LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's been a little more than a year since the killing of longtime local investigative journalist Jeff German. He was found brutally stabbed to death outside of his home.
German was a man who dedicated his life to truth and justice for Southern Nevada residents.
"Jeff's journalism was really driven, fundamentally, by a sense of right and wrong," said Glenn Cook, executive editor and senior vice president of news for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
"I think Jeff should be remembered as one of the more significant journalists in Las Vegas history," said Geoff Schumacher, who worked with German at the Las Vegas Sun and is now vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum.
German devoted his life to delivering breaking news and investigating corruption in our city. He worked at the Las Vegas Sun for more than 30 years and would go on to work for the Las Vegas Review-Journal for nearly a decade.
Beyond being a trusted journalist, Cook said German cared deeply for people.
“Jeff, himself, wasn’t married, and he didn’t have children. But he was there for the people he cared about,” Cook said. “He was the favorite uncle. That’s the best way to describe him.”
Cook said German was not only competitive as a reporter but also when it came to sports.
“A very serious and competitive fantasy football player for took great pride in the fact that he won the Review-Journal Fantasy Football League championship three times,” Cook said.
Schumacher worked with German at the Las Vegas Sun for nearly a decade.
“The work that he did at the Las Vegas Sun and the work that he did at the Las Vegas Review-Journal helped advance and helped people in Las Vegas to understand their city better, to understand the corruption that he exposed.”
Schumacher said German showed people how our government worked and how it didn’t. He also reported on organized crime in Las Vegas.
His reporting was highlighted in the Review-Journal’s podcast series, “Mobbed Up.” In the second season of the podcast, German and Schumacher teamed up once again to talk about the mob’s involvement at The Aladdin Hotel in the 1980s.
“Jeff and I were kind of put back together after all those years,” Schumacher said. “We got the gang back together, if you will, and he and I worked very well together as if nothing had changed.”
Because of his investigative work and trusted reporting, he was someone the community could turn to. That included Clark County employees in early 2022, who asked him to investigate former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles.
“So, we decided that we would go public,” Rita Reid, current Clark County public administrator and former assistant public administrator, told Channel 13 in a previous interview. “We would try to talk to a journalist here in our community and see if somebody felt it was worthy of reporting.”
RELATED LINK: Rita Reid praises Jeff German as 'local hero' in TV interview
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Reid asked German to look into allegations of a toxic work environment by Telles in his office. At the time, Reid was assistant public administrator under Telles and was running against him for the position. German’s first article with interviews and information from insiders, was published in March 2022. With each subsequent article, Reid said Telles became more combative, causing increased anxiety among the staff. In June of 2022, Telles conceded the primary election to Reid.
“I guess, maybe I felt there might be an encounter one day or an altercation, a verbal altercation,” Reid told Channel 13. “But I just, I could never have imagined this.”
On Sept. 2, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said a neighbor found German dead outside his home near Tenaya Way and Vegas Drive.
Cook said former sheriff and current governor, Joe Lombardo, called him to break the news.
“I had no idea why he would be calling about Jeff, and I said, ‘Is this about a story he’s working on,’” Cook recalled. “And the sheriff says Jeff’s dead.”
RELATED LINK: Community reacts to the loss of Las Vegas reporter Jeff German
Police immediately activated their Major Case Protocol unit to accelerate the progress of the investigation. Investigators began chasing down leads on the suspected killer. It was a tragic killing that left a tremendous impact on the Las Vegas community.
“His death was absolutely devastating to me and my coworkers, the people that he advocated for,” Reid said. “He was our hero. So, I mean, we can never thank him enough.”
“When I learned that Jeff had died and had been killed, I was like everybody else,” Schumacher said. “I was absolutely in disbelief that something like this could actually happen.”
Through their investigation, police identified Telles as the suspect in the murder case. Just three days after the investigation started, Telles would be arrested for open murder in the killing.
RELATED LINK: Clark County elected official arrested after search related to local journalist's death
“Every murder is tragic,” then-sheriff Lombardo said at the time. “But the killing of a journalist is particularly troublesome.”
Telles has argued that he’s innocent and that he was set up in this murder case. However, after his arrest, the judge ruled that Telles would be held without bail. As preparations for a pre-trial hearing in October continue, and with the trial scheduled to begin in November, German’s legacy lives on.
“We added a new award to our annual award, and we call it the Jeff German Bulldog Scholarship,” Cook said.
Review-Journal staff reporters are recognized for their work that reflects German’s spirit. Those four reporters will be awarded full scholarships to attend the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Anaheim next June, Cook said.
German has also received other posthumous honors, including the Dan Balz Medal from the Investigative Reporters and Editors for Journalism Courage and the President’s Award from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
“We were very humbled and honored to receive and accept that award on his behalf,” Cook said.
For many locals, German’s impact goes beyond the headlines and front-page stories.
“Jeff was absolutely committed to rooting out corruption in Las Vegas,” Schumacher said. “He was absolutely committed to the truth coming out.”
“It was about right and wrong,” Cook said. “It was about making sure that people who were doing harm in the community were held accountable.”
The pre-trial conference hearing for Telles is set for Oct. 24
According to court records, at this time, the trial is set to start on Nov. 6.
