Death penalty to be sought against man charged in girlfriend’s death

Prosecutors said they intend to seek the death penalty in the case of a man accused of killing his missing girlfriend more than a year ago.

Philip O’Reilly, 36, made a brief virtual court appearance Friday and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. He also invoked his right to a trial within 60 days.

“Do you understand, sir, that the state is going to file a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against you?” District Judge Tierra Jones asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

O’Reilly’s attorney, David Westbrook, argued during the hearing that the case was not appropriate for the death penalty. He was invited to make a presentation to the death penalty committee before prosecutors file the notice.

Investigators said they linked O’Reilly to the death of 34-year-old Cheryl Beardall, a mother of three, through records on social media, a rental truck company and the victim’s phone.

As early as July 2020 — around the same time that Beardall was last seen alive — O’Reilly’s adopted sister, Catherine Pickett, told police that he might have killed his longtime girlfriend, grand jury transcripts show.

Beardall’s body has not been found.

In August 2020, Pickett received a message from Beardall’s Facebook account, which was linked to an IP address from a home in North Las Vegas where O’Reilly was staying with friends, the documents state.

“Philip always said he only stayed with me for the kids,” the message stated. “Now he has them, and I’m with someone who cares about me more than he ever did.”

Pickett grew suspicious, the records showed, and sent her brother a text message.

“You’re a fool,” she wrote. “I know that is you. I’m not stupid.”

In a profanity-laced message, he responded: “Keep your conspiracies to yourself. I have to deal with enough with my kids worrying about their mom and I can’t even get her to respond for the school stuff.”

Beardall’s children testified that she was routinely the victim of physical abuse and had been whipped with a dog leash.

Two of them, 11 and 14 at the time, last saw her — beaten and bloody but still alive — on a corner of a bed in the primary bedroom of their home in late July, authorities said.

After Beardall’s disappearance, and while the children were staying with O’Reilly, he threatened the older child, according to court records.

Around the time of her disappearance, O’Reilly had searched the web for “torture chamber,” “longest torture sessions,” “CIA torture,” “slowest historical torture” and “broken ribs,” court records show.

Confronted later by investigators about Beardall’s disappearance, O’Reilly said she had left him because she “wanted to know what it would be like to be with a man that was more endowed.”

In another case, O’Reilly faces 27 counts of lewdness, sexual assault with a minor, and child abuse, neglect or endangerment in connection with abuse and sexual attacks on two children dating back a decade before Beardall went missing.

In 2008, O’Reilly was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison for an attempted murder conviction. Prosecutors at the time said he slammed his Honda Civic into his former girlfriend’s pickup truck after she broke up with him.

Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @ByBrianaE on Twitter.