LAS VEGAS — A county administrator in Las Vegas was arrested in connection with the murder of a Marquette University graduate on Wednesday.
Las Vegas police served search warrants at the home of a local county official in connection to the killing of Marquette University alum and investigative reporter Jeff German, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
Uniformed officers arrived at the home of Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles on Wednesday. He had been the focus of stories filed by German, who was working for the Review-Journal at the time of his death.
German spent a number of months investigating Telles and his oversight of the office, the Review-Journal said. Telles, a Democrat, lost re-election in June after German's investigative reports about Telles were published.
A SWAT team arrested Telles at his home Wednesday night.
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."
Jim Romenesko, a former Journal-Sentinel police reporter, shared the following comments with TMJ4 News:
“I met Jeff in the late 1970s, when he was a Milwaukee Journal intern and I was a cub police reporter. We were both recent Marquette graduates with an interest in crime reporting. Jeff was ambitious, passionate about news and yearned to cover the big stories. I knew he liked the glitz and grittiness of Las Vegas, and he headed there after his Journal internship. About one year after he joined the Las Vegas Sun - he jumped to the Review-Journal years later - we went up for dinner during my trip to the west coast. He was excited about his new reporting job and being in a great news city like Las Vegas. I followed his career over the years, and wasn’t surprised to see that he wrote a book, wrote major stories about the mob and Vegas casinos - and even partnered with the Mob Museum to do a podcast. I’m extremely saddened by Jeff’s death, of course, but happy that he had a long, satisfying career.”
In a public update on Tuesday, Capt. Dori Koren shared new photos of a vehicle believed to be connected to German's killing: a red or maroon 2007-2014 GMC Yukon Denali with chrome handles, a sunroof, and a luggage rack.
A vehicle parked in the driveway at Telles' home appeared similar to the vehicle in photos Koren shared.
Earlier this week, police shared photos of a potential suspect who was seen near German's home, wearing a large-brimmed straw hat and a long-sleeved orange construction shirt.
