in fact investigating the county administrator at the time of his death and his reporting is credited with leading to the defeat of the administrator in his reelection bid earlier this summer.
Police add that Telles knew about other unpublished works written by German.
Surveillance video showed a man dressed in an orange reflective jacket, straw hat and gym bag. That man approached German near his home and an altercation started between them. German was later found dead from the stab wounds. Police said they learned that that suspect had at some time entered an SUV. The vehicle then connected the county administrator to the murder, police said.
Previous reporting about Jeff German
German, 69, was found dead with stab wounds last Saturday after authorities received a 911 call.
German died of “multiple sharp force injuries” in a homicide, the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner said.
It appears German was in an altercation with another person that led to the stabbing, which is believed to be an isolated incident, police said.
“We believe the altercation took place outside of the home,” Capt. Dori Koren, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesman, said at a news conference. “We do have some leads. We are pursuing a suspect but the suspect is outstanding.”
Glenn Cook, the Review-Journal’s executive editor, said German had not communicated any concerns about his personal safety or any threats made against him to anyone in the newspaper’s leadership.
“The Review-Journal family is devastated to lose Jeff,” Cook said in a statement. “He was the gold standard of the news business. It’s hard to imagine what Las Vegas would be like today without his many years of shining a bright light on dark places.”
German joined the Review-Journal in 2010 after more than two decades at the Las Vegas Sun, where he was a columnist and reporter who covered courts, politics, labor, government and organized crime.
He was known for his stories about government malfeasance and political scandals and coverage of the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival that killed 60 people and wounded more than 400 others.
According to the Review-Journal, German held a master’s degree from Marquette University and was the author of the 2001 true-crime book “Murder in Sin City: The Death of a Las Vegas Casino Boss,” the story of the death of Ted Binion, heir to the Horseshoe Club fortune.
Marquette University shared a statement with TMJ4 about German's passing, saying, "Marquette University extends its thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Jeff German."
