Trump-backed candidate wanted 'on one charge of open murder': reports

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include Rodimer's first name. The former US congressional candidate's name is Dan Rodimer.

A former Republican US congressional candidate — who was endorsed by ex-President Donald Trump — is currently under investigation by Las Vegas police for alleged murder.

Per Las Vegas' 8 News Now report, Dan Rodimer "turned himself in at the Clark County Detention Center around 6 p.m. Wednesday" after police "issued an arrest warrant for Rodimer, the 2020 Republican candidate for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, on one charge of open murder."

The Daily Beast reports the failed GOP hopeful "is accused of murdering 47-year-old Christopher Tapp during an altercation inside a hotel room at the Hilton Resorts World on the Las Vegas strip on Oct. 29," according to a Wednesday police statement.

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Police said Tapp died from "blunt force trauma to the head," according to the Beast, adding that "the incident was called in as an accident, but investigating detectives determined otherwise in the months that followed."

The arrest warrant obtained by 8 News Now says Rodimer "allegedly became upset after Tapp offered Rodimer’s stepdaughter cocaine."

Additionally, the warrant says "A witness then heard Rodimer say, 'If you ever talk to my daughter again, I’ll [expletive] kill you.' Immediately after hearing Dan say this to Christopher, [the witness] heard two loud banging noises."

The Daily Beast also notes:

His criminal past includes an arrest in 2011, when he was charged with misdemeanor battery for throwing a man to the floor at a Waffle House in Naples, Florida, that was not far from his law school, Ave Maria University.

Witness statements reviewed by The Daily Beast revealed that Rodimer, who appeared to be drunk, explained at the scene that he loved to 'f—k' people up.

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Text messages obtained by 8 News Now also reveal that Rodimer's wife said, "I watched you nearly murder somebody and I had to take your [expletive] hands off from his neck as he laid there and you ran away and I spent the next two hours trying to take care of him. Nobody should have to watch their husband murder somebody. I watched you murder somebody like let that sink in your psychopath."

8 News Now's full report is available at this link. The Daily Beast's report is here (subscription required).