Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - Terrible Pain - The Murder of Cherllyn Beardall

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Cherllyn Beardall was a devoted mother of three, known for her warm heart and dedication to her children, but in July 2020, she vanished without a trace, leaving her family desperate for answers. At first, her boyfriend claimed she’d walked away from her life. His story didn't add up, and her loved ones suspected something was wrong. She wasn’t the kind of person to abandon her children, and soon, troubling details began to surface.Eventually, the truth of her disappearance would come out, but for her children and family that she left behind, the pain of what happened is a daily struggle. They are still searching for the closure that still feels out of reach.https://sinspod.co/56sourcesDomestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag! Get ad-free access for only $1 a month or ad-free and bonus episodes for $3 a monthApple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

To listen ad-free, visit Zinspod.co slash subscribe. Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show! Sherilyn Beardall was a devoted mother of three, known for her warm heart and dedication to her children. But in July 2020, she vanished without a trace, leaving her family desperate for answers. At first, her boyfriend claimed she'd walked away from her life. His story didn't really add up, and her loved ones suspected something was wrong. She wasn't the kind of person to abandon her children, and soon, troubling details began to surface.

Eventually, the truth of her disappearance would come out. But for her children and the family that she left behind, the pain of what happened is a daily struggle. They are still searching for the closure that feels so out of reach. Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean. And with me, as always, is the one and only John. I am the only John in the room. This week, we're talking about the disappearance and murder of Sherilyn Beardall in the summer

of 2020. This case reminded us a lot of the case of Tiffany Booth, which happened around that same time during the lockdown part of the COVID pandemic. We weren't able to uncover much about Sherilyn at first until we discovered an interview with her sister, whose name is Jessica Knudela, who spoke to true crime podcaster Jason Hebert. The interview was great, and it allowed Jessica to share more about her sister with the world. The interview was done in the time after she disappeared, so at that time not much was known about what had happened. She was missing, and her family was frantically searching for her, looking for any leads, and at the time they were working with her boyfriend, Philip O'Reilly, who seemed to be acting as if he wanted to be helpful in the investigation. Do you want to start us off by talking about what we know about Sherilyn? Of course. Sherilyn Beardall, her family called her Cher, was born on March 7th, 1986, and was the oldest of three siblings. We unfortunately don't know much about that third sibling, but as we mentioned, she did have a sister named Jessica. She was 5'6 and weighed

between 100 and 115 pounds, depending on what source you're looking at. She had brown or hazel eyes, and she had a large, easily identifiable tattoo on her chest, which you can see in the photos of her. She was born here in Las Vegas and went to Foothill High. That makes sense because she actually lived not too far from us here in Henderson. Jessica said she was outspoken, kind, caring, and had a good sense of humor. She said Sherilyn would describe herself as the bad one and Jessica as the good one, probably because she seemed very much like she would tell you the way it was without mincing words. Her mom's name was Suzanne, and she had a cousin who lived in the same apartment complex as

her, the Cascade Apartments near Lake Mead Parkway in Warm Springs. Another nice thing we learned is that she was obviously very selfless and wanted to be involved in helping others. One example of that is her involvement with BACA, the Bikers Against Child Abuse. She apparently volunteered for them and helped them with seamstress work, repairing clothing, jackets, things like that. Because of that, they gave her the nickname Stitch. I had never heard of BACA, but I read up on what they do, and I find it awesome. I wanted to read you their charter really quickly. Bikers Against Child Abuse, BACA, exists with the intent to create a safer environment for abused children. We exist as a body of bikers to empower children to not feel afraid in the world in which they live.

We stand ready to lend support to our wounded friends by involving them with an established, united organization. We work in conjunction with local and state officials who are already in place to protect children. We desire to send a clear message to all involved with the abused child that this child is a part of our organization, and that we are prepared to lend our physical and emotional support to them by affiliation and our physical presence. We stand at the ready to shield these children from further abuse. We do not condone the use of violence or physical force in any manner. However, if circumstances arrive such that we are the only obstacle preventing a child from further abuse, we stand ready to be that obstacle.

I find that really cool and I love that she was involved with them. Sherilyn got married in 2007 to a man named Forrest Simpson and had two children, a girl who was 14 in 2020 and a boy who was 11 in 2020. It isn't clear what happened with her first marriage, but we do know from that same interview that her ex-husband was not living in Nevada and was seemingly not in contact with her. Jessica said that the kids told her they felt abandoned by him, but again, unfortunately, we couldn't find out much beyond their marriage license telling us the date and her ex's name. Jessica said that Sherilyn had worked at various places, including as a security person at Harrah's, a hotel on the Strip. But when the pandemic hit in early 2020, she got work where she could, working for Uber and Lyft, and seemingly really leaning into the available gig worker opportunities,

delivering for Uber Eats and DoorDash, pretty much whatever she could. She was also considering going into real estate before the pandemic, but here in Las Vegas, at least, the real estate market took a serious hit for the first half of 2020, so that was on hold. It seems apparent she was motivated to work and do whatever it took to help provide for her children. She was also a podcaster. Her podcast was called the Women Empowered Podcast. It was an interview-style podcast where she would talk to women who had overcome adversity and achieved great things, such as becoming MMA fighters, triathletes, firefighters, doctors, etc. You can listen to her podcast, and we'll be sure to link it in the show notes. Sherilyn met her boyfriend, Philip O'Reilly, in high school, but they reconnected much later and started dating in 2014. They were together for a long while and ended up living together in

Henderson at the Cascade Apartments, as we mentioned, and had a baby together in 2019. You can tell that Sherilyn was a very busy person, and Jessica confirmed that it wasn't strange for her to go through periods where she wasn't communicating with her sister, her mom, and her cousin very frequently, mostly because she was just that busy with work, having a teenager, having a tween, and a baby. It makes sense, and Jessica also said that she was a very dedicated mom. Jessica said that her cousin, who lived in the same complex as Sherilyn as we mentioned, sent her a Facebook message on September 1, 2020, which she didn't read until September 6,

asking if she had seen or heard from Sherilyn. Her cousin said that the last time she saw Sherilyn was July 19th, and that her friends also said they hadn't heard from her since about that same time. When Jessica heard this, she started to worry. At the time, she didn't have Philip's phone number, and she wasn't friends with him on Facebook, so she really had no way of contacting him or locating her nieces and nephew. Also, her sister and mom were very aware that Sherilyn's relationship with Philip was potentially dangerous and abusive. Her family said they had tried multiple times to help Sherilyn, but she defended him or lied about things being okay at home. According to Jessica, Philip had repeatedly told her that if their

relationship ended, he was always going to take one kid with him, so she felt that she couldn't leave. O'Reilly was also controlling and minimized her contact with family and friends. According to Jessica, she was permitted probably once or twice a year to go to my grandparents' house for either a birthday or dinner for the kids or a Christmas dinner, like a holiday dinner, but the moment she got a text message from him, she had to leave. She did have some friends that were permitted to be around them, but eventually they stopped going around, either because of altercations between them and Philip, or because they felt that she was not being treated right. There were also occasions when the older children had told family members that Philip had beaten them. The older daughter told Jessica once that she was whipped

with a dog leash for not cleaning her room. When Jessica heard that Sherilyn had not been seen for months, she knew she had to do something immediately. She called Henderson police, who came and knocked on the door to the apartment. There was no answer, and unbelievably said they had no probable cause to enter the apartment, and also they had no way to enter the apartment. She didn't give up, though, and she asked the police to come back, and this time she coordinated with the manager of the apartment complex so they could enter the apartment. She didn't give up, though, and she asked the police to come back, and this time she coordinated with the manager of the apartment complex so they could enter the apartment. This time they did enter, and they found that everyone had moved out and that the keys were left on the counter. Neighbors said they didn't know the couple well, but they

remembered that they had moved out sometime in August. A friend of Jessica's saw on Facebook that Philip said that he and Sherilyn had broken up, and he was staying with a friend with the daughter they shared. But Sherilyn's son also seemed to be there in the photo, so that was very confusing to the family, because they had no idea where their kids were. Philip was finally located staying with a friend of his, and it turned out that he had all three kids with him, including the older girl and the boy who were not his biological children. The story Philip told police was that he and Sherilyn had broken up and that she had left in the middle of the night. It's unclear if he was saying she left for good or, as he later claimed,

that she was going out to work her rideshare job for Lyft and Uber. Philip told an interesting and pretty unbelievable story about the night she disappeared, which her son partially corroborated. He said that they gathered the children together and told them that they were breaking up and offered them the choice of who they wanted to live with. Philip claimed that they all said that they chose him over their own mother. During this time, Sherilyn was making occasional appearances on social media, specifically Facebook. And on August 13, 2020, Phillip's adopted sister, Catherine Pickett, reached out through Messenger trying to determine if she was safe. The following day, she received a message back from the account that she just wasn't buying was from Sherilyn. The message read, Phillip always said he only stayed with me for the kids.

Now he has them and I'm with someone who cares for me more than he ever did. Instead of replying on Messenger, Catherine texted her brother Philip directly and said, you're a fool. I know that is you. I'm not stupid. Meaning that he was the one responding on her account. He pretended to not know what she was talking about and in a profanity-laced rant said, 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 about school stuff. He continued making accusations about Sherilyn like that she had started using hard drugs and had left to be with another man. That was also the story he told her children, which has to have been extremely traumatizing.

Her car was seen in various locations in August and was finally recovered on September 21, 2020, about 25 minutes away from her apartment near Boulder Highway and Desert Inn on Fiesta Way, but there was no sign of Sherilyn, nor any additional clues as to where she might be. On that same day, Sherilyn's Facebook account was deleted, and ironically, that was an important break in the case for police. Investigators were able to track down the computer that was used to delete the account and traced it back to a home in North Las Vegas where O'Reilly was staying with the children. When police seized and searched his computer, what they found was extremely shocking. Around the time O'Reilly's sister had originally contacted the police about Sherilyn's disappearance

about two months earlier, police found that he had been searching the internet for terms like torture chamber, longest torture sessions, CIA torture, slowest historical torture, and broken ribs. When they confronted him, he said that Sherilyn had left him because she wanted to know what it would be like to be with a man that was more endowed. The search for Sherilyn dragged on well into the following year, but with the evidence the Henderson police collected from her social media and family members, it was becoming apparent that it was likely that Philip O'Reilly was responsible. The chilling thing was, this wouldn't have been the first time that Philip O'Reilly had inflicted violence on a romantic partner. In 2008, O'Reilly's 19-year-old girlfriend,

who we'll call Ruby, broke up with him over the phone just two weeks earlier Ruby had decided to pursue an order of protection against him and she had already asked the court to extend it because she was afraid of him she hung up the phone with O'Reilly and refused to answer when he repeatedly began calling her back she left her home to drive to one of her college classes at the College of Southern Nevada at the Henderson campus I think from Ruby's point of view there wasn't anything else to drive to one of her college classes at the College of Southern Nevada at the Henderson campus. I think, from Ruby's point of view, there wasn't anything else to say to him. O'Reilly, on the other hand, apparently did not think the conversation was over. When she refused to answer his calls, he drove to her place and noticed her driving away in her pickup. He started following her, and almost immediately, Ruby noticed a blue Honda tailgating

her. It swerved into the lane next to hers, and she saw that it was O'Reilly, and almost immediately, Ruby noticed a blue Honda tailgating her. It swerved into the lane next to hers, and she saw that it was O'Reilly, and he was furious at screaming at her through the closed window. Ruby continued on to the 215 highway, and O'Reilly pulled up behind her and struck her truck with his car several times. She called 911, and Las Vegas Metro said they would dispatch officers. Ruby exited the highway at the first exit she came to, which was St. Rose Parkway, and as she drove off the highway, thankfully, she drove past a Henderson police officer. The officer saw the white pickup and the blue Honda zip around him, and they were both speeding. He said that the blue Honda was so close to the Chevy that he first thought that the pickup was towing the Honda.

Ruby must have been terrified as O'Reilly pulled into the lane alongside her and t-boned her car. She spun out, crossed the center of the road, and crashed into a light pole. O'Reilly's car crashed into a concrete barrier. The Henderson officer had witnessed the entire accident, and there were several others who had seen what happened. According to the officer's report, O'Reilly had tried to run her off the road and ended up colliding with her. Both cars were so severely damaged that neither was drivable. The Henderson police officer placed O'Reilly under arrest, and shortly after that, the Las Vegas Metro Police arrived. The Henderson officer declared that since O'Reilly had willfully and with malice used his car against Ruby, causing a serious accident where serious injury or death could have occurred, he was charged with

attempted murder. He was also charged with violating the protection order and with domestic battery. Ruby was experiencing back and neck pain, and she was transported to the local hospital after she gave her account of the ordeal to the officers. O'Reilly claimed that it was an accident, that he had looked down at his phone and tapped her car. He later admitted that he had followed her and that their vehicles had jackknifed, but he said he didn't know how it happened. O'Reilly was indicted for attempted murder and stood trial in Clark County for the crime. After a brief trial, the jury found him guilty of attempted murder. He was sentenced to 4 to 10 years, plus 2 to 8 years for a deadly weapon enhancement.

He was incarcerated until 2014, and while he was in prison, he attempted to appeal the conviction. One of his arguments as to why his conviction was unlawful was because the court erred when it prevented him from having an expert witness to testify that when young people are in love, they crave attention from the person they love. This appeal failed. This argument gives a lot of insight into how O'Reilly viewed his behavior. He characterized this crime as being responsible in some way or justifiable because he was young, 22 years old, and in love and was craving Ruby's attention. It sounds more to me like he wouldn't take no for an answer and he didn't care at all about Ruby's boundaries or her safety. Abuse and controlling behavior like this is a pattern

for most batterers and abusers, and we aren't sure if Sherilyn or anyone in her inner circle was aware of his past actions. Behaviors like this just won't go away with punishment or time, and based on what we know about Philip O'Reilly, his time locked up did not change his behavior. In January, for Stalking Awareness Month, we are going to have a special bonus episode on the trope of stalking for love that we see so often in movies and TV shows, so make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss that. On September 2, 2021, a grand jury was convened to examine the evidence against O'Reilly. So you don't miss that. contacting anyone. Sherilyn's two oldest kids testified in detail about O'Reilly and their mom's relationship. They told the grand jury that O'Reilly regularly beat Sherilyn when they would

argue. The kids also said that he had abused them as well. They said that on the last day they saw their mom, O'Reilly had beaten her severely. The last place they had seen her was in the corner of her bed. She was alive. They said that when she was gone, Philip told them that she had left in the middle of the night, that she was using drugs, and she didn't want to be there with them anymore. She left everything behind when she left.

A Henderson police officer testified and explained that the day after what the police presumed to be the date of Sherilyn's murder, O'Reilly rented and packed up a U-Haul with his things and the kids' things and moved to North Las Vegas. On the way from their old apartment to the new one in North Las Vegas, he stopped at an apartment complex and threw away his and Sherilyn's mattress and box spring in a dumpster. He made the kids wait in the car while he did that. The three children stayed with O'Reilly for weeks after that. Later, the older daughter told Channel 8 News that she wasn't stupid, and she knew that O'Reilly was cleaning the whole house with bleach,

that he had thrown away his mattress, and he wouldn't let anyone upstairs, even the older daughter whose bedroom was upstairs. This testimony, together with the other evidence collected from social media that we discussed, resulted in the grand jury indicting O'Reilly with the estimated date of Sherilyn's murder being between July 20th and July 23rd, 2020. Later that same day, September 2nd, 2021, he was arrested and charged with murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment. The state would be seeking the death penalty. This wasn't O'Reilly's first grand jury indictment that year. He was also indicted earlier in 2021 for 27 counts of lewdness, sexual assault with a minor, child abuse, neglect, and endangerment in connection with abuse and sexual attacks on two children. This indictment

had to do with events that happened a decade earlier, and our research shows this was unrelated to Sherilyn and her family. O'Reilly remained incarcerated pending the resolution of both of these cases. As we've discussed before, the justice system often moves very slowly. It can be several years before a jury is even selected and a trial starts due to continuances, scheduling issues, and pretrial motions and hearings. In March of 2023, shocking news came out of the Clark County Detention Center. O'Reilly had approached another inmate and offered to pay him $20,000 to kill Sherilyn's sister and brother-in-law, Jessica and Michael, and her two older kids. He even drew up a map that showed where the family lived. An inmate said that O'Reilly needed witnesses to disappear to beat his current charges.

The inmate approached guards and detectives with this allegation, and according to the arrest report, the detectives were able to obtain a recording of O'Reilly telling the inmate details of what he wanted to happen. O'Reilly had provided information on where Jessica and Michael worked, and suggested it would be best if the crime occurred at night, because that's when the four of them would be home altogether. He also claimed that he had tried to hire someone before to do this, but that person had stolen his money. When the inmate asked O'Reilly if he was sure that this was what he wanted, he replied, a hundred thousand percent. The detectives questioned O'Reilly if he was sure that this was what he wanted, he replied, 100,000%. The detectives questioned O'Reilly about making threats and trying to hire someone to kill Sherilyn's family, and he said he didn't want to say anything without his lawyer present,

but he denied making threats. Of course, the detectives told Jessica and Michael about this right away, and Sherilyn's son had a chilling reaction to it. He said that he knew something like this would happen. O'Reilly had tried to manipulate the kids years earlier, and he told them that if he went to jail, he would hunt them down. Jessica told reporters, we're not scared of him, and we don't ever want him to think that we're scared of him, because he has no power over us. Approximately one month later, O'Reilly must have seen, finally seen the writing on the wall

because he accepted a plea deal to life in prison without parole to spare him from the death penalty and the 27 counts of child sexual abuse would also be dropped. District Judge Michelle Leavitt asked O'Reilly if he was admitting to killing Sherilyn and he said, yes, ma'am. One of the conditions of the plea deal was that he agreed to reveal to authorities and to Sherilyn and he said, yes, ma'am. One of the conditions of the plea deal was that he agreed to reveal to authorities and to Sherilyn's family where her remains could be found. The location he provided was never published. There were some later statements that what O'Reilly told them was that he had left her remains among several dumpsters in the southeast part of town. Her remains have never been recovered.

When O'Reilly was formally sentenced to life without parole in May of 2023, Susan Beardall, Sherilyn's mother, said that he had worked to destroy her family when he lied to police and family members about the location of her remains. Knowing what a deceitful, dreadful person he is, I do not believe that he has even told the truth about what he did with my daughter's body. I guess I'll never know. Jessica also read a letter that Sherilyn's younger daughter had written. At the time of sentencing, she was only five years old, and she wrote, I want him to always stay in jail forever so he can't kill any more people, so he can't hurt me anymore. He was a very mean daddy to us, but now he's not our daddy

anymore. Her son, who was now 15 years old, said that many good memories he has of his mother have been stripped away. All I can remember is the terrible pain we had to tolerate, he said. Philip O'Reilly is currently incarcerated in the Ely State Prison. The most recent reporting we have about the family is from about a year ago, the summer of 2023, when Jessica told reporters that the family still has not been able to obtain a death certificate from Cheryl Lynn as no remains have ever been located, and there hasn't been a court order declaring her deceased. However, there is some comforting news about Cheryl Lynn's three children.

They are still happily and lovingly being raised by Michael and Jessica. Her oldest daughter is now 18, and the couple strongly wishes to adopt the two younger kids. Jessica has told reporters that the adoption process might have gone easier for them if they had put down in the paperwork that the children had been abandoned, but Sherilyn would never have abandoned her kids, so to Jessica, it just didn't feel right to put that in the paperwork. It's also important to point out that the father of Sherilyn's older kids is in the picture, and he did not want to give up his rights to allow for the adoption. Sherilyn's older daughter has said in interviews that she sees her mother all around her. I just see her everywhere, you know? I've lived in this town my whole life,

so I see her when I go on a walk. I see her, all these memories, you know? And I feel like she came back to earth after she was gone, and I see her everywhere. During one of the interviews, the reporter asked her, you and your brother seem so strong, how do you do it? And her daughter replied, I think we get it from our mom, actually, because she was so strong. Today, Sherilyn remains listed as missing and endangered on sites like the Charlie Project and NamUs. Since O'Reilly admitted to murdering her, she is very likely deceased, though her remains have never been found.

John and I hold out hope that maybe someday she will be located to give her family some peace. Sherilyn was last seen alive in July of 2020. She drove a 2011 silver Ford Fusion. She was 34 years old when she disappeared. She's a white woman standing about 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighing about 100 or 115 pounds. She wore her brown hair short in a bob style haircut and had green eyes. She also had a large tattoo on her upper chest and shoulders that was a colorful and distinctive design with flowers and an anatomical heart. Sherilyn lived in the Cascade Apartments with her three kids and Phillip O'Reilly. At the time they lived there, the kids were 14, a girl who looked a lot like her mother, 11, her son, and Phillip O'Reilly. At the time they lived there, the kids were 14, a girl who looked a lot like her mother,

11, her son, and a one-year-old baby girl. For their privacy, we are not sharing their names. The Cascade Apartments are located at Lake Mead Parkway and Warm Springs in Henderson. They are across Lake Mead from the new Large Smiths Marketplace near Brown Middle School and C.T. Sewell Elementary. As always, we will include photos of Sherilyn on our social media this week. You can find us at Sins and Survivors on Facebook and Instagram. If anyone has any information that

may be helpful to the detectives, you can contact the Henderson Police Department at 702-267-5000 or cityofhenderson.com slash police. The holiday season is in full swing and coming up in two weeks, we will bring you our annual Missing at the Holidays episode where we will share stories of missing people from around the country in hopes that someone out there may be listening who has information that can help give a family answers. Make sure you are subscribed and following the show on social media. You never know if your share could get the information in front of the right person and families will finally have answers. Thanks again for listening. And remember what happens here happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad-free. Remember to like and follow

us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website,

sinsandsurvivors.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.