Former Las Vegas administrator Robert Telles indicted for murder in journalist Jeff German’s killing

By Raja Razek, CNN

Former Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, who has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of Las Vegas investigative journalist Jeff German, has been indicted for murder by a grand jury.

According to the indictment, which was filed on Thursday, Telles did “willfully, unlawfully, with malice aforethought, kill Jeffrey German, who was 60 years of age or older, with use of a deadly weapon.” CNN has reached out to Telles’ attorney for comment.

Telles was charged in the killing last month in a chilling case that raised nationwide concerns about press freedoms in the US. German, 69, had been working on a story about Telles the week he was killed, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He had also previously reported that Telles created a hostile work environment and carried on an inappropriate relationship with a staffer. (Telles denied the reports.)

The reporter was found dead with multiple stab wounds outside his home on September 2. DNA found underneath German’s fingernails and surveillance footage helped police link Telles to the killing, authorities have said.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Clark County court in September, Telles, 45, allegedly stabbed German “multiple times about the body.” Authorities believe Telles was “lying in wait” for German, noting the murder to be “wilfull, deliberate and premediated.”

Cpt. Dori Koren, with the Las Vegas police department’s homicide bureau, previously said Telles allegedly approached German’s home and went to the side of the house. German came outside soon after and went to the side of the home, where investigators believe an altercation occurred and German was stabbed multiple times, Koren had said.

Telles was identified as a person of interest early in the investigation, as authorities discovered neighborhood surveillance footage capturing a vehicle seen at Telles’ house before and after German’s killing, Koren said. The vehicle, registered to Telles’ wife, was also seen at German’s house at the time of his death.

Telles lost his bid for reelection in a June Democratic primary. In a hearing earlier in October, a judge granted Clark County’s motion seeking to have him removed from office.

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CNN’s Danielle Sills contributed to this report.