Las Vegas police looking into the killing of an investigative reporter on Wednesday searched the home of a county official who had been the subject of unflattering news articles by the journalist, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Jeff German, a reporter for the Review-Journal, was fatally stabbed outside his home on Friday after what police described as an altercation with his killer, the newspaper reported.
German, 69, was well known in Las Vegas for his decades of reporting on political malfeasance and organized crime in Nevada’s largest city.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released images over the weekend of the suspect, a person dressed in a fluorescent orange top whose face is obscured below a wide-brimmed straw hat.
Early on Wednesday, officers searched the home of Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, whose office oversees the estates of people who have died, the Review-Journal reported.
German had spent months reporting on complaints that Telles had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and oversaw an abusive workplace, which Telles denied, saying the complaints were from disgruntled “old-timers.”
Soon after German’s investigation was published, Telles lost his reelection bid in June, and left office in January.
Telles, a Democrat, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Spokespeople for the Clark County government did not respond to questions or a request to speak with Telles. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to questions.
Police had also released images of a car they said was used by the suspect. Review-Journal reporters said they saw a car matching the description in Telles’ driveway hours later.
Glenn Cook, the Review-Journal’s executive editor, said the staff were devastated by their colleague’s killing.
“He was the gold standard of the news business,” Cook said in a statement. “It’s hard to imagine what Las Vegas would be like today without his many years of shining a bright light on dark places.”
