Resorts World Murder Suspect Daniel Rodimer Pleads Not Guilty 

An ex-professional wrestler and failed congressional candidate has filed a not guilty plea to murder in Nevada this week.

Daniel Rodimer, 45, is charged with beating a man to death in a Resorts World Las Vegas hotel room.

Rodimer is accused of attacking Christopher Tapp, 47, at a Halloween party at the luxury Las Vegas casino resort in October 2023. Tapp allegedly fell and hit his head as a result of the assault, causing injuries that eventually led to his death. 

Rodimer, who made unsuccessful runs for Congress in Nevada and Texas in recent years, turned himself in on March 6 this year. He is currently out on $200,000 bail. He appeared briefly before Judge Tierra Jones at Clark County District Court on Wednesday to file his not guilty plea. 

Rodimer “vigorously denies any responsibility for the allegations,” according to his lawyers, Richard Schonfeld and David Chesnoff.

The Fatal Incident 

Tapp and Rodimer knew each other through the classic car racing scene. Idaho-born Tapp was living the high life off an $11.7 million settlement he received in 2019. He received the windfall after spending two decades in jail on a wrongful murder conviction from 1997.

Rodimer, a father of six, allegedly attacked Tapp after he offered his stepdaughter cocaine at the party, according to an arrest warrant.

“If you ever talk to my daughter again, I’ll [expletive] kill you,” a witness said they heard him say, followed immediately by loud banging noises. 

A second witness claimed she saw Rodimer knock Tapp to the ground, causing his head to hit a coffee table. The same witness says Rodimer then hit Tapp several times more. However another witness says Tapp slipped, fell, and hit his head on the table.

Rodimer then left the scene. Tapp was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where he died of his injuries two days later. 

Police initially ruled the death suspicious. An autopsy confirmed Tapp had cocaine in his system, which the coroner initially suspected was the cause of death. Further examination then revealed that blunt force trauma to the head was the more likely culprit, and the death was ruled as homicide by the Clark County Coroner’s Office. 

The Charges 

After the event, Rodimer’s wife, Sarah Rodimer, sent him several incriminating text messages, which his legal team had tried to exclude from court proceedings. 

“I watched you murder somebody like let that sink in your psychopath,” one of the texts said. 

Rodimer has been charged with murder by Las Vegas authorities. If convicted, this charge comes with a sentence of up to life in prison, or even the death penalty. However, Jones said the State would not be pursuing capital punishment in this case. 

His trial is set for February 3, 2025. Rodimer’s legal team say they are working on challenging the indictment. However, prosecution lawyers say they are confident they have the evidence for a conviction.