Retired professional wrestler, failed congressional candidate charged in Vegas murder case

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A retired professional wrestler and former congressional candidate from Nevada and Texas has been charged with murder in the death of an Idaho man who suffered head trauma at a party ‘Halloween at a Las Vegas Strip hotel.

Daniel RodimerThe 45-year-old, who now lives in Texas, is expected to appear before a Nevada judge on May 8 following his arraignment Friday in the death of Christopher Tapp.

His defense attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, said Friday that Rodimer “maintains his complete innocence and looks forward to his day in court.”

Tapp, 47, of Idaho Falls, was injured Oct. 29 at the Resorts World hotel and taken to a hospital, where he died a few days later, police said. He had served more than 20 years in Idaho prison in a 1996 murder before receiving an $11.7 million settlement from Idaho Falls in 2022 in a wrongful conviction lawsuit.

Investigators initially believed Tapp had been fatally injured in a fall, but they later learned he had argued with Rodimer.

Rodimer, a Republican who lost his congressional bids in Nevada in 2020 and Texas in 2021, turned himself in to Las Vegas police for arrest on March 6 and remains free on $200,000 bail.