Murder With My Husband - 236. The Journalist Who Dug Too Deep - Jeff German

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

In this episode, Payton and Garrett explore the story of Jeff German, a fearless journalist who took on some of the most dangerous investigations in the U.S., until one case led him too far. Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Links: linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Case sources: CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-telles-trial-verdict-jeff-german-murder/ CNN.com - https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/23/media/jeff-german-las-vegas-review-journal-robert-telles-trial/index.html SeattleTimes.com - https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/a-friend-and-reporter-slain-just-for-doing-his-job/ APNews.com - https://apnews.com/article/vegas-journalist-killed-telles-murder-trial-efd86acb2605829a60bf664a8c7e4ba0 Las Vegas Review Journal - https://www.reviewjournal.com/investigations/read-jeff-germans-investigative-work-related-to-robert-telles-2636206/ NPR.org -  https://www.npr.org/2024/08/28/g-s1-19685/former-elected-official-found-guilty-of-murdering-las-vegas-veteran-reporter' People.com - https://people.com/robert-telles-murder-trial-accused-killing-jeff-german-journalist-8695387 Wikipedia.com - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_German NYTimes.com - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/04/us/las-vegas-reporter-killed.html UPI.com - https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/09/04/investigative-reporter-jeff-german-stabbed-to-death-las-vegas/5431662321074/ Columbia Journalism Review - https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/jeff_german_killed_press_threats.php BBC.com - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4707j31zvo RollingStone.com - https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/robert-telles-guilty-murder-reporter-jeff-german-1235090465/ TheGuardian.com -  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/17/jeff-german-las-vegas-journalist-murder-trial 8NewsNow.com - https://www.8newsnow.com/news/trial-of-robert-telles/telles-doubles-down-on-theory-of-a-vast-conspiracy-in-first-interview-after-murder-conviction-crazy-crazy-story/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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On Eligible Cards, terms apply. Learn more at mx.ca. You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Morland. I'm Garrett Marlin. And he's the husband.

And I'm the husband, and I'm very upset because we just recorded for 15 minutes and we didn't hit the record button on the audio. Round two! Round two. Round two, here we go. You know, it's kind of weird repeating the same things you just repeated for the last 15 minutes, but here we go.

At least we noticed it before we did our whole episode. All right, jumping right into it. Merch, thanks everyone to, thanks everyone who has bought merch. We really appreciate it. We're glad you guys liked the designs. It'll be up for another week Seriously, thank you for the support Halloween's coming up soon. So get your merch second Apple subscribers patreon

subscribers and Spotify subscribers Thanks for paying for extra bonus content. We really appreciate it. Thank you for supporting us a reminder Two bonus episodes a month as well as ad free content on everything We love you guys so much. We love all you guys. Should I just hop right in? Should I just keep try just keep firing away? I'm gonna keep firing away 10 seconds Peyton and I we Bought season tickets to the Utah hockey club. It is an NHL team. They were Arizona's team. It's now in Utah We love it. Honestly, it's Peyton and I's, I think, new favorite thing. We love doing it.

We love eating some food, watching hockey, hanging out. Peyton loves standing up, cursing, yelling at all the people when they fight. She's the first person to stand up as soon as a fight breaks out. I love it. She loves it. We're having a good time. It is so super fun. It's crazy how 15 minutes can turn into three minutes.

Payton doesn't really stand up and start cursing. I made that up. No, I do stand up and yell though when they fight because it's so fun to just scream at them. I'm like, punch him in the face! Whip off his helmet! Uh-huh, tell him. Knock the teeth, get the teeth!

You tell him, baby. That's what I like to yell So it actually has been really fun. Other than that just reminder We have our twitch streams every Tuesday and Thursday Come join us. We have our new YouTube channel. It's called Peyton and Garrett. Look it up on YouTube It's all of our twitch content New content that you guys aren't seeing if you're listening to this We post three videos a week on there, shorter videos of just basically what's happening

on Twitch, clips, shorts, go and check it out, Peyton and Garrett. There will be links in the description somewhere on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere that you are listening. Also, I have still been going to the gym. Staying consistent, hold me accountable. Yeah, I'm actually kind of proud of myself that I keep forcing myself to go, but I'm doing it and it feels good. What about you, babe? You got anything?

Uh, no, I'm not going to the gym. Oh, baby. And I'm, you know, just- It doesn't matter. I'm just living. Pitten has a little bit of a headache It hasn't been feeling good this morning, but she's here. She's with us She's supporting us as we support her and let's hop into today's case

Our sources for this episode are cbs news cnn seattle times ap news las vegas review journal npr people Dot com new york times.com upi.com columbia journalism review bbc.com rollingstone.com the guardian.com and eight news now.com, newyorktimes.com, upi.com, columbia journalism review, bbc.com, rollingstone.com, the guardian.com, and eightnewsnow.com. I think it's safe to say that being a journalist today can be a little difficult, especially because I think in this day and age the title comes with some sour connotations. Like sure, there's the TMZ kind of journalists, the ones who follow around celebrities looking for the next salacious, maybe not even true, story. And then there's the few who are just looking to make a buck, capitalizing off of someone's hardships. But there is a whole other side to journalism that is so underappreciated, and it's the ones who

are willing to put their neck on the line to expose the ugly truths about our world. Think about it. You have journalists who are headed into war zones to try and show the world what's happening there. Some are tasked with interviewing powerful subjects who are accused of terrible crimes. And then there's those looking to expose some criminal or even government organization that's meant to be kept a secret.

Which doesn't just put the journalists's reputations at risk, it puts their lives at risk too. In 2022, 69 reporters were killed around the globe for taking on difficult stories. Holy crap, I guess we'll get into it. I assume most of it is out of the US. Yes. Okay. Only one of them happened right here in the United States.

That's obviously the case we're gonna be covering. But it's not under the circumstances that you'd imagine. See, the story of Jeff Gehrman proves any assignment can be a matter of life or death, and you should never underestimate your subject. So like a lot of our cases, I'll travel back in time and tell you a little bit about our victim,

and this story is not going to be like that. Because to be honest, there's not a whole lot of information out there about the hard-hitting journalists in our case today named Jeff Garman. Maybe that's strategic. Maybe it's ironic, but despite his years of game changing stories, Jeff's early years have flown under most people's radar, even when it was time for him to become the story. But here's what I can tell you about Jeff

in twenty, twenty two. He was a bachelor and from what I can tell you about Jeff in twenty twenty two. He was a bachelor. And from what I found, he was never married, at least not to a person. I thought you meant he was on the show, The Bachelor. Oh, no, no, no, no. He was an actual bachelor. OK, OK. And people speculate that he was never married because he was married to his career. If you asked his colleague Jeff

Schumacher, which is not Jeff Gehrman, he'd tell you that Jeff was quote, a reporter probably from birth to death. Inc. was running very heavily in his veins. And I know he went to Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He got a master's degree and eventually moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. Now this might've been for personal reasons, but it was more likely for a job. Because in the 1970s, when Jeff made the move, Vegas had plenty of hard hitting stories to report on.

There was casino robberies, political scandals, murder, and of course, the mafia. Which after joining the publication, known as the Las Vegas Sun, actually became one of Jeff's first big breaks. And more specifically, Jeff focused on one of Vegas's hardest to nail mobsters, a man named Tony Spilatro, a name so-

It just sounds like a mafia name. You know, it just has the ring to it. I know it was a name so infamous that Joe Pesci's character in Scorsese's movie Casino was actually modeled off of Tony. See, Tony was known not just for being a conniving thief. He was responsible for a lot of the violent mob related crime in Vegas, but he had never once actually gotten blood on his own hands. For years, he managed to fly under the radar.

That is until our reporter, Jeff Gehrman, came along and picked up his story. But right after printing his first piece on Tony, Jeff fell off his radar. Jeff would go back to his car only to find his tire slashed. He was receiving menacing phone calls to his house and other concealed threats hurled his way. But Jeff did not let up. In fact, when he ran into one of Tony's henchmen at a Las Vegas bar, Jeff walked right up to him and said, Hey, you guys need to back off of me, which I mean, nah, man, that's crazy. That's insane.

And Jeff was actually met with a stern punch in the face as a response. I'm sure he was. But this was actually something that reporter Jeff wore as a badge of honor, and it was proof that his stories were valid, he was onto something. And through it all, he managed to continue covering the topic without much more harassment or serious threats. Probably because Jeff was like a dog with a bone. There was just no taking a good story away from him. And the former gaming control board chairman of Vegas even called Jeff quote the most tenacious reporter I have

ever dealt with and would not take a simple platitude for an answer. So Jeff even went on to compile his stories and run-ins with the mob into a true crime book titled Murder in Sin City the death of a Las Vegas crime boss and this was in 2001 and then in 2009 after nearly two decades at the Las Vegas Sun, Jeff was laid off, but he quickly joined another Vegas publication known as the Las Vegas Review Journal. And there, Jeff kept breaking stories on some of the biggest things to happen in Las Vegas. From the 2017 mass shooting at the Mandalay Bay Hotel to a series of failed inspections that led to the disastrous 2019 Alpine Motel apartment fires.

His subjects and sources ranged from whistleblowers to government officials to FBI agents. Can't believe that shooting in Vegas was 2017. It feels like it was only a couple of years ago. I know. And Jeff Gehrman was the one to cover it all. Now in 2022, Jeff was still pursuing some tough assignments. He had just exposed a $500 million Ponzi scheme

that was targeting members of- Wait, don't tell me. Cryptocurrency. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the two. And was breaking a case on a corrupt government official who had been verbally abusive to his employees and was carrying on an affair.

But through all of this, there was one thing that Jeff never lost, and that was his integrity as a journalist. He always maintained close trusted relationships with his contacts and sources. And he protected them too, refusing to ever give up their identities no matter what the situation. And then in 2022, the now 69 year old Jeff Gehrman was at the height of his career. And he told his colleagues he had no plans to retire any time soon. That would actually all change on Labor Day weekend.

So on Friday, September 2nd, 2022, Jeff Garman was at his Las Vegas home taking a little vacation from work. That day he left his house to grab something to eat. He came back, he opened his garage door, but he never shut it again. This is something Jeff's neighbors found suspicious when they saw an entire day had gone by and his garage door was still open. So they texted Jeff a few times to see if everything was okay,

if maybe he needed them to shut it, but Jeff wasn't answering their messages. So around 10.30 a.m., now on Saturday, September 3rd, they walked over to Jeff's house to knock on his door. And when they entered the yard, they actually saw Jeff, only he was lying on the side of his house next to a set of bushes. They walked up and it was obvious that Jeff was dead.

Wow, okay. He had been stabbed seven times, four in the neck and three in the torso. Geez, man. He was completely unresponsive. And after calling 911, first responders arrived at the scene only to pronounce the 69 year old Jeff Gehrman

dead from his injuries. And with no family of his own no partners. No roommates Police are wondering Like what could have happened here now? Luckily Jeff's neighbors did have something of use It was a video from their personal security cameras taken around the time that Jeff had come home the previous day And it showed a man dressed in an orange vest, sort of like one that you'd wear doing like construction. Yep.

And he also had a large straw hat on and he was carrying some sort of duffel bag. Now the man appeared to be walking down the street and then he made a turn toward Jeff's yard. Of course he's carrying a duffel bag. And the suspect actually opened up the gate and let himself in along the side of Jeff's yard. Of course he's carrying a duffel bag. And the suspect actually opened up the gate and let himself in along the side of Jeff's house. But here's where things got really shocking, because in this video you can actually see a sort of struggle in the bushes alongside Jeff's home. Oh my gosh. And you can't really make out what's happening, but based on the state that Jeff was found in,

this is clearly the murder. Yeah, he's been killed. Like on camera. And then after about just two minutes, that man dressed in orange emerges from the bushes. He walks down the sidewalk and gets into a maroon SUV that was parked across the street. And then he just drives away. And then Jeff is never seen on footage again. But the assailant does come back to the scene later. He's spotted on that footage again, getting out of his car and walking around the side of the house. Now police are like,

why would he come back? Did he leave something behind? Was he checking to see if Jeff actually died? Either way police think, okay, obviously we have our suspect, but who is this person? And what is their connection to Jeff? All right, we're talking about Rocket Money.

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and that there had been a few home burglaries in the area recently, as well as what neighbors described as, quote, weird people walking around in the area recently, as well as what neighbors described as quote, weird people walking around in the middle of the night. So this is what neighbors say once Jeff is found dead. Here's the thing. Investigators know from their years of experience

that Jeff's murder does not look like a robbery. Nothing is missing from Jeff's home and the number of stab wounds feels more like a personal attack, perhaps even an act of revenge. But on the other hand, this also doesn't really look like a professional hit job. If it was, the hired man didn't do a very good job of covering up his tracks. Not to mention, the crime was committed in broad daylight on a holiday weekend when people would be off of work. And when they speak with Jeff's colleagues at the Las Vegas

Review Journal, they find he never raised any concerns about his safety or reported any threats that were made against him. But as we know, that does not mean that Jeff doesn't have any enemies. As I mentioned, Jeff wasn't the guy to write up some big puff piece. He was the kind of person who went toe to toe with some of Vegas' toughest outlaws for the past 40 years of his life. And he did gain quite a few enemies over the years, including members of the mafia. So police have to consider,

could there have been someone holding a grudge against Jeff Gehrman? It's like, why now though? Right? Right? He's what's almost 70 at this point. Yes. Like why, why now? There were probably a lot of people

who had a close eye on him, but would any of them be as bold as to murder him? Jeff's colleagues at the Las Vegas Review Journal thought it was very likely actually. So they began doing their own investigation, which I mean, obviously the police are looking into this murder, but don't put it past a group of journalists to be like we are going to solve our colleagues murder. Yeah, so diving into Jeff's ongoing

stories, they began tracking down some of his sources to see if they might have any indi indication of what Jeff was working on. Maybe what possibly could have put him into danger. They went through his emails, his computer files, his notes, and they paired the information they had with some of the details that had been released by police, like that suspicious maroon SUV that the main suspect was seen getting into. Jeff's colleagues found that that car matched the description of one of the subjects Jeff was reporting on. So instead of calling police, I mean like hey we went through his notes and there is a subject who has a maroon SUV. The

journalist themselves decide to go down to this guy's house because of course they want the first scoop. They don't want police to get it. And sure enough he's in the driveway washing a maroon SUV. It's the same make and model that was seen leaving the scene of the crime. And do you want to take a guess at who you think this is that he was reporting on? Like you're not gonna have a name, but like what type of person? I mean, the mafia, right? I mean, what other group would kill someone for reporting on them?

You got my head thinking right now. I'm glad that's what it's supposed to do. Yeah, thanks babe. So if not the mafia, what other group? Another corrupt group of people the government? The owner of that vehicle was a local politician. No get out of here, dude. No freaking way Was that a hot take? That's insane I mean if it's a local politician, it's not a hot take

I mean, I just feel like I feel like shady Look shady character wants to disagree with me Go ahead, but our government's nuts No one can deny that we for sure have been hiding things and continue to hide things if you deny that then I don't have To tell you you're oblivious. I'm not sure it was always this way, but I think today if Someone's in politics. I'm not sure it was always this way, but I think today if someone's in politics, I'm like, Look, if they would just come out and show me the aliens that they have hidden, then I would be happy and everything would be fine. So this local politician's name was Robert Tellis. Now, the

47 year old Robert was a Clark County public administrator, a department who's one of many jobs was to handle the estates of the deceased. I can't believe that his exact car was seen leaving the murder scene. The police are gonna have a field day with this. When they find out that the journalists already confronted him. So they would handle estates of the deceased along with other things like budget analysis, urban planning, networking, and PR, Just a whole bunch of political stuff. But earlier in 2022, Jeff Garman obviously received a tip about this man, Robert. And it was a tip that suggested there was a lot of disturbing things happening around Robert's office. So it was around March, about seven months

before the murder, when Jeff got a call from a woman named Alicia Goodwin. Now Alicia told Jeff, she didn't know who else to go to. She had already filed former complaint after formal complaint to the County Office of Diversity about her boss, Robert Tellis, but the county reportedly was brushing her concerns aside. All they told her was, hey, he's an elected official, there's nothing they could really do to help her. So Alicia

was like, I'm gonna go to Jeff and see if he can take this story public. It was a story that claimed Robert had made a very toxic work environment. He was harassing Alicia and her colleagues. He was bullying them, discriminating against them. This was something that had started up almost the day that Robert Telles stepped foot in their office back in January of 2019. And here's just a little taste of what he did, or at least what Jeff had uncovered. Robert refused to let the women in the office speak to one another.

What? That's insane. So, good morning, have a nice night was off limits. Like they could not talk to each other. And if they broke that rule, the punishment was being called into Robert's office and screamed at like literally sit down, shut up and F you no way. That's okay. So Alicia actually got a few of her other female colleagues to come forward to Jeff and say, Hey, she's not making it up. Okay. I was going to ask, like did other people come? Yes. Other female colleagues came forward and said, no,

we're validating her claims like this is happening and this is real. And I will say, this is a very manipulative and toxic way to control people. I mean, to say you can't even talk to someone. So a woman named Jessica Coleman said that there were times when she feared for her physical safety in the workplace

that Robert would get in their faces. He would scream. He would corner them up against walls. He would just yell at them. It's insane to me that people like that are real. And a few of them even said that he would look at them and like force them to look in his eyes. Like you need to look at me in the eyes as he said these horrible things. In fact, Jessica said Robert once told her that she was going to quote die alone and no one was ever going to find her. So he said that to a female employee. Okay, you're going to die alone and no one is ever going to find you. These

are words and actions that pushed Jessica so far that she admitted to Jeff These are words and actions that pushed Jessica so far that she admitted to Jeff that she had considered dying by suicide because of the work situation. And she was like, if I was going to do it, I was going to do it at the office. So he had to find me. In Jessica's mind, this was the only way to get the county to take any course of action against Robert because they had tried to come forward and say, hey, this elected official is abusing his power and no one was listening. But obviously that was not the solution. When the women came together, they saw an opportunity to secretly take Robert Tullis down. And once they had the evidence they needed,

they knew they would take it to the media and then hopefully people would begin to listen. See, the women had a strong feeling that Robert was having an affair with one of the female staffers in his office, one of the only people he ever acted favorably towards. And it was a 45 year old woman named Roberta Lee Knet. Now Robert was also giving Roberta. I mean, what are the chances? Yeah, that's pretty funny tasks that were above her pay grade. Between that and the short dresses

and sneaking off at lunch, Alicia, Jessica, and the rest of the women were like, something is going on between these two. Something the married Robert Telles, who was also up for re-election in June of 2022, would definitely want to be kept a secret. So the women began following the two of them. Both Robert and Roberta would set off in their own cars

and always head to the same destination. It was a mall parking garage just a few miles away from the office. One would get into the other's car and I'll let you fill in the gaps of what the women from the office discovered. But now it was like a full task force. Alicia and her coworkers began assigning different days women from the office discovered. But now it was like a full task force.

Alicia and her coworkers began assigning different days to follow their boss and this fellow coworker. And they were tasked with taking video and photos of this ongoing affair that's happening in the car. That's what I'm talking about, man. Including one where Roberta is clearly getting out of the car. She's pulling her dress back down.

Now they had something on their boss, Robert, that could not only blow up his career, but also his marriage. And they knew they had to bring it to someone who was gonna take this story seriously. And so that's when they called up Jeff Garman. Now the women said Jeff was the first person to ever really sit and listen to them

about what was happening at work. For the first time, they felt seen. And if there was any hope in exposing Robert Telles, Jeff Gehrman was their guy. I mean, he faced off against the Las Vegas mob for crying out loud. So someone like Robert probably felt like child's play to Jeff. Alicia said that Jeff not only pursued the story, he spent countless hours listening to all of their experiences. And he would even check in with them repeatedly

to make sure they were doing okay as the story broke. So Jeff really did break this story. It was a day that came in May of 2022. Jeff released an article titled, "'County Office in Turmoil' with secret videos and claims of bullying and Hostility. The piece ultimately cost Robert Telles the June election. Oh, poor Robert.

And he was removed from his seat in the public administrator's office. But Jeff didn't stop there. That summer, he wrote three more pieces that continued to expose the corrupt official. And he had a fifth piece in the works, which he obviously never got to complete. Thanks to Jeff's articles, four of the women actually went on to file a lawsuit against Robert Tullis. But Robert was not the kind of guy to take any of this lying down. After the articles were published and Robert lost the

election, he began posting angry messages on social media directed towards Jeff. He was tweeting things that read, looking forward to lying smear piece number four. I think he's mad that I haven't crawled into a hole and died. And he also tweeted and said that Jeff himself texted me to tell me article three is coming out and I'm sure article four will come out soon enough. Jeff, I know you're obsessed with me, but I'm over you. It's not funny because we know that Jeff got murdered. It's just, it's embarrassing on Robert's part.

Like it's embarrassing, man. Okay. Like you got OK. You got exposed. You got exposed. I don't know if I'll tell you. Sit down. You're a dirt bag. Fix your marriage. You're a horrible human being.

And I don't know what else to tell you, man. Apparently, this was followed by some crude text messages from Robert to Jeff as well. But look, these tweets aren't really that alarming. I'm sure Jeff is used to this kind of thing when he breaks stories on people. I mean the guy had his tire slash and he was punched in the face at a bar by a mobster. This is baby stuff to yes, so Robert didn't even register to him as a threat, but it turns out

there was even more dirt on Robert that Jeff hadn't even gotten around to digging up yet like back in twenty twenty Robert had been arrested for domestic violence after his wife called the cops saying he came home drunk and was quote, going crazy and choking her. Oh my gosh. He then resisted arrest when police showed up, both of which were met with little more than a slap on the wrist for the public official. All to say it's very obvious that Robert did have a violent temper in him.

And by underestimating this, it might have cost Jeff his life. So now with confirmation that Robert Telles not only had motive to kill Jeff Garman, but also that his car was seen at the scene of the crime, police start to look for more confirmation that this is their guy. And it starts with that video. Now it's hard to make out the person's identity because of the giant straw hat, but they also find the orange vest might be strategic, like someone was trying to blend in

with local construction workers or landscapers. But it's not the clothing that sets off alarm bells for investigators, it's the person's gait, almost like they are limping or favoring one leg over the other in the video. And when it's compared to videos of Robert, that walk is nearly identical. Upper Canada College inspires boys from senior kindergarten to year 12 to find their passions and realize their potential.

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Win or lose, Coke Zero Sugar is the most refreshing way to end the game. Coke Zero Sugar, best Coke ever. Learn more at coca cola.ca. So by Wednesday, September 7th, police were knocking on Robert's door. They also towed away the maroon SUV that was actually registered to his wife. I think it's insane that maybe he didn't care about getting caught. Like he had to have known he was and get caught. The car also like ran a car was going to be caught on camera. That's what I mean. Did he even care? It's twenty twenty two. Everyone has a ring doorbell. Do people even think about this ahead of time simply safe doorbell by the way. You know it's

like I don't know. So when police searched his home that day, they found a shocking amount of incriminating evidence. So Garrett, if you think that Robert was a little silly with his murder plan, just wait till you see what he kept around. Yeah, let's hear it. They find the straw hat okay at Robert's home, the same one seen in the video. I don't think he cared about getting caught only it's cut up into pieces and it's stuffed inside a shopping bag. It also had blood on it. Then they found a pair of shoes matching the suspects. They were stuffed underneath Robert's sofa.

Again, they were cut up and they had blood on them. They also saw the same duffel bag the suspect was carrying in the video as well. Oh my gosh. And as all of this was being uncovered, Robert was down at the police station answering questions. And that's where detectives noticed a pretty nasty cut on Robert's finger.

So they went ahead and they asked him for a DNA sample. And later that day, police drove Robert home, but they'd be back a few hours later because that DNA sample came back as a match to the DNA found underneath Jeff's fingernails. How did it take him 10 seconds to do that, but we still can't test DNA from 15 years ago? Don't ask me.

Riddle me that, Batwoman. So between all of this physical evidence and cellular data that showed Robert had searched for Jeff's house on Google Maps hours before the murder, police had more than enough to arrest Robert. And when they arrived at his house that evening, surprise, surprise, Robert does not leave peacefully. He refuses to come out of his house.

A SWAT team is called in. Oh my gosh. And then Robert is finally removed from his home and it wasn't just in handcuffs. He is left on a stretcher after trying to harm himself. Robert was treated at a hospital for his injuries and then booked at the Clark County Detention Center. And six weeks later, he was indicted for murder

with a deadly weapon. Wow, fast. Good. So Robert was denied bail, and prosecutors worked quickly to piece together their case against him. The main theory was that Jeff's story exposing the behavior of Robert had demolished his career, blew up his affair, and very possibly ruined his marriage.

In an act of rage, Robert premeditated a plan to kill Jeff and executed that plan on September 2nd, 2022. And we know it's premeditated because eyewitnesses saw him casing the area before the actual crime. It's weird because at this point, his life's already- Ruined? Ruined, so like why?

I mean, it's just anger at that point. I get it, but killing him wasn't going to change anything. Right. Now Robert refused to play into any of this. He pleads not guilty to the charges of first degree murder with a deadly weapon. Instead, Robert comes up with a very solid explanation for everything during his trial in the summer of 2024.

So just recently. Wow. he said he was framed. And this is so ridiculous that I'm not even gonna get into the weeds of it, but Robert said the whole thing was orchestrated by a team of office colleagues, business owners and real estate agents he knew as well as the police. All because he had dedicated his career to trying to rid the city of corruption.

And many of those corrupt players existed within his own office, the police force, real estate agencies he was working with, et cetera. Robert even took the stand at his own trial to try and argue this as his defense, but considering Robert's history and the evidence that was stacked against him, there was very little chance that he wins this case. Could someone have planted bloody shoes and a hat in his home? Maybe. Sure.

But could someone have planted his DNA under the fingernails of Jeff Garman, maybe not very likely. Like how do you get skin DNA and put it under someone's fingernails? He did it. This is ridiculous. So when Robert was questioned about the fingernail detail, his response was quote well, you know crazier things have happened and I'll tell you that I did not kill Mr. Garman, good defense, good defense. I'm tell you that I did not kill Mr. Gehrman. Good defense. Good defense. I'm sold.

I'm sold too. There was one detail the defense relied on heavily to support this. An additional video of that maroon SUV driving by the crime scene after the murder. The defense actually zoomed in on another neighbor's security video to show that the person inside driving the vehicle couldn't have been Robert because Robert was bald and this person had hair. They also tried to point to some body cam footage from the officers during his arrest and said several minutes of that footage had gone missing or was destroyed but the prosecution's argument was a heck of a lot stronger than the defense's because

they had a few more tricks up their sleeve. As I mentioned before, Jeff was working on another article about Robert at the time he died. One that hadn't been finished yet because Jeff was waiting on some public records that he'd requested to come across his desk. But the day before he died, Robert learned about what Jeff was seeking.

It was a series of text messages that Robert and his mistress Roberta had shared. I'm not sure what was in those texts. Oh, I think I, I bet I know it was in those texts. Robert clearly did. And it must've been pretty damning because it was the straw that broke the camel's back. I'll tell you what I think it was.

What? I think that they were gonna kill his wife. Well, before- And wanting to be together. Am I right? We don't know. Oh, I'm right. So before Jeff could get his hands on that information, Robert obviously showed up and stabbed him to death. After just 12 hours of deliberation, the jury came back to say that they found Robert Telles guilty of murder.

He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. And that August day, Jeff Gehrman's reporting meant justice for another one of Las Vegas's hard hitting criminals. Glenn Cook, a former colleague of Jeff's actually put the case into perspective nicely. He told CBS that Jeff was quote, going to report until his very last breath. And that's exactly what he did. And he gave his life to this job. And I think that's his legacy. And that is the story of Jeff Garman. And I do wanna say like, according to everyone in Jeff's life, he loved journalism.

He was married to his job. And so I think that's what his colleagues mean when he took it to the grave. Like he literally, this is his legacy. This is crazy that, look people, this stuff happens and it's crazy that it happens. I mean, this is a true crime podcast. It's just crazy that look people this stuff happens and it's crazy that happens. I mean, this is a true crime podcast it's just crazy that

Like government official literally killed someone because he found out about his affair. He was being exposed. I bet you they were talking about Killing his wife. It's quite the joke. Oh, no for sure. I'm right. I just I can feel it on my bones I mean, I think that I don't know if it was killing his wife But I'm sure the text messages were going to be very embarrassing and even more harmful to his marriage. If it was still trying to stay intact for sure either way, that is our story for today's episode and we will see you next time with another one. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.