Weird.

I was in Vegas that night (October 29, 2023), and remember hearing that there was a death at Resorts World.

I also remember the Susan Lee/Daniel Rodimer election in 2020 for the 3rd district Congressional seat of Nevada. That weirdly gerrymandered district cuts through the greater Las Vegas area, covering the western and southwestern portion, including Henderson. It also encompasses most of the small towns in southern Clark County, such as Laughlin, Searchlight, Jean, Primm, and Boulder City. It does not include Pahrump.

Trump probably dragged down Rodimer,. People were motivated in 2020 to go out and vote against Trump, who was unpopular in Nevada in both 2016 and 2020. (Trump has had a huge comeback, and is seeming likely to win there in 2024!)

Rodimer lost by 3 points, 48.8 to 45.8. So he wasn't far, but he wasn't all that close. The district is rated D+1, meaning Democrats are projected to have a 1-point edge if both candidates are otherwise equal strength. So it's definitely a purple district. Lee is running again in 2024, and is listed as "likely winning" in early projections.

It looks like the victim of this murder, Christopher Tapp, had a physical fight with Rodimer on Ooctober 29 in a Resorts World room, and probably hit his head on something when he fell during the fight.

It is not clear who reported the "unwitnessed fall" of Tapp, the night paramedics showed up to his room. He was not dead yet, but had multiple brain injuries and died at the hospital. Did Rodimer anonymously call it in? Or did security find it, after receiving reports of an altercation? A witness was interviewed on December 11 who told police that Tapp had been "in an altercation with another individual" in the room that night. It is not clear if that witness was in the room, as well, or just someone in a neighboring room.

This murder was unusual in that most Vegas hotel room murders involve opposite sex victims. Some are domestic violence, while others are robberies-turned-murder where girls set up dudes in the casino. It is not common for a man to be murdered in a Vegas hotel room by another man, with no presumably no sexual or romantic connection involved.

Rodimer would probably be a tough opponent in a fight, as he's 6'7" and 300 pounds, with a wrestling background. He was briefly in the WWE in the mid-2000s. I doubt he has much of a career anymore, being a relative unknown in the wrestling world, and being nearly 46 years old.

Aside from his attempt to run in the Nevada Congressional race, Rodimer had two other recent electoral fails. In 2018, he ran for Nevada State Senate, losing by just 142 votes after outspending his opponent 2-to-1. In 2021, CNN accused him of putting on a fake Texas accent to replace Texas Congressman Ron Wright, who died of COVID in May 2021. Wright already had cancer and was 67 years old, so he was particularly vulnerable to the virus. Rodimer finished 11th in that crowded field. He didn't have much of a chance, as he wasn't known in the area, and Wright's widow had already been endorsed by Trump. The seat ultimately went to Jake Elzey, who lost to Ron Wright in the Republican primary in 2018.