A Las Vegas Man Used A Dog Leash To Strangle His Girlfriend With Her Children Present. Then He Tried To Hire A Hitman To Silence The Witnesses Forever.

A Las Vegas man accused of using a dog leash to kill his long-missing girlfriend in front of her own children has told authorities the location of her body in a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, according to authorities.

Officials said family members of the victim, Cheryl Beardall, 34, last saw her in July 2020. Her vehicle was found in late September 2020, but she was nowhere to be found.

Her boyfriend, Philip Mathew O’Reilly, has been accused of using a dog leash and his hands to kill her while her children were home sometime between June 20, 2020, and July 23, 2020, KLAS reported.

Court documents state Beardall’s 11-year-old son was asked to bring the leash and later ice packs for his mother after a beating, according to KLAS. The victim’s 14-year-old daughter was forced to watch the children in a nearby room.

After the murder, O’Reilly allegedly rented a U-Haul truck, packed up his stuff and the kids and moved to North Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

While driving, he stopped at an apartment complex and told the kids to stay in the vehicle. Henderson police officer Nathan Calvano testified, “He got out and pulled the mattress and the box spring out of the U-Haul and discarded it in a dumpster enclosure at the apartment complex,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

On Sept. 2, 2021, O’Reilly was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of child abuse/neglect or endangerment, officials said.

On April 19, O’Reilly pleaded guilty to the murder charge and, as part of that plea deal, he agreed to tell authorities the location of Beardall’s body, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The specific location has not been released, but it was given to police and the victim’s family.

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During the hearing, O’Reilly was asked if he killed Beardall and after a pause, he replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

O’Reilly will be sentenced in June and is expected to get life in prison without parole, officials said.

He has also been accused of offering a hitman $20,000 to kill four witnesses, including Beardall’s children, and drawing a map to the home of the four targets, KLAS reported.

O’Reilly is facing four counts of solicitation to commit murder, but he has denied making any threats, detectives said. That case is still pending.