In May 2022, the Review-Journal published German's article headlined,
"County office in turmoil with secret video and claims of bullying, hostility." The article had a swift effect on the Public Administrator's Office and the county sent in an outside consultant. German went on to publish three more articles about Telles, which chronicled his loss for reelection in the primary, ironically, to his second in command, Rita Reid.
German was working on another story about Telles, but he would not survive to write it.
Five days after his murder,
police arrested Telles after, they said, his DNA was discovered under German's fingernails.
The story very quickly became national news, according to Review-Journal investigations editor Art Kane – who has written a book about German's murder, "The Last Story: The Murder of an Investigative Journalist in Las Vegas," which is expected to be released this April. "A reporter killed by a politician for a story that he wrote," Kane told "48 Hours." "If he's the guy … that's pretty unheard of."
Telles was booked into the Clark County Detention Center. Six weeks later, he was
indicted by a grand jury for murder with use of a deadly weapon. He pleaded not guilty and has since been in jail awaiting trial, which is scheduled for March 18, 2024.
Van Sant interviewed Telles at the Clark County Detention Center. Telles denied killing German and when he was asked about the evidence against him, including his DNA under German's fingernails, he said, "I say that evidence or so-called evidence was planted … And we will go ahead and prove that at trial."
Just five months after the women told investigative reporter Jeff German about an alleged toxic workplace, the journalist was killed.
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