An investigative reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal was stabbed to death outside his home late Friday in what police believe may have been a fight.
Jeff German, 69, who wrote the book Murder in Sin City, was found dead Saturday morning after a 911 call alerted police to the body.
“We believe the altercation took place outside of the home,” said Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Dori Koren. “We do have some leads. We are pursuing a suspect but the suspect is outstanding.”
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Police said the fight is believed to be an isolated incident, though they have not determined a motive.
German joined the paper in 2010 after a decades-long career at the Las Vegas Sun. His reporting tackled a wide swath of topics, from city inspections and councilmen feuds, to organized crime and government corruption.
Following the 2017 mass shooting along the Las Vegas Strip, German was the first to break the news that the shooter had targeted aviation fuel tanks before opening fire into a music festival crowd.
The author of a 2001 book, Murder in Sin City: The Death of a Las Vegas Casino Boss, German also wrote and hosted the second season of the Review-Journal’s true-crime podcast series, Mobbed Up: The Fight for Vegas.
His final story, published Aug. 4, involved travel companies appearing before the Nevada Supreme Court to fight a lawsuit over unpaid hotel room taxes.
Though he was not one of the Review-Journal’s “larger-than-life personalities,” executive editor Glenn Cook told the Los Angeles Times in a Sunday interview, German was a newshound in the classic sense.
“He had almost this kind of grouchy streak and if he was walking around the newsroom with a furrow in his forehead, you knew something big was up and that he was close,” Cook said. “That’s how you knew Jeff was about to break a big one.”
Cook described German as a “beloved, looked-up-to, trusted and incredibly valuable” journalist who had shaped the city through decades of accountability reporting. “It is shocking and incomprehensible for everyone in our newsroom. It’s a huge blow,” he said.
German had not expressed any fears for his safety to the newspaper’s editorial leadership, according to Cook.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said her office would be closely following the police investigation. “Loss of life in this manner is always shocking and must stop,” she wrote on Twitter.
In a statement, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak called German “tough but fair” and “a great mentor to young reporters.”
J. Keith Moyer, the Review-Journal’s publisher and editor, said on Twitter that he was “still numb and profoundly sad” over German’s loss.
“What a reportorial force Jeff was,” Moyer added. “His work... made our city a better place to live.”
