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[Music] I'll never forget that day something sinister happened something unimaginable my cell phone rings and
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it's Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo Sheriff says to me Glenn I'm calling about Jeff
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Gman and he says Jeff's dead just like that just like that Jeff Gan was found dead with stab
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wounds outside his home around 10:30 yesterday morning Metro Police are asking for the Public's help they're
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saying this is the suspect I couldn't even believe it I had so many questions who would do this
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I mean how did this happen just how big a list of people might have wanted Jeff dead that's a
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line of people that runs from here to Los Angeles this guy's written about terrible people who've done awful things
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for over 40 years the worst kinds of people they called him Tony the ant but Tony
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spilatro was a big figure in the mafia he had a special in covering organized crime you know he was gutsy and
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fearless Jeff Gman was Guided by an innate sense of right and wrong if he knew someone was engaging in
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criminal activity unethical activity inappropriate behavior he wanted to do that story he
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wanted to bring it why we couldn't believe he would even take a call from us but he did give me a
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sense of what state you were in when you called Jeff gar we were desperate in fear every day it was just survival one
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step in front of the other one day at a time the only person that listened to us
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and the only person that tried to do something that concretely put their name on the line to try to that listened to
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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
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talk to him today I think the first thing I would say is I'm [Music] sorry as Jeff's editor his colleague did
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you ever sense any danger in covering this story there was absolutely no suggestion no hint that this would end
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the way it did none [Music] [Music] on September 2nd 2022 it was a boiling hot late summer day in
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Las Vegas and people were getting ready for the Labor Day weekend it was late morning when in
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broad daylight something terrible happened as investigative journalist for the Las Vegas Review
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Journal Brianna Ericson and Ronda prast had seen a lot of bad people do a lot of
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bad things but nothing came close to the Maia vellan plot to murder their friend
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and colleague Jeff Gman Jeff Gman was at his house on vacation he'd gone out to get something to
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eat he came back shut his garage door you could see in the surveillance video from across the street that
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someone an as salant came into his yard went to the the left side of his house went inside the gate shut the
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gate and then we see Jeff moments later opening his garage door and he was instantly ambushed when he turned the
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corner to where that person was lying in weit in the video you can kind of see a
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struggle but Jeff ultimately falls to the ground and he never gets up what happened to him in that attack Jeff
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was stabbed he was stabbed seven times four times in the neck three in the Torso seven stab wounds did that suggest
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what kind of a killing this was to me this was a very personal attack to stab someone in such a short time viciously
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seven times with no warning a concerned neighbor found Jeff garan's body hidden behind some bushes 24 hours
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later 911 emergency for b965 do you need police fire medical I have a neighbor across the street from the he's Ling in
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the side yard um I believe he's dead he's got blood over it was just a terrible thing to know that he was lying
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there and we wondered whether he could have been saved but medical experts told us later that he likely died with in a
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minute or two it was a small Mercy for a man who had spent his life fighting for the
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underdog at the base he just wanted to help people and protect people you know and expose
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wrongdoing from the start Jeff Gman was shooting for big gang and when he came from Wisconsin in the 70s Vegas was the
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serengetti Mark Fiero a TV reporter at the time became a lifelong friend and trusted
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Source Jeff Gman at the outset was a a reporter who caught the most important beat in Las Vegas of his day that was
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organized crime then a reporter for the Las Vegas son Jeff took on one of the biggest meanus Mobsters on the Strip a
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prime target of the feds is Tony spalatro the outfit's representative in Vegas spalatro has Tony spalatro a power
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player for the Chicago mob played by Joe pesi in scorsese's film Casino you said
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I'm bringing heat on you here's Jeff Gman talking about spilatro in the podcast mobbed up he had a reputation
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for being a brutal killer yet he was never convicted of a single murder a podcast Jeff made about a year before he
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died he had the coldest eyes I've ever SE seene in my stories I got used to calling spalatro by his street name Tony
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the ant he hated that and it sometimes left me at the receiving end of spo's nasty stairs and his menacing fits of
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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
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went toe-to-toe with these guys year in and year out and some of these guys were
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dangerous guys try as they did they couldn't scare him says Briana after his tires had been slashed
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and some spooky things were happening to him he told a mob affiliate in a bar to
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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
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with four stitches under my lip I had a war story to tell as the mob slowly lost its grip on
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Vegas Jeff built a career exposing dirty business government corruption and crime
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Ronda the former assistant managing editor for investigations at the RJ worked with him for 3 years he kept
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digging and digging and digging and he was like the dog the little dog that would take a bite of your pants and
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wouldn't let go you know he was just so laser focused on continuing to go deeper
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and deeper and deeper into a story that tenacity helped him expose the truth in stories that could have remained in the
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shadows he was one of the few journalists along with his colleague David Ferrara to report on the Susan
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Winters case a woman whose parents doubted the suicide ruling in their daughter's death and Jeff started
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putting pieces together working with the attorney for the family that the way that she killed herself was so
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unseemly that it just didn't add up and once he started and he started pulling on that thread and then he started
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pulling on a rope and then it turned into a chain that chain turned into a series of stories that targeted the
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husband turns out Susan died from ingesting a lethal combination of painkillers and
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antifreeze the husband who was charged with murder ultimately pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sent to
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prison as hard charging and public as Jeff was in his work life the lifelong bachelor
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was notoriously private about his personal life he was always back to business back to business this man was
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born to be a reporter a man who lived for his job and as it turns out a man who may have died for
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it the entire Newsroom rallied together his colleagues had no idea who did this or why
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but they were determined to do what Jeff Gman would have done find [Music] [Music]
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out the RJ staff was in mourning there sorrow in full display on Jeff garman's desk it's a reminder that this team is
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not going to be the same without him but we can carry on the way he would want us
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to and that meant doing what he would have done the staff started tugging on threads and searching for Clues working
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non-stop on one of the most important stories of their careers who killed Jeff Gman
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immediately I started thinking in my head all right who had threatened Jeff in any way in the last 5 months who
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could have possibly done this executive editor Glenn cook asked Ronda to come up with a short list of
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people to consider one of the names I gave him was Robert Tellus and who is Robert Tellus he was a
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Clark County elected official in charge of the public administrator's office which handles Estates of people who were
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deceased one of the estate coordinators in ts's office Alicia Goodwin had reached out to Jeff Gman in March of
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2022 she had filed a formal complaint with the Clark County Office of diversity on behalf of herself and some
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colleagues claiming Robert Tellus harassed bullied and discriminated against them he was a horrible the
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horrible human being monster is the right word but Alicia says the county did nothing it was he's an elected
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official there's nothing we can do Jeff agreed to hear what Alicia and her colleagues Norine pangan Rita Reed
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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
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no I'm going to look into this I I think that's the only thing that gave us enough energy to keep
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going according to the women the trouble began almost immediately after Robert Tellus took office in January
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2019 Rita a supervisor was his second in command and a 12-year veteran of the office he came in very abruptly into the
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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
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and he said we're ripping off the bandage you no longer supervise anyone no no one reports to you they all report
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to me and he turned around and he walked out and I just sat there stunned the women say they were ordered
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not to speak to each other in the office it it felt dangerous to even have a hello good morning conversation with
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co-workers in passing if caught the consequences could be severe says Alicia she remembers getting called into ts's
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office after he saw her and two other women talking we walked into his office and he said sit down and shut up
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you're not going to talk I'm going to talk and he just got this look on his face he stood back and he pointed at nin
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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
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him because I knew how he could be despite years of service all the women say they feared for their jobs and
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Jessica who safeguarded the property of the deceased in a caged room says she feared for her physical safety she says
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Tellus would sometimes come in and threaten her there was an instance where he got
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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
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intimidate you yes yes he would bring his chairs up really close and and demand that you really pay attention and
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look him in the eye while he told you horrible things one of those horrible things says Jessica almost did her in
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alone in the cage together she says tell us started by saying that he noticed she
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never talked to anyone in the office a bizarre comment considering his no talking Rule and he goes if you keep
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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
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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
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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
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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
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this will be good if they have to find me this way then the county will have to do
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something mercifully Jessica realized that was not the solution to the problem but they came up with another plan the
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women belied tus was having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate in the office named
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Roberta Roberta they claimed used that relationship to assume power and privilege Beyond her job title is there
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any doubt in your mind that the two of them were having a romantic Affair no absolutely not none whatsoever no but
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they needed proof so they decided to follow them we had seen a pattern short dress day if
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they went the same direction we knew that we needed to go it was always to the same place Place
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says Alicia a parking garage in a nearby Mall the alleged lovers would park next
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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
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the right so how did you position yourselves where you could get some video very carefully very in a car
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sometimes in a car sometimes we would get out of our car there were there were kind of some cutouts and pillars where
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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
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women the alleged lovers would ultimately end up in the back seat of Roberta's car Roberta has said that they
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would sit in the back seat because she wanted to be able to make eye contact with him as they were having important
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office discussions yeah that is what she said and and okay and your reaction to that well that last video we got we had
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a little better recorder you can see the the shadows and you can see those heads
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going together we felt it was so inappropriate but this was the shot they believed was the most telling Roberta
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leaving the car and smoothing down her dress it was so unbelievable and it just took a moment to to digest that it would
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I mean at that moment it was like so real after seeing the videos Jeff asked Roberta about them she responded I have
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not had an inappropriate relationship with him the RJ published the story let me
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read the lead in this first article the Clark County public administrator's office has been mired in turmoil and
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internal dissension over the past two years with allegations of emotional stress bullying and favoritism leading
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to secret videotaping of the boss and a coworker outside the office that story went all over the state of Nevada and
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before long all over the country as this settled in are you thinking mission accomplished or you
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thinking what's going to happen to us next both yeah the terror didn't stop the terror almost just got worse it just
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changed face what do you make of Robert tz's alleged behavior in the workplace chat
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now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and [Music] X Jeff gan's story with its allegations
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of turmoil bullying and hostility had a Swift and Searing effect as the public administrator's office the county
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finally sent in an outside consultant and Robert Tellus lost his bid for re-election in the primary ironically to
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his arch enemy Rita Reed but Jeff wasn't through with Robert Tellus yet he wrote
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three more scathing pieces chronicling the fall of the once upand cominging young Democrat and another story was in
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the works but Jeff Gman did not survive to write it Jeff Gman was found stabbed to
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death outside his home in the Northwest when news of Jeff's murder broke the women Jeff had fought for were overcome
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with grief but also dread afraid of what they may have Unleashed Alicia's dad a former Las Vegas police detective who
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introduced her to Jeff said what they were all thinking my dad called me first thing in the
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morning and said that Jeff had been killed and I didn't even get to react before my dad's
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next word were I know who my first suspect is as soon as those words came out of his mouth I knew immediately too
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that it was Robert that it was Robert the staff at the Las Vegas Review Journal was wondering the same thing
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could Robert Tellus have been involved the journalistic hounds are are released right yes we weren't going to do
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anything until Every Little Rock was overturned and every little fact was found out about what what this guy was
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and who he was Arc now the investigations editor was a reporter at the time and we
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started finding out a lot of interesting things about him for example he was arrested while he was public
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administrator for choking his wife can you please send somebody here my husband is going crazy trying there's body cam
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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
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public official Tellis slurring his words was arrested for domestic battery and resisting arrest there is sufficient
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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
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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
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90day sentence on the resisting charge and was is ordered to attend a corrective thinking class the battery
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charge was dismissed no one ever heard about it because no one covers DUIs and domestics
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and that flew under the radar looking back there were other warning signs says Brianna such as these
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a series of tweets tell us posted in response to Jeff's reporting read that one for me looking forward to lying
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smear piece number four by jgan RJ # onetick Pony I think he's mad that I haven't crawled into a hole and died
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laughing emoji what did you think of that one somebody who's pretty pissed off but the journalists knew angry
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tweets didn't prove anything they needed facts and facts were hard to come by all
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they had were these two still surveillance photographs the police had released of the suspect in Jeff's
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neighborhood the outfit bizarre as it seems may have been a strategic Choice says art the outfit is very typical of
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what um construction workers and people who do landscaping wear because they want to cover up all their skin from the
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sun when the police released a surveillance video review journal photographer Kevin Cannon immedi Ely
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noticed something the big hat and orange reflective shirt couldn't hide the man's
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walk his gate how would you describe that gate it's it's a bit of a a limp in a favor
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on one side it seems Kevin Went digging in his files and found this a walking shot he had taken of Robert Tellus when
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Jeff interviewed him at his office the staff compared both videos side by side I'm not
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sure how to describe it but it was definitely The Identical gate in my mind Kevin then went through hundreds of
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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
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Jeff and Tellus are in the same photo executive editor Glen cook says his staff moved forward on the operating
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theory that Robert Tellus could have been the killer but they still didn't have hard
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evidence then the police released this a photo of the suspect's car a maroon Yukon Denali show me what you did but
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you just type in the address you pull up the Google Street View assistant City editor David Ferrara immediately typed
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ts's home address into Google Earth and if you zoom in on the house that maroon vehicle is there parked in
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the driveway the maroon SUV was registered to tell Us's wife and at that moment we send reporters and
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photographers straight to the house and the message I give our Metro editor is do not engage do not approach do not be
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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
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anyone being near him but the photographer crouching behind his dashboard managed to get what he came for and is
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this the picture that is taken that's the photo this is the money photo it's the money shot Robert Tellus on a
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scorching hot10 degree day is in jeans in his driveway washing the maroon GMC Yukon
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Denali this must have been a moment where I don't know if there's any cheering going on in your Newsroom room
00:26:58
but what a development what does this mean well it means that possibly Jeff was killed by the last story he wrote
00:27:07
about I mean this was his last investigation and and the suspect appears to be the guy he wrote about and
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basically took him out of office without corroboration from police documents the
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review journal couldn't go with the story but Glen cook was betting it wouldn't be long his reporters had seen
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unmarked police cars outside Robert ts's home we have every reason to believe at
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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
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will uncover crucial [Music] evidence as the investigators geared up to serve Robert Tellus with a search
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warrant the review journal needed to be sure it would be the first to break the news it was important because Jeff was
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always first and we wouldn't want to let him down and not be the first we polish
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that story and then we sit on it until police move in in the early morning of September 7th
00:28:23
2022 just 5 days after Jeff garman's murder Tellus was brought in for questioning as
00:28:30
police searched his home and cars while he was in custody detectives collected a
00:28:36
DNA sample from tus they also took the jeans he was wearing into evidence and gave him a white paper suit to change
00:28:44
into before he was taken back to his house and swarmed by reporters eagerly awaiting his arrival did you do this did
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you commit this murder did you do this tell us anything inside ts's home investigators say they found gym shoes
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and a duffel bag similar to what was seen in the surveillance video and when they looked in the garage detectives say
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they discovered even more a straw sun hat or what was left of it the sun hat the sun hat cut up into pieces
00:29:19
yes but police say the most crucial piece of evidence would come from the DNA sample that was taken from Tellus
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earlier that day we received positive DNA results that showed Robert ts's DNA at the crime
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scene ts's DNA was under Jeff's fingernails there's no doubt in my mind that Jeff knew exactly what was
00:29:44
happening in that Split Second and he made sure he got the [Music] evidence with a DNA match apparently
00:29:53
secured the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department descended on Robert ts's home once again and began clearing
00:30:01
the area for an arrest and this is where he was arrested yes review journal photographer Kevin Cannon was one of
00:30:09
dozens of media who had been waiting outside ts's home that day what happens when the cops arrive suddenly the police
00:30:17
said okay everybody out they kicked the entire news everyone who was here out where do
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you go so I made a beine to the front door of a neighbor who I befriended earlier when I arrived and they without
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saying a word opened the door and welcom me in and walk me to their backyard where I could have a view of ts's house
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and you could still see the house from your your advantage from back yeah back in the RJ Newsroom some of the
00:30:42
staff anxiously kept up with what was happening at the scene through the office's police radio and heard that
00:30:49
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
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comments 405 comments a code Las Vegas Police use to indicate comments associated with
00:31:05
self harm it was kind of scary at that point we were thinking is is this all going to
00:31:12
end on his terms now Bas on the four or five comments we're going to go ahead and make the official request for
00:31:21
SL well my colleagues heard through the scanner that they were going to move in because he had cut himself and they
00:31:27
wanted to save him before before he harmed himself more and they wanted to get to him
00:31:32
right the SWAT team made its move and that's when Kevin got ready and so you were positioned you were ready to go
00:31:39
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
00:31:45
what do you see behind you well I see them rolling them out on a stretcher down around that corner down that path
00:31:53
out the driveway and put in an amulance right here Kevin was the only photographer that day to capture ts's
00:32:01
dramatic arrest his image of Tellus on the stretcher made the front page of the review journal the following morning the
00:32:11
next day I uh opened the paper and there was the photo on the front page with the
00:32:16
banner headline stunning arrest and and I it was stunning and satisfying for you
00:32:22
after all that very satisfying it becomes huge news obviously all over the country
00:32:29
a reporter allegedly killed by a politician for a story he wrote that's pretty unheard
00:32:36
of after Tellus was treated at the hospital for his self-inflicted injuries he was booked into the Clark County
00:32:44
Detention Center 6 weeks later tus was indicted by a grand jury for murder with use of a deadly weapon I have you plead
00:32:53
guilty or not guilty not guilty soon after after evidence from the grand chury was released by The
00:33:01
Clark County District Court including that grainy surveillance Attack video I think probably what we found
00:33:11
some of the most disturbing is the last three videos minutes later it shows the as salent returning to the scene of the
00:33:17
crime and parking that maroon Yukon Denali in front of Jeff's driveway and now you'll see him walk over and make
00:33:27
sure that Jeff is dead and you're theorizing he is checking to see if he's dead because obviously Jeff saw this
00:33:35
this person he wants to make sure that there's not a witness that's still alive seemingly satisfied the suspect walked
00:33:41
back to his car and left since his arrest tus has been in jail awaiting trial did you murder Jeff
00:33:52
[Music] Gman what do you make of the evidence found in side of Robert tell's home see
00:33:59
more evidence photos from the case at 48 [Music] hours.com hey Robert good morning we met
00:34:16
Robert Tellus for a video interview at the Clark County Detention Center and began with the question on everyone's
00:34:24
mind did you murder Jeff Gman no sir I did not if you did not commit this murder
00:34:32
who did I will Reserve that for trial you have said that you were framed do you stand by that in this
00:34:42
conversation I do I absolutely do Tellis says he can explain the evidence against him the torn-up sun hat
00:34:52
the Yukon Denali and his DNA under Jeff's fingernails I say that that evidence or so-called
00:35:00
evidence was planted along with the other items that were allegedly found in my home as well and we will go ahead and
00:35:08
prove that at trial how could someone who is trying to frame you plant your DNA under his fingernails how would that
00:35:15
have have happened they first they would have had to have gotten your DNA and then when would they have planted it
00:35:21
under his fingernails it seems far-fetched well you know crazier things have happened and I'll tell you that I didn't
00:35:30
kill Mr German come on man that's overwhelming DNA ends up under his fingernails your DNA this is an
00:35:40
overwhelming case against you Robert that you committed this murder and again sir you know
00:35:47
you have the facts wrong and I will demonstrate a trial he also says he will show he didn't do those things Gman
00:35:55
wrote about in his article Robert you're saying that what these women have said to me what they told
00:36:03
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
00:36:14
any facts within it right it was all alleged opinion about you know what how they felt that that I I
00:36:23
acted but it's hard to argue with this the footage the women shot of their boss and his alleged lover in the parking
00:36:32
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
00:36:46
at that but Jeff was not willing to leave it at that he was planning on writing another piece according to
00:36:54
police documents Tellis and Roberta got word the day before the murder that there was a planned release of emails
00:37:01
and messages between her and Tellus to the review journal there was a Freedom of Information requests that Jeff had
00:37:09
put out and you were told that new messages and emails were going to come out describing the relationship between
00:37:16
you and Roberta Communications between the two of you and it suggested that you made a decision to murder him to try to
00:37:23
silence that to prevent that from being published what do you say about that and
00:37:28
I say that's a mischaracterization of of things I'll tell you that what was going
00:37:32
to be released and I saw was going to be released um had no inklings of of any type of you know confidential
00:37:41
relationship any type of supposed Affair it was all business related so that would not have been a motivation
00:37:50
because there was nothing that was going to be produced that that would look bad
00:37:57
prosecutors have mentioned this as a contributing motive to the murder in Robert ts's mind Jeff Gman ruined his
00:38:08
marriage ruined his political career embarrassed him and was continuing to report on him rather than leave him
00:38:17
alone if the intention of the alleged killing was to stop Jeff's reporting it didn't work after his murder the RJ
00:38:26
journalists Hunted through Jeff's notes picking up where Jeff left off and completed the stories Jeff had been
00:38:33
working on at the time of his death including another on Robert ts's toxic past a story that investigates claims of
00:38:43
sexual harassment all of which he has denied the main thing here is you cannot kill a reporter and kill the
00:38:53
story you just can't do that in in life Jeff Gman was known to protect his sources at all
00:39:03
costs in death Jeff was still protecting them after the murder the police took all his devices which harbored the names
00:39:12
of countless sources the review journal went to court and in a hardfought case that went all
00:39:19
the way to the Nevada Supreme Court the paper won protection for his sources that'll be the gar rule that you will
00:39:28
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
00:39:34
at their sources even after death these four Jeff Gman sources are not about to let the world forget the
00:39:43
reporter who fought to protect them they have attended almost every hearing trying to come to terms with their
00:39:52
feelings of guilt because no matter what logic is in your head it's not your fault that Jeff made his choices and
00:40:00
that he was a professional your heart tells you if we wouldn't have made that call
00:40:11
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
00:40:21
say I'm sorry but not for him for me because he wouldn't expect my apology ology but I need to get
00:40:30
it Jeff Gman was a reporter's reporter one of the good guys a man who spent a lifetime speaking truth to power truths
00:40:40
that are now baked into the history of this place a neon strip of gritty stories laid bare beneath the desert sky
00:40:50
he told anyone who asked that he was never going to retire that he was going to report until last breath and that's
00:40:59
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
00:41:06
[Music] legacy need more time with 48 Hours go deep behind every True Crime episode
00:41:26
with firsthand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is
00:41:32
the word that comes to mind get inside the twists and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours
00:41:39
now available wherever you get your podcasts [Music] hi everyone I'm anarie green and welcome
00:42:01
to postmortem today we're going to dig into the murder of Las Vegas Review Journal reporter Jeff Gman and joining
00:42:08
me now to take us behind the scenes of 48 hours is correspondent Peter vanent and producer Liza Finley hello anarie
00:42:16
hey anarie it's great to be back so of course because I'm a journalist one of the things that really drew me to this
00:42:23
story is that it is the story of how vulnerable journalists can be but how his fellow reporters rallied around how
00:42:33
they didn't just report on one of their own but it was almost another investigation that they were conducting
00:42:39
at the same time absolutely with journalists because we we often times deal with very difficult stories
00:42:45
emotional stories stories in which a a life has been lost it is fraught at times with some danger because you have
00:42:53
people who we may be pursuing who are ected killers and as a result there is a bond that that is formed among
00:43:01
journalists and when one of us is lost in a situation like this everyone rallies everyone wants to come to the
00:43:08
aid and everyone wants to try to solve the crime it also brings to mind that it could have been me and they were
00:43:16
terrified that this was he was killed for a story that others had been working on so they lived in fear looking over
00:43:23
their shoulders that they might be next so let's kind of go through the case how
00:43:27
did it all unfold well this goes back to September 2nd 2022 uh Jeff Gman was attacked outside
00:43:34
his home in Las Vegas and of all places that one would think you might be attacked that's kind of the last place
00:43:41
right you feel safe when you're at your home generally and the tragedy in this too was that you know a neighbor didn't
00:43:48
discover his body till about a day later he' been attacked on the side of his his
00:43:53
house and he had been stabbed seven times in the neck and and nobody had heard any screaming or anything like
00:43:59
that Jeff's colleagues at the Las Vegas Review Journal suspected a man named Robert Tellis he was the public
00:44:06
administrator which is an office that dealt with people who died when they would sort out their Estates Jeff had
00:44:14
reported several articles claiming that Tellus had been demeaning toward his employees and was having an affair with
00:44:21
a subordinate in his office Jeff Gman was an incredible investigative journalist and he he cut his teeth and
00:44:29
made his name in Las Vegas uh going after some of the most powerful U Mobsters Liza tell the story he was even
00:44:37
attacked by one in a in a bar right he was at a like at a bar sort of a party and this mafiosa type guy comes up to
00:44:45
him and and Jeff said to him call your dogs off you know it's like leave me alone and then the the guy punched Jeff
00:44:53
in the face but of course he loved that right because now he had a po story yeah
00:44:58
he did he definitely did not back down but I got to tell you this is something that I've thought about a lot actually
00:45:03
with 48 hours with the correspondents and the producers because you know often when
00:45:10
you're pursuing these stories I wonder about how vulnerable you guys are and do you ever sort of consider that have you
00:45:17
found yourself in a situation where you were threatened or concerned one time I was uh doing a story I went up to uh
00:45:24
where a um a a suspect um was was hiding out and we got up to the front door and
00:45:30
he had put a sign out there that said in a matter of seconds you'll be in extreme
00:45:34
pain and he had put an electrical plate on the ground and had batteries hooked up to it we jumped off uh of that just
00:45:42
in time but yes throughout my career I have done stories in which I have been threatened one just a couple years ago
00:45:49
we did a murder For Hire investigation that took us all over the world and my my camera guy is attacked and he he was
00:45:56
bloodied by this attack by by the suspect that we were pursuing at the time I have done stories that were
00:46:02
controversial in which uh one time uh somebody drove a in the middle of the night uh a giant diesel pickup truck in
00:46:09
front of my house turned on the lights on bright and floored and was screaming woke up all the neighbors and stuff
00:46:16
called the cops but he he took off really quickly and and I've also noticed a big change since we both we've been at
00:46:23
this for a while Peter and I and uh there's an anti-media sentiment going around and I was uh covering the Idaho
00:46:33
student murders and I was uh in the in the parking lot and there it's an apolitical story a murder story and
00:46:40
these these guys we were just like yelling and were so hostile and driving and these big huge trucks and revving it
00:46:49
up and I'm like my goodness it's like it's scary it is a little scary how hated uh journalists are these days I mean
00:46:59
it's killed the messenger time yeah I think that's a really really Keen observation I think of often when we
00:47:04
talk about journalists being vulnerable journalists being killed we think about this happening overseas and not here and
00:47:12
uh the story sort of serves as such a good reminder that we should sort of be aware of the risks that many people are
00:47:19
taking in order to get the truth out so you focus on two major investigations here conducted by concerned citizens
00:47:27
first let's talk about the four women in Robert ts's office who gathered evidence
00:47:32
against him and sent information to Jeff and one woman in particular Alicia Goodwin she filed two official
00:47:40
complaints with the county but Alicia says nothing was done Peter your interview with them it was it was
00:47:48
heartbreaking uh it was it was quite extraordinary um harassment emotional and and some of them felt physically
00:47:56
threatened can be so powerful when you are powerless and you have no place to turn
00:48:02
and then there's that striking moment during the interview when another woman Jessica who was an employee at the Clark
00:48:09
County public administrator's office talks about taking her own life just to get someone to pay attention let's
00:48:17
listen then I started um thinking the best thing I could do would be to sacrifice myself for the girls and had
00:48:27
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
00:48:33
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
00:48:41
will have to do something the the job is just one portion of your life but somehow he was
00:48:49
able to taint everything about her world right there was no joy there was no point in going on it was really
00:48:57
something tell us had according to the women Tellus had rules in the office they were not allowed to speak to each
00:49:03
other during work hours at all not allowed to speak Jessica was isolated in this one room and he came in and um and
00:49:14
terrified her that she had reached a point where she was preparing to take her own life and she thought this would
00:49:21
be a way of drawing attention to this man and that she would save her colleagues
00:49:27
um it was unbelievable to look at her face the amount of extreme pain it shocked all of us we couldn't believe
00:49:36
this story afterwards and we talked about this off and on for days it really laid bare the kind of atmosphere that
00:49:44
was inside this office right the distress that they were experiencing I mean they told story after story about
00:49:52
having to sit in the car and cry before they walked into theice office and they were friends you know work friends and
00:49:59
they'd worked together for years they weren't allowed to communicate they had to sort of secretly meet in the parking
00:50:05
lot to say hello to each other it it was like a psychological torture where they
00:50:09
claimed that he slowly slowly took away all their dignity all their power in the
00:50:15
office but you know also I I think an important part of the story that really didn't make it into the hour is the
00:50:22
accountability of the county and that they did not respond to these women and they had the two formal complaints but
00:50:29
there were many calls to HR the women in ts's office said there were many pleased
00:50:36
for help and they ignored it he's an electric official you can't do anything at one point they even suggested that he
00:50:44
be the person who would be um dealing with all the complaints over them and um you know they were they were hopeless
00:50:53
try to imagine that right so they turned to Jeff Gman the investigative journalist because one of the women's
00:51:01
father was an investigator and said hey this guy talk to him see if he'd be interested H okay let's talk about why
00:51:08
Jeff took on this story you sort of touched on it a little bit because this is not his typical beat they called them
00:51:13
they were desperate and he promised to listen to them he didn't promise to do a story so he met them and he spent a lot
00:51:22
of time listening to them and investigating on his own but he really was a compassionate man and he was
00:51:30
really out to protect the people who couldn't protect themselves and he really felt for these women he saw the
00:51:38
the excruciating pain they were in because of this and this was an elected official you know who was being paid by
00:51:47
taxpayers and that was another big reason why he did it this was garan saying we have to hold our elected
00:51:54
officials to a higher standard they can't get away with this they work for us and Jeff Gman also found out that
00:52:02
these stringent rules uh that these women described as dictatorial well there was one woman in the office who uh
00:52:11
these rules did not apply to according to the women and that was a woman named Roberta um The Other Women talked about
00:52:19
how Roberta would go into tas's office and they'd hear all this giggling going on in there uh they they met all the
00:52:26
time they would they would go out at times uh during lunch he treated her with respect and
00:52:32
favoritism uh the women claimed that she had become like a second boss and then Liza what was short skirt day well they
00:52:41
began to suspect that Tellis and Roberta were having an affair of course he and Roberta denied any of this so they
00:52:50
started to notice every day that she wore a short skirt to work they would disappear for hour hours at a time
00:52:57
during the uh during the day and so that's what they called it short skirt day their antenna went up yeah these
00:53:04
women went above and beyond well it is amazing you see them and they're like you know they're chasing them following
00:53:10
them you know syruptitious videotaping them trying to get the proof uh because nobody would believe them
00:53:27
so the other big investigation this hour was the one that Jeff's colleagues at the Las Vegas Review Journal conducted
00:53:35
after his death now in the beginning all I had to go off of were two images from
00:53:40
the surveillance video of the as salant how did they begin to suspect Robert Tellus may have been responsible for
00:53:48
Jeff's death well if the first thing they did was look at the his recent stories in the past five months to see
00:53:55
if they they could could ID anybody who felt threatened by his writing uh his name immediately made that list because
00:54:03
he had tweeted out some very sort of angry tweets about Jeff um and don't forget the women also alerted the police
00:54:13
and so almost everybody involved thought about potentially Robert Tellis could be
00:54:21
a suspect and and keep in mind once the police got involved they checked all the
00:54:25
security cameras of the houses around there it's interesting that the surveillance footage the the suspect
00:54:31
outside the house was wearing this seemingly bizarre outfit a big straw sun hat and a orange reflective shirt and to
00:54:41
us in the east coast just weird but out there apparently they the construction workers and the people who work on uh
00:54:49
the grounds and things they wear that kind of thing cu the sun is that makes I thought it was a woman at first I guess
00:54:54
because of the hat but that makes sense right and then this part really was so fascinating to me when a review journal
00:55:02
photographer Kevin Canon sees the surveillance video of the suspect walking in Jeff's neighborhood he
00:55:07
immediately notices the unusual gate the way he walks I didn't think it was tremendously unusual but I guess because
00:55:15
I was focusing in on it I thought oh yeah I guess there is a little something there uh he went digging into his files
00:55:22
he finds video that he had taken of Robert Tellis on the day that Jeff went to the offices to to interview him um
00:55:31
the staff at the review journal then compare Kevin's video next to the video of the
00:55:36
suspect just another example of incredible detective work that these journalists are doing to help bring
00:55:44
Justice for their um their friend yeah when I looked at that video I always looked at the the suspects you know from
00:55:51
the shoulders up I was trying to figure out what's under that hat right what is this person look like but these
00:55:58
journalists noticed the gate and you're right it's ever so slight but they noticed it and they zoomed in on this
00:56:06
then there was more that these guys are digging into because they noticed there was a maroon SUV that was caught on the
00:56:14
neighbor surveillance camera tell that story Liza at the time of the attack once the attack occurs Jeff is is killed
00:56:25
uh the attack ER comes back drives a maroon Yukon Denali car back in and Parks it right in front of Jeff's um
00:56:35
house and goes in there and apparently um the journalists think to make sure that he was dead so this detective
00:56:42
journalist gets on Google Earth and puts in ts's address and there they see what's in his driveway but that Yukon
00:56:52
maroon Denali and it was like Bingo what a moment that was for that for that team
00:56:59
of reporters this this created this link and it's it's an amazing bit of investigative work that Jeff Gman would
00:57:08
have been very very proud of yeah I think it's so interesting um how creative you become when you're not in
00:57:15
law enforcement right you don't have the kind of access that law enforcement has
00:57:19
and so you have to figure out other ways to get to the bottom of a story did they
00:57:24
share any of this information that they uncovered with the police they did share
00:57:28
some of it yes they did and uh so did the women uh when when the the police released that picture of the Denali the
00:57:37
women recognized it as well they called the police so there's cross communication and independent
00:57:44
investigating which is what makes it so interesting and nobody wanted to step well we'll put it this way the
00:57:50
journalists did not want to step on the official investigation they did not want
00:57:54
to get in the way of it one of the things that the editor said uh when they noticed undercover cups at uh at ts's
00:58:03
house when they were there they backed away because they didn't want to get in the way of an investigation so just 5
00:58:10
days after Jeff's murder tell us is brought in for questioning as police search his home they search his cars can
00:58:17
you tell us anything that you know police may have learned about Tellis W he was in custody well what's
00:58:22
interesting is not so much what they heard it's what they saw and according to police they noticed that tus had a
00:58:29
bandage over his finger and they noticed several additional small abrasions on each Hand by this time they had they
00:58:37
knew of this surveillance video there was a struggle that occurred so they also noticed that the bandage over the
00:58:45
tip of ts's left ring finger was removed and they saw a sharp force injury that had been
00:58:53
superglued uh according to police tell us had super glued it to close it you know to keep it from from bleeding and
00:59:01
that's an odd thing as well I mean is it because it was particularly deep and maybe he didn't want to have to go see
00:59:08
go to the hospital to get it stitched up that well this is allation but it's it would keep it from
00:59:14
bleeding and yeah then he wouldn't have to have it stitched if he you know uh as
00:59:18
somebody in my long life I've had an incision that has been glued like that it can be quite remarkable how it works
00:59:25
but this was this was crude and it was super glue it wasn't medical so let's remind everyone of some of the evidence
00:59:32
that police found in ts's house right they find gym shoes they find a duffel bag it's really similar to what you can
00:59:38
see in the surveillance video um they find that a distinctive straw hat but it's all cut up into little pieces and
00:59:45
then later of course the DNA under Jeff's fingernails but I mean what's what's interesting about that attack you
00:59:51
you remember he's covered Head To Toe with all this sort of garments and uh and Jeff at the time I mean how he ended
01:00:02
up getting some DNA under his finger nails is really I mean it's kind of heroic and the people like his editor
01:00:09
and his his colleagues they said that was no accident this guy knew what he was doing he was going to get that DNA
01:00:17
he was going to make sure that person was convicted and think of it the this is just a matter of seconds seven stab
01:00:25
wounds right he knows his life is is is soon to be over and in that those few seconds he reaches out to scratch his
01:00:36
attacker it's pretty damning evidence but I want to play a short clip of ts's explanation because Peter you speak to
01:00:44
him and you say that to him you say this is pretty damning how do you explain this let's play some of that
01:00:51
sound I say that that evidence or so-called evidence was planted along with the other items that were allegedly
01:00:59
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
01:01:06
your DNA under his fingernails how would that have have happened they first they
01:01:11
would have had to gotten your DNA and then when would they have planted it under his fingernails it seems
01:01:18
far-fetched [Music] well you know C sure things have happened and I'll tell you that I didn't
01:01:24
kill Mr German so this is the moment in the hour where I'm leaning in and then I oh my gosh he
01:01:33
actually spoke you had me like kind of jumping out of my chair the man who comes in he's not very tall he's slight
01:01:40
he is a handsome guy he speaks confidently and keep in mind folks he has not been convicted of anything yet
01:01:47
and he claims he has an explanation for everything Robert Tellus pleaded not guilty and at the time we talked with
01:01:55
him he was representing himself he was his own attorney he's a lawyer he went to uh law school a little later in life
01:02:03
in his late 30s I mean he's accomplished he was a real rising star in the Democratic Party The Party had high
01:02:10
hopes for him one day becoming you know mayor Governor I mean he was he he was ambitious man um when he walked in there
01:02:21
would had been some sort of a miscommunication and he wasn't expecting me he was expecting one of my colleagues
01:02:26
a a woman to be talking to him and for some reason and I know it was communicated to him he didn't think
01:02:31
there'd be a TV Camera there and he goes I didn't know we're doing this I would have shaved he became very much the
01:02:37
politician was about to be on television H so I know you asked him a ton of questions uh you told us his response to
01:02:45
the allegations from the women that he worked with that none of that happened all lies all lies he got into some
01:02:52
trouble before though right there was like a domestic B situation yes when actually when he held
01:03:00
the uh the job of public administrator he was arrested his wife had called 911 and accused him of choking her and he
01:03:10
was arrested and he was inebriated he told us and anybody else who wanted to listen that he had a big drinking
01:03:18
problem and um that he's now recovering but that he didn't know what he was doing that night did that go anywhere
01:03:27
the domestic battery was ultimately dismissed but he received a suspended 90day sentence on the resisting charge
01:03:35
resisting arrest charge and he was uh ordered to attend a corrective thinking class and that's I guess also when he
01:03:42
says he stopped drinking and you mentioned that he basically had an answer for everything
01:03:49
or a response I should say maybe for every question I I ended up um zeroing in even more on the fingernails during
01:03:58
the course of that interview where I just basically said come on man um this is this is overwhelming evidence against
01:04:07
you and he just kept saying the same thing I I look forward to my time in court there is an answer to everything I
01:04:13
can explain everything and he does say that he was framed uh so we have to wait for trial
01:04:20
and see what what story he has to tell it's a fact fascinating but also a tragic case um you know here you have a
01:04:28
journalist just doing his job shining a light on Abus of power and he pays for it with his life but you end the hour
01:04:37
with an uplifting note uh the review journal fought in court to protect Jeff's sources and files from the police
01:04:45
and the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement is prohibited from searching
01:04:51
and seizing of reporter's devices after their death very interesting what was the reaction from Jeff's colleagues that
01:04:59
was Jubilation uh proud they were very proud the the sources were everything to Jeff he was trusted people knew they
01:05:08
could trust him he had sources in police in the prosecution you know in government and
01:05:15
if these names ever got out it would be could be potentially very harmful to the
01:05:19
sources so these journalists fought really hard to protect what Jeff would have protected protected and spend his
01:05:27
life protecting and remember when when authorities attempt to get a hold of our our notebooks our computers in which we
01:05:34
have a lot of this information um what can happen maybe the unintended in some cases intended
01:05:41
consequences is that they don't just get evidence on that particular case but by
01:05:46
George they find out who is the number one source inside the police department let's say you know Jeff has done lots of
01:05:54
stories involving uh local police County Police they can find out who those sources are they could silence that they
01:06:01
could discipline or fire people and so this is crucially important to be able to protect sources and that was a major
01:06:08
victory uh for the review journal for that newspaper and ultimately it is a story about the importance of Journalism
01:06:15
and people who take it seriously and can change the world by speaking truth Jeff
01:06:22
Gman had the courage to challenge people in power and to bring Justice for our greater communities and he's gone that
01:06:32
voice is gone and this case by the way is not over tell us is heading to court and won't that be a fascinating time
01:06:39
because in my opinion since he says he was framed he's going to have to take the stand and tell that story because
01:06:45
how else can those details be revealed if not from tell us himself right and I know 48 hours will be on it um thank you
01:06:55
Peter and Liza another great hour and thank you so much for joining us for postmortem thanks Amar it's always a
01:07:02
pleasure so join us next Tuesday for another postmortem and watch 48 Hours of course it's Saturdays 109 Central on CBS
01:07:11
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48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcasts [Music]