LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Police have issued a warrant for an ex-congressional candidate and former wrestler who is accused of killing another man on the Las Vegas Strip.
According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, medical personnel received a call in October after a 47-year-old man, later identified as Christopher Tapp, was injured due to a "purported accident."
A Clark County Coroner's autopsy report says the incident happened at Crockfords at Resorts World and that Tapp had an "unwitnessed fall" and his friends found him an hour later.
Tapp was taken to Sunrise Hospital where he died from his injuries on Nov. 5.
Police were notified about the "suspicious death" on Nov. 22. Detectives stated they learned Tapp was in an altercation inside a room at a resort prior to his death.
The Clark County Coroner's Office ruled Tapp's death was a homicide and that he died due to blunt force trauma to the head. The report states radiology found evidence of multiple brain bleeds.
On Wednesday, Las Vegas police said they were able to identify 45-year-old Dan Rodimer as the suspect in the case. A warrant for his arrest has been issued and he will face open murder charges.
Jail records show Rodimer is not in custody, as of 1:20 p.m. However, court records state he is flying to Las Vegas to address the warrant. An initial bail amount has been set for $200,000, according to court records.
Lawyers for Rodimer sent Channel 13 the following statement on Wednesday night.
"Mr. Rodimer is voluntarily surrendering to authorities and will post a court ordered bail. He intends on vigorously contesting the allegations and asks that the presumption of innocence guaranteed all Americans be respected."
The former World Wrestling Entertainment star unsuccessfully ran for Nevada's 3rd Congressional District in 2020 and lost to Democrat Rep. Susie Lee. He easily defeated former state Treasurer Dan Schwartz in the Republican primary that year.
During that race, he released a lengthy ad based on the Las Vegas-based film "The Hangover" that featured Rodimer walking the Strip and promising to "knock some sense" into Washington.
WATCH: Dan Rodimer's campaign ad from 2020 Nevada election
After losing the election to Lee, Rodimer sued to overturn the results, alleging irregularities. A Clark County judge rejected his claims.
Earlier, in 2018, Rodimer ran for Nevada state Senate, losing narrowly to then-Assembywoman Valerie Weber in the Republican primary.
After his 2020 loss to Lee, Rodimer moved to Texas, where he ran in a special election for the 6th Congressional District. He came in 11th in a crowded primary field of 23 candidates.
That race featured a memorable campaign ad in which Rodimer portrayed himself as a bull-riding cowboy with a pronounced Texas drawl, one that he apparently adopted for that race.
WATCH: Dan Rodimer's campaign ad from 2020 Texas election
This isn't his first brush with the law. In 2010, he faced battery charges after an incident at a southwest Florida Waffle House. Court documents show the victim told police Rodimer threw him to the ground after Rodimer was asked to leave a group of women alone. Records show Rodimer pleaded guilty and completed a six-week anger management course before the charge was dropped.
In 2006, police were called to Rodimer's house due to a domestic dispute between Rodimer and his wife. However, he wasn't charged.
"Nothing ever came of it," Rodimer told Channel 13 back in 2020 when he was campaigning for District 3. "My wife and I, we got into a verbal dispute and that's it."
He and his wife appeared in a campaign ad, in which she denied any domestic violence had occurred and accused Lee's campaign of exploiting her family troubles to win the race.
WATCH: Channel 13 talks to Susie Lee, Dan Rodimer ahead of 2020 election
It's unknown how or if Rodimer knew Tapp.
Tapp spent 21 years in prison after being falsely accused of murdering a woman in Idaho Falls in 1996.
According to The Innocence Project, Idaho police interrogated Tapp "abusively for 60 hours over the course of two weeks - manipulating him, using fake polygraphs and threatening him with the death penalty." They added DNA excluded Tapp from the state but "police concocted new and different theories to make Mr. Tapp an accomplice to the unidentified man who left his DNA all over the crime scene."
Tapp was officially released from incarceration in 2017 and exonerated in 2019. He was the first person in the world to be proven innocent with genetic genealogy.
After he was released, Tapp worked with The Idaho Innocence Project as a policy advisor and helped pass legislation to help wrongfully convicted people get compensation.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the LVMPD Homicide Section by phone at (702) 828-3521 or by email at homicide@lvmpd.com. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at (702) 385-5555 or online at crimestoppersofnv.com.
