The Assassination of Jeff German | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] I'll never forget that day something sinister happened something unimaginable my cell phone rings and
it's Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo Sheriff says to me Glenn I'm calling about Jeff
Gman and he says Jeff's dead just like that just like that Jeff Gman was found dead with stab
wounds outside his home around 10:30 yesterday morning Metro Police are asking for the Public's help they're
saying this is the suspect I couldn't even believe it I had so many questions who would do this
I mean how did this happen just how big a list of people might have wanted Jeff dead that's a
line of people that runs from here to Los Angeles this guy's written about terrible people who've done awful things
for over 40 years the worst kinds of people they called him Tony the ant but Tony
spilatro was a big figure in the mafia he had a special interest in covering organized
crime you know he was gutsy and fearless Jeff Gman was Guided by an innate sense of right and
wrong if he knew someone was engaging in criminal activity unethical activity inappropriate
behavior he wanted to do that story he wanted to bring it to why we couldn't believe he would even
take a call from us but he did give me a sense of what state you were in when you
called Jeff gar we were desperate in fear every day it was just survival one step in front of the other one day at a
time the only person that listened to us and the only person that tried to do something that concretely put their name
on the line to try to do that listened to us was was Jeff gar was Jeff he did something and he fought for us
and he is 100% our hero and if I was to talk to him today I think the first thing I would
say is I'm [Music] sorry as Jeff's editor his colleague did you ever sense any danger in covering
this story there was absolutely no suggestion no hint that this would end the way it
did none [Music] [Music] on September 2nd 2022 it was a boiling hot late summer day in
Las Vegas and people were getting ready for the Labor Day weekend it was late morning when in
broad daylight something terrible happened as investigative journalist for the Las Vegas Review
Journal Brianna Erikson and Ronda prast had seen a lot of bad people do a lot of
bad things but nothing came close to the Maia vellan plot to murder their friend
and colleague Jeff Garman Jeff Gman was at his house on vacation he'd gone out to get something to
eat he came back shut his garage door you could see in the surveillance video from across the street that
someone an as salent came into his yard went to the left side of his house went inside the gate shut the
gate and then we see Jeff moments later opening his garage door and he was instantly ambushed when he turned the
corner to where that person was lying in weit in the video you can kind of see a
struggle but Jeff ultimately falls to the ground and he never gets up what happened to him in that attack Jeff
was stabbed he was stabbed seven times four times in the neck three in the Torso seven stab wounds did that suggest
what kind of a killing this was to me this was a very personal attack to stab someone in such a short time viciously
seven times with no warning a concerned neighbor found Jeff garman's body hidden behind some bushes 24 hours
later 911 emergency for 10965 need police fire medical I have a neighbor across the street from the he's Ling the
side yard um I believe he dead he's got blood over it was just a terrible thing to know that he was lying there and we
wondered whether he could have been saved but medical experts told us later that he likely died with in a minute or
two it was a small Mercy for a man who had spent his life fighting for the underdog at the base he just wanted to
help people and protect people you know and expose wrongdoing from the start Jeff Gman was
shooting for big game and when he came from Wisconsin in the 70s Vegas was the serengetti
Mark Fiero a TV reporter at the time became a lifelong friend and trusted Source Jeff Gman at the outset was a a
reporter who caught the most important beat in Las Vegas of his day that was organized crime then a reporter for the
Las Vegas son Jeff took on one of the biggest meanus Mobsters on the Strip a prime target of the feds is Tony
spalatro the outfit's representative in Vegas spalatro Tony spalatro a power player for the Chicago mob played by Joe
peshi in scor's film Casino you said I'm bringing heat on you here's Jeff Gman talking about spilatro in the podcast
mobbed up he had a reputation for being a brutal killer yet he was never convicted of a single murder a podcast
Jeff made about a year before he died he had the coldest eyes I've ever seen seene in my stories I got used to
calling spalatro by his street name Tony the ant he hated that and it sometimes left me at the receiving end of spo's
nasty stairs and his menacing fits of anger the irony of all of this is is that Jeff was not a tall man was not a
strong man but he toughed it out and he went toe-to-toe with these guys year in and year out and some of these guys were
dangerous guys try as they did they couldn't scare him says Briana after his tires had been slashed
and some spooky things were happening to him he told a mob affiliate in a bar to
call off his dogs then he got punched in the face he later described that as a badge of honor a couple of hours later
with four stitches under my lip I had a war story to tell as the mob slowly lost its grip on
Vegas Jeff built a career exposing dirty business government corruption and crime
Ronda the former assistant managing editor for investigations at the RJ worked with him for 3 years he kept
digging and digging and digging and he was like the dog the little dog that would take a bite of your pants and
wouldn't let go you know he was just so laser focused on continuing to go deeper
and deeper and deeper into a story that tenacity helped him expose the truth in stories that could have remained in the
shadows he was one of the few journalists along with his colleague David Ferrara to report on the Susan
Winters case a woman whose parents doubted the suicide ruling in their daughter's death and Jeff started
putting pieces together working with the attorney for the family that the way that she killed herself was so
unseemly that it just didn't add up and once he started and he started pulling on that thread and then he started
pulling on a rope and then it turned into a chain that chain turned into a series of stories that targeted the
husband turns out Susan died from ingesting a lethal combination of painkillers and antifreeze the husband
who was charged with murder ultimately pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sent to prison
as hard charging and public as Jeff was in his work life the lifelong bachelor was notoriously private about his
personal life he was always back to business back to business this man was born to be a reporter a man who lived
for his job and as it turns out a man who may have died for it the entire Newsroom rallied together
his colleagues had no idea who did this or why but they were determined to do what Jeff
Gman would have done find [Music] [Music] out the RJ staff was in mour there's sorrow in full display on
Jeff garman's desk it's a reminder that this team is not going to be the same without him but
we can carry on the way he would want us to and that meant doing what he would have
done the staff started tugging on threads and searching for Clues working non-stop on one of the most important
stories of their careers who killed Jeff Gman immediately I started thinking in my
head all right who had threatened Jeff in any way in the last 5 months who could have possibly done
this executive editor Glen cook asked Ronda to come up with a short list of people to consider one of the names I
gave him was Robert Tellus and who is Robert Tellus he was a Clark County elected official in charge
of the public administrator's office which handles Estates of people who were deceased one of the estate coordinators
in ts's office Alicia Goodwin had reached out to Jeff Gman in March of 2022 she had filed a formal complaint
with the Clark County Office of diversity on behalf of herself and some colleagues claiming Robert Tellus
harassed bullied and discriminated against them he was a horrible the horrible human being monster is the
right word but Alicia says the county did nothing it was he's an elected official there's nothing we can
do Jeff agreed to hear what Alicia and her colleagues norin pdag Rita Reed and Jessica Coleman had to say and when he
finally talked to us and he let us tell what had happened to us and he said no I'm going to look into this I I think
that's the only thing that gave us enough energy to keep going according to the women the trouble
began almost immediately after Robert Tellus took office in January 2019 Rita a supervisor was his second in
command and a 12-year veteran of the office he came in very abruptly into the office and he slammed his palms down on
my desk with a with a real loud bang I oh yes absolutely and he leaned forward and he said we're ripping off the
bandage you no longer supervise anyone no one reports to you they all report to me and he turned around and he walked
out and I just sat there stunned the women say they were ordered not to speak to each other in the office
it it felt dangerous to even have a hello good morning conversation with co-workers in passing if caught the
consequences could be severe says Alicia she remembers getting called into ts's office after he saw her and two other
women talking we walked into his office and he said sit down and shut up you're not going to talk I'm going to
talk and he just got this look on his face he sit back and he pointed at narrain and said you what was it like to
be in that room and receiving that it was scary because I did not want to upset him because I knew how he could be
despite years of service all the women say they feared for their jobs and Jessica who safeguarded the property of
the deceased in a caged room says she feared for her physical safety she says Tellus would sometimes come in and
threaten her there was an instance where he got in my face and you know he's yelling and
I'm sort of backed up against um the cage door he was trying to physically intimidate you yes yes he would bring
his chairs up really close and and demand that you really pay attention and look him in the eye while he told you
horrible things one of those horrible things says Jessica almost did her in alone in the cage together she says tell
us started by saying that he noticed she never talked to anyone in the office a bizarre comment considering his no
talking Rule and he goes if you keep going down this road you're going to be like our cases and you're just going to
die alone and nobody's going to find you and I sat there and cried um and then after that it's hard to admit then I
started um thinking the best thing I could do would be to sacrifice myself for the girls and I had actually picked
out a place um that I was going to hang myself in the vault in view of the door because he would always come by and and
make sure I was working and I thought this will be good if they have to find me this way then the county will have to
do something mercifully Jessica realized that was not the solution to the problem
but they came up with another plan the women beli tus was having an inappropriate relationship with a
subordinate in the office named Roberta Roberta they claimed used that relationship to assume power and
privilege Beyond her job title is there any doubt in your mind that the two of them were having a romantic Affair no
absolutely not none whatsoever no but they needed proof so they decided to follow them we
had seen a pattern short dress day if they went the same direction we knew that we need to
go it was always to the same place Place says Alicia a parking garage in a nearby
Mall the alleged lovers would park next to each other we started to take pictures and we started to video that's
Roberta's car on the left Robert ts's on the right so how did you position yourselves where you could get some
video very carefully very in a car sometimes in a car sometimes we would get out of our car there were there were
kind of some cutouts and pillars where you could get angles here and there and we just tried to move around and to get
the best that we could according to the women the alleged lovers would ultimately end up in the back seat of
Roberta's car Roberto has said that they would sit in the back seat because she wanted to be able to make eye contact
with him as they were having important office discussions yeah that is what she said and and and your reaction to
that well that last video we got we had a little better recorder you can see the
the shadows and you can see those heads going together we felt it was so inappropriate but this was the shot they
believed was the most telling Roberta leaving the car and smoothing down her dress it was so unbelievable and it just
took a moment to to digest that it would I mean at that moment it was like so real
after seeing the videos Jeff asked Roberta about them she responded I have not had an inappropriate relationship
with him the RJ published the story let me read the lead in this first article the
Clark County public administrator's office has been mired in turmoil and internal dissension over the past two
years with allegations of emotional stress bullying and favoritism leading to secret videotaping of the boss and a
coworker outside the office that story went all over the state of Nevada and before long all over the country as this
settled in are you thinking mission accomplished or are you thinking what's going to happen to us
next both yeah the terror didn't stop the terror almost just got worse it just changed
face what do you make of Robert tz's alleged behavior in the workplace chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook
and [Music] X Jeff German's story with its allegations of turmoil bullying and hostility had a Swift and Searing effect
at the public administrator's office the county finally sent in an outside consultant and Robert Tellus lost his
bid for reelection in the primary ironically to his arch enemy Rita Reed but Jeff wasn't through with Robert
Tellus yet he wrote three more scathing pieces chronicling the fall of the once upand cominging young Democrat and
another story was in the works but Jeff Gman did not survive to write it Jeff Gman was found stabbed to
death outside his home in the Northwest when news of Jeff's murder broke the women Jeff had fought for were overcome
with grief but also dread afraid of what they may have Unleashed Alicia's dad a former Las Vegas police detective who
introduced her to Jeff said what they were all thinking my dad called me first thing in the
morning and said that Jeff had been killed and I didn't even get to react before my dad's
next word were I know who my first suspect is as soon as those words came out of his mouth I knew immediately too
that it was Robert that it was Robert the staff at the Las Vegas Review Journal was wondering the same thing
could Robert Telles have been involved the journalistic hounds are are released right yes we weren't going to do
anything until Every Little Rock was overturned and every little fact was found out about what what this guy was
and who he was Arcane now the investigations editor was a reporter at the time and we
started finding out a lot of interesting things about him for example he was arrested while he was public
administrator for choking his wife can you please send somebody here my husband is going crazy trying there's body cam
video that we have obtained of that who would I hit cameras our cameras on you guys just
want to take me down cuz I'm a public official Tellis slurring his words was arrested for domestic battery and
resisting arrest there is sufficient evidence to book me right now there is sufficient evidence to book you right
now yes and I'm I'm not trying to be like I'm a public official so you know do what I want you to do I'm saying I'm
not a idiot mhm he received a suspended 90-day sentence on the resisting charge and was ordered to attend a corrective
thinking class the battery charge was dismissed no one ever heard about it because no one covers DUIs and domestics
and that flew under the radar looking back there were other warning signs says Brianna such as these
a series of tweets tell us posted in response to Jeff's reporting read that one for me looking forward to lying
smear piece number four by jgan RJ # onetick Pony I think he's mad that I haven't crawled into a hole and died
laughing emoji what did you think of that one somebody who's pretty pissed off but the journalists knew angry
tweets didn't prove anything they needed facts and facts were hard to come by all
they had were these two still surveillance photographs the police had released of the suspect in Jeff's
neighborhood the outfit bizarre as it seems may have been a strategic Choice says art the outfit is very typical of
what um construction workers and people who do landscaping wear because they want to cover up all their skin from the
sun when the police released a surveillance video review journal photographer Kevin Cannon immedi ately
noticed something the big hat and orange reflective shirt couldn't hide the man's
walk his gate how would you describe that gate it's it's a bit of a a limp and a favor
on one side it seems Kevin Went digging in his files and found this a walking shot he had taken of Robert Tellus when
Jeff interviewed him at his office the staff compared both videos side by side I'm not
sure how to describe it but it was definitely The Identical gate in my mind Kevin then went through hundreds of
still photos he had taken that day and found this it's a very chilling photo and it's the one and only photo where
Jeff and Tellus are in the same photo executive editor Glenn cook says his staff moved forward on the operating
theory that Robert Tellus could have been the killer but they still didn't have hard
evidence the then the police released this a photo of the suspect's car a maroon Yukon Denali show me what you did
but you just type in the address you pull up the Google Street View assistant City editor David Ferrara immediately
typed ts's home address into Google Earth and if you zoom in on the house that maroon vehicle is there parked in
the driveway the maroon SUV was registered to tell Us's wife and at that moment we send reporters and
photographers straight to the house and the message I give our Metro editor is do not engage do not approach do not be
seen this man is very likely a suspect in the murder of your colleague and we can't predict how he's going to react to
anyone being near him but the photographer crouching behind his dashboard managed to get what he came for and is
this the picture that is taken that's the photo this is the money photo it's the Money Shop Robert Tellus on a
scorching hot10 degree day is in jeans in his driveway washing the maroon GMC Yukon
Denali this must have been a moment where I don't know if there's any cheering going on in your Newsroom room
but what a development what does this mean well it means that possibly Jeff was killed by the last story he wrote
about I mean this was his last investigation and and the suspect appears to be the guy he wrote about and
basically took him out of office without corroboration from police documents the
review journal couldn't go with the story but Glenn cook was betting it wouldn't be long his reporters had seen
unmarked police cars outside Robert ts's home we have every reason to believe at
this point that it's only a matter of time before a search warrant is going to be executed at that house a search that
will uncover crucial [Music] evidence as the investigators geared up to serve Robert Tellus with a search
warrant the review journal needed to be sure it would be the first to break the news it was important because Jeff was
always first and we wouldn't want to let him down and not be the first we polish
that story and then we sit on it until police move in in the early morning of September 7th
2022 just 5 days after Jeff garan's murder Tellus was brought in for questioning as
police searched his home and cars while he was in custody detectives collected a
DNA sample from tus they also took the jeans he was wearing into evidence and gave him a white paper suit to change
into before he was taken back to his house and swarmed by reporters eagerly awaiting his arrival did you do this did
you commit this murder did you do this you tell us anything inside ts's home investigators say they found gym shoes
and a duffel bag similar to what was seen in the surveillance video and when they looked in the garage detectives say
they discovered even more a straw sun hat or what was left of it the sun hat the sun hat cut up into pieces
yes but police say the most crucial piece of evidence would come from the DNA sample that was taken from tus
earlier that day we received positive DNA results that showed Robert tell's DNA at the
crime scene ts's DNA was under Jeff's fingernails there's no doubt in my mind that Jeff knew exactly what was
happening in that Split Second and he made sure he got the [Music] evidence with a DNA match apparently
secured the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department descended on Robert tell's home once again and began
clearing the area for an arrest and this is where he was arrested yes reviewed Journal photographer Kevin Cannon was
one of dozens of media who had been waiting outside ts's home that day what happens when the cops arrive suddenly
the police said okay everybody out they kicked the entire news everyone who was here out where do
you go so I made a beine to the front door of a neighbor who I befriended earlier when I arrived and they without
saying a word opened the door and welcome me in and walk me to their backyard where I could have a view of
ts's house and you could still see the house from your your Vantage from the back
yeah back in the RJ Newsroom some of the staff anxiously kept up with what was happening at the scene through the
office's police radio and heard that Tellus refused to come out of his home our Target is still calm on the uh phone
however he has made a couple four five comments 405 comments a code Las Vegas Police use
to indicate comments associated with self harm it was kind of scary at that point
we were thinking is is this all going to end on his terms now Bas on the four or
five comments we're going to go ahead and make the official request for SL well my colleagues heard through the
scanner that they were going to move in because he had cut himself and they wanted to save him before before he
harmed himself more and they wanted to get to him right the SWAT team made its move and
that's when Kevin got ready and so you were positioned you were ready to go then right I was ready to go the whole
time I mean I had my finger on the button the whole time where do you look what do you see behind you well I see
them rolling them out on a stretcher down around that corner down that path out the driveway and put in an ambulance
right here Kevin was the only photographer that day to capture ts's dramatic arrest his image of tus on the
stretcher made the front page of the review journal the following morning the next day I uh opened the paper and there
was the photo on the front page with the banner headline stunning arrest and and
I it was stunning and satisfying for you after all that very satisfying it becomes huge news obviously all over the
country a reporter allegedly killed by a politician for a story he wrote that's pretty unheard
of after Tellus was treated at the hospital for his self-inflicted injuries he was booked into the Clark County
Detention Center 6 weeks later Telus was indicted by a grand jury for murder with
use of a deadly weapon having you plead guilty or not guilty not guilty soon after after evidence from
the grand chury was released by The Clark County District Court including that grainy surveillance Attack
video I think probably what we found some of the most disturbing is the last three videos minutes later it shows the
as salent returning to the scene of the crime and parking that maroon Yukon Denali in front of Jeff's driveway and
now you'll see him walk over and make sure that Jeff is dead and you're theorizing he is checking to see if he's
dead because obviously Jeff saw this this person he wants to make sure that there's not a witness that's still alive
seemingly satisfied the suspect walked back to his car and left since his arrest tus has been in
jail awaiting trial did you murder Jeff [Music] Gman what do you make of the evidence
found inside of Robert tell's home see more evidence photos from the case at 48 [Music]
hours.com hey Robert good morning we met Robert Tellus for a video interview at the Clark County Detention Center and
began with the question on everyone's mind did you murder Jeff Gman no sir I did
not if you did not commit this murder who did I will Reserve that for trial you have said that you were framed do you
stand by that in this conversation I do I absolutely do Tellis says he can explain the
evidence against him the torn-up sun hat the Yukon Denali and his DNA under Jeff's fingernails
I say that that evidence or so-called evidence was planted along with the other items that were allegedly found in
my home as well and we will go ahead and prove that at trial how could someone who is trying to frame you plant your
DNA under his fingernails how would that have have happened they first they would
have had to have gotten your DNA and then when would they have planted it under his fingernails it seems
far-fetched well you know crazier things have happened and I'll tell you that I didn't
kill Mr German come on man that's overwhelming DNA ends up under his fingernails your DNA this is an
overwhelming case against you Robert that you committed this murder and again sir you know
you have the facts wrong and I will demonstrate a trial he also says he will show he didn't do those things Gman
wrote about in his article Robert you're saying that what these women have said to me what they told
Jeff Gman and he printed those are all lies if you look at what Mr German printed none of it was none of it had
any facts within it right it was all alleged opinion about you know what how they felt that that I I
acted but it's hard to argue with this the footage the women shot of their boss and his alleged lover in the parking
garage let me ask you straight were you and Roberta having an affair no she was a confidant um but I I'll leave it
at that but Jeff was not willing to leave it at that he was planning on writing another piece according to
police documents Tellus and Roberta got word the before the murder that there was a
planned release of emails and messages between her and Tellus to the review journal there was a Freedom of
Information requests that Jeff had put out and you were told that new messages and emails were going to come out
describing the relationship between you and Roberta Communications between the two of you and it suggested that you
made a decision to murder him to try to silence that to prevent that from being published what do you say about that
I say that's a mischaracterization of of things I'll tell you that what was going
to be released and I saw was going to be released um had no inklings of of any type of you know confidential
relationship any type of supposed Affair it was all business related so that would not have been a motivation
because there was nothing that was going to be produced that that wouldn't look bad
prosecutors have mentioned this as a contributing motive to the murder in Robert ts's mind Jeff Gman ruined his
marriage ruined his political career embarrassed him and was continuing to report on him rather than leave him
alone if the intention of the alleged killing was to stop Jeff's reporting it didn't work after his murder the RJ
journalists Hunted through Jeff's notes picking up where Jeff left off and completed the stories Jeff had been
working on at the time of his death including another on Robert ts's toxic past a story that investigates claims of
sexual harassment all of which he has denied the main thing here is you cannot kill a reporter and kill the
story you just can't do that in in life Jeff Gman was known to protect his sources at all
costs in death Jeff was still protecting them after the murder the police took all his devices which harbored the names
of countless sources the review journal went to court and in a hardfought case that went all
the way to the Nevada Supreme Court the paper won protection for his sources that'll be the gar rule you will not be
able to go into a reporter's files you will not be able to go through their phone you will not be able to look at
their sources even after death these four Jeff Gman sources are not about to let the world forget the
reporter who fought to protect them they have attended almost every hearing trying to come to terms with their
feelings of guilt because no matter what logic is in your head it's not your fault that Jeff made his choices and
that he was a professional your heart tells you if we wouldn't have made that call
he wouldn't have died in that violent way that day if I was to talk to him today I think the first thing I would
say I'm sorry but not for him for me because he wouldn't accept my apology but I need to get
it Jeff Gman was a reporter's reporter one of the good guys a man who spent a lifetime speaking truth to power truths
that are now baked into the history of this place a neon strip of gritty stories laid bare beneath the desert sky
he told anyone who asked that he was never going to retire that he was going to report until last breath and that's
exactly what he did and he gave his life to this job he literally gave his life to this job I think that's his
[Music] [Music] legacy need more time with 48 Hours go deep behind every True Crime episode
with firsthand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is
the word that comes to mind get inside the twists and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours
now available wherever you get your podcasts [Music]

A Las Vegas journalist is stabbed to death while investigating claims a boss was toxic. Did his reporting make him a target? "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

CASE UPDATE: On Oct. 16, 2024, Robert Telles was sentenced to serve at least 28 years in Nevada state prison for killing investigative journalist Jeff German. A judge invoked sentencing enhancements for elements including use of a deadly weapon, lying in wait and the age of the reporter to add eight years to the minimum 20-year sentence that a jury set in August after finding Telles guilty of murder.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Investigative journalist Jeff Gman was murdered, leading to a complex investigation implicating public official Robert Tellus.

Key points

The Murder of Jeff Gman. Investigative journalist Jeff Gman is found dead, leading to a search for answers.
Uncovering the Truth. Jeff's colleagues dig deeper into his murder, revealing troubling connections.
The Investigation Begins. Colleagues rally to uncover the truth behind Jeff's murder, suspecting Robert Tellus.
The Money Photo. A pivotal image taken by a photographer that could change everything.
DNA Evidence. Crucial DNA results link Robert Tellus to the crime scene, raising the stakes.
The Arrest. Robert Tellus is arrested, marking a significant turn in the investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He is 100% our hero.

2:34WatchFeb 23, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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