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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 Gman 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 interest in covering organized
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crime you know he was gutsy and fearless Jeff Gman was Guided by an innate sense of right and
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wrong if he knew someone was engaging in criminal activity unethical activity inappropriate
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behavior he wanted to do that story he wanted to bring it to why we couldn't believe he would even
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take a call from us but he did give me a sense of what state you were in when you
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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
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time the only person that listened to us and the only person that tried to do something that concretely put their name
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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
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and he is 100% our hero and if I was to talk to him today I think the first thing I would
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say is I'm [Music] sorry as Jeff's editor his colleague did you ever sense any danger in covering
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this story there was absolutely no suggestion no hint that this would end the way it
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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 Erikson 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 Garman 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 salent came into his yard went to 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 garman's body hidden behind some bushes 24 hours
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later 911 emergency for 10965 need police fire medical I have a neighbor across the street from the he's Ling the
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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
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wondered whether he could have been saved but medical experts told us later that he likely died with in a minute or
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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
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help people and protect people you know and expose wrongdoing from the start Jeff Gman was
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shooting for big game and when he came from Wisconsin in the 70s Vegas was the serengetti
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Mark Fiero a TV reporter at the time became a lifelong friend and trusted Source Jeff Gman at the outset was a a
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reporter who caught the most important beat in Las Vegas of his day that was organized crime then a reporter for the
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Las Vegas son Jeff took on one of the biggest meanus Mobsters on the Strip a prime target of the feds is Tony
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spalatro the outfit's representative in Vegas spalatro Tony spalatro a power player for the Chicago mob played by Joe
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peshi in scor's film Casino you said I'm bringing heat on you here's Jeff Gman talking about spilatro in the podcast
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mobbed up he had a reputation for being a brutal killer yet he was never convicted of a single murder a podcast
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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
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calling spalatro by his street name Tony the ant he hated that and it sometimes left me at the receiving end of spo's
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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
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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
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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 antifreeze the husband
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who was charged with murder ultimately pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sent to prison
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as hard charging and public as Jeff was in his work life the lifelong bachelor was notoriously private about his
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personal life he was always back to business back to business this man was born to be a reporter a man who lived
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for his job and as it turns out a man who may have died for it the entire Newsroom rallied together
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his colleagues had no idea who did this or why but they were determined to do what Jeff
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Gman would have done find [Music] [Music] out the RJ staff was in mour there's sorrow in full display on
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Jeff garman's desk it's a reminder that this team is not going to be the same without him but
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we can carry on the way he would want us to and that meant doing what he would have
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done the staff started tugging on threads and searching for Clues working non-stop on one of the most important
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stories of their careers who killed Jeff Gman immediately I started thinking in my
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head all right who had threatened Jeff in any way in the last 5 months who could have possibly done
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this executive editor Glen cook asked Ronda to come up with a short list of people to consider one of the names I
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gave him was Robert Tellus and who is Robert Tellus he was a Clark County elected official in charge
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of the public administrator's office which handles Estates of people who were deceased one of the estate coordinators
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in ts's office Alicia Goodwin had reached out to Jeff Gman in March of 2022 she had filed a formal complaint
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with the Clark County Office of diversity on behalf of herself and some colleagues claiming Robert Tellus
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harassed bullied and discriminated against them he was a horrible the horrible human being monster is the
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right word but Alicia says the county did nothing it was he's an elected official there's nothing we can
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do Jeff agreed to hear what Alicia and her colleagues norin pdag Rita Reed and Jessica Coleman had to say and when he
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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
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that's the only thing that gave us enough energy to keep going according to the women the trouble
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began almost immediately after Robert Tellus took office in January 2019 Rita a supervisor was his second in
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command and a 12-year veteran of the office he came in very abruptly into the office and he slammed his palms down on
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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
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bandage you no longer supervise anyone no one reports to you they all report to me and he turned around and he walked
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out and I just sat there stunned the women say they were ordered not to speak to each other in the office
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it it felt dangerous to even have a hello good morning conversation with co-workers in passing if caught the
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consequences could be severe says Alicia she remembers getting called into ts's office after he saw her and two other
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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
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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
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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
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despite years of service all the women say they feared for their jobs and Jessica who safeguarded the property of
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the deceased in a caged room says she feared for her physical safety she says Tellus would sometimes come in and
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threaten her there was an instance where he got in my face and you know he's yelling and
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I'm sort of backed up against um the cage door he was trying to physically intimidate you yes yes he would bring
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his chairs up really close and and demand that you really pay attention and look him in the eye while he told you
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horrible things one of those horrible things says Jessica almost did her in alone in the cage together she says tell
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us started by saying that he noticed she never talked to anyone in the office a bizarre comment considering his no
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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
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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
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started um thinking the best thing I could do would be to sacrifice myself for the girls and I had actually picked
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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
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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
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do something mercifully Jessica realized that was not the solution to the problem
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but they came up with another plan the women beli tus was having an inappropriate relationship with a
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subordinate in the office named Roberta Roberta they claimed used that relationship to assume power and
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privilege Beyond her job title is there any doubt in your mind that the two of them were having a romantic Affair no
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absolutely not none whatsoever no but they needed proof so they decided to follow them we
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had seen a pattern short dress day if they went the same direction we knew that we need to
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go it was always to the same place Place says Alicia a parking garage in a nearby
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Mall the alleged lovers would park next to each other we started to take pictures and we started to video that's
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Roberta's car on the left Robert ts's on the right so how did you position yourselves where you could get some
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video very carefully very in a car sometimes in a car sometimes we would get out of our car there were there were
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kind of some cutouts and pillars where you could get angles here and there and we just tried to move around and to get
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the best that we could according to the women the alleged lovers would ultimately end up in the back seat of
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Roberta's car Roberto has said that they would sit in the back seat because she wanted to be able to make eye contact
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with him as they were having important office discussions yeah that is what she said and and and your reaction to
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that well that last video we got we had a little better recorder you can see the
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the shadows and you can see those heads going together we felt it was so inappropriate but this was the shot they
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believed was the most telling Roberta leaving the car and smoothing down her dress it was so unbelievable and it just
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took a moment to to digest that it would I mean at that moment it was like so real
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after seeing the videos Jeff asked Roberta about them she responded I have not had an inappropriate relationship
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with him the RJ published the story let me read the lead in this first article the
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Clark County public administrator's office has been mired in turmoil and internal dissension over the past two
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years with allegations of emotional stress bullying and favoritism leading to secret videotaping of the boss and a
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coworker outside the office that story went all over the state of Nevada and before long all over the country as this
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settled in are you thinking mission accomplished or are you thinking what's going to happen to us
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next both yeah the terror didn't stop the terror almost just got worse it just changed
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face what do you make of Robert tz's alleged behavior in the workplace chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook
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and [Music] X Jeff German's story with its allegations of turmoil bullying and hostility had a Swift and Searing effect
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at the public administrator's office the county finally sent in an outside consultant and Robert Tellus lost his
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bid for reelection in the primary ironically to his arch enemy Rita Reed but Jeff wasn't through with Robert
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Tellus yet he wrote three more scathing pieces chronicling the fall of the once upand cominging young Democrat and
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another story was in 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 Telles 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 Arcane 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
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want to take me down cuz I'm a public official Tellis slurring his words was arrested for domestic battery and
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resisting arrest there is sufficient evidence to book me right now there is sufficient evidence to book you right
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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
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not a idiot mhm he received a suspended 90-day sentence on the resisting charge and was ordered to attend a corrective
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thinking class the battery 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
00:23:27
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 ately
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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 and 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 Glenn 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 the then the police released this a photo of the suspect's car a maroon Yukon Denali show me what you did
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but you just type in the address you pull up the Google Street View assistant City editor David Ferrara immediately
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typed 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 Shop Robert Tellus on a
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scorching hot10 degree day is in jeans in his driveway washing the maroon GMC Yukon
00:26:53
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 Glenn 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
00:28:00
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
00:28:14
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 garan'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
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DNA sample from tus they also took the jeans he was wearing into evidence and gave him a white paper suit to change
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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 you 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 tus
00:29:27
earlier that day we received positive DNA results that showed Robert tell's DNA at the
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crime 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 tell's home once again and began
00:30:01
clearing the area for an arrest and this is where he was arrested yes reviewed Journal photographer Kevin Cannon was
00:30:08
one of dozens of media who had been waiting outside ts's home that day what happens when the cops arrive suddenly
00:30:16
the police 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 welcome me in and walk me to their backyard where I could have a view of
00:30:34
ts's house and you could still see the house from your your Vantage from the back
00:30:39
yeah back in the RJ Newsroom some of the staff anxiously kept up with what was happening at the scene through the
00:30:46
office's police radio and heard that Tellus refused to come out of his home our Target is still calm on the uh phone
00:30:55
however he has made a couple four five comments 405 comments a code Las Vegas Police use
00:31:02
to indicate comments associated with self harm it was kind of scary at that point
00:31:10
we were thinking is is this all going to end on his terms now Bas on the four or
00:31:16
five comments we're going to go ahead and make the official request for SL well my colleagues heard through the
00:31:23
scanner that they were going to move in because he had cut himself and they wanted to save him before before he
00:31:28
harmed himself more and they wanted to get to him right the SWAT team made its move and
00:31:35
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
00:31:41
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
00:31:48
them rolling them out on a stretcher down around that corner down that path out the driveway and put in an ambulance
00:31:55
right here Kevin was the only photographer that day to capture ts's dramatic arrest his image of tus on the
00:32:05
stretcher made the front page of the review journal the following morning the next day I uh opened the paper and there
00:32:13
was the photo on the front page with the banner headline stunning arrest and and
00:32:18
I it was stunning and satisfying for you after all that very satisfying it becomes huge news obviously all over the
00:32:26
country 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 Telus was indicted by a grand jury for murder with
00:32:50
use of a deadly weapon having you plead guilty or not guilty not guilty soon after after evidence from
00:32:58
the grand chury was released by The Clark County District Court including that grainy surveillance Attack
00:33:07
video I think probably what we found some of the most disturbing is the last three videos minutes later it shows the
00:33:15
as salent returning to the scene of the crime and parking that maroon Yukon Denali in front of Jeff's driveway and
00:33:23
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
00:33:32
dead because obviously Jeff saw this this person he wants to make sure that there's not a witness that's still alive
00:33:38
seemingly satisfied the suspect walked back to his car and left since his arrest tus has been in
00:33:48
jail awaiting trial did you murder Jeff [Music] Gman what do you make of the evidence
00:33:57
found inside of Robert tell's home see more evidence photos from the case at 48 [Music]
00:34:13
hours.com hey Robert good morning we met Robert Tellus for a video interview at the Clark County Detention Center and
00:34:22
began with the question on everyone's mind did you murder Jeff Gman no sir I did
00:34:30
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
00:34:40
stand by that in this conversation I do I absolutely do Tellis says he can explain the
00:34:48
evidence against him the torn-up sun hat the Yukon Denali and his DNA under Jeff's fingernails
00:34:58
I say that that evidence or so-called evidence was planted along with the other items that were allegedly found in
00:35:05
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
00:35:12
DNA under his fingernails how would that have have happened they first they would
00:35:16
have had to have gotten your DNA and then when would they have planted it under his fingernails it seems
00:35:23
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 Tellus and Roberta got word the before the murder that there was a
00:37:00
planned release of emails and messages between her and Tellus to the review journal there was a Freedom of
00:37:07
Information requests that Jeff had put out and you were told that new messages and emails were going to come out
00:37:14
describing the relationship between you and Roberta Communications between the two of you and it suggested that you
00:37:20
made a decision to murder him to try to silence that to prevent that from being published what do you say about that
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 wouldn't 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
00:39:11
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 you will not be
00:39:28
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
00:39:34
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 accept my apology 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
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