Man arrested in '04 slaying of 15-year-old Kensington girl

A man arrested last week in a sexual assault was charged last night in the rape and murder of Nicole Reilly, a 15-year-old Kensington girl found strangled in a lot in the summer of 2004.

Brian McDonald, 27, of the 1900 block of Firth Street, had been a suspect early in the case but police had no evidence linking him to the crime until now, said Capt. Benjamin Naish, the department spokesman.

He said the break came when evidence from a 2003 rape in which McDonald was arrested last week linked him to Reilly's slaying. Naish would not say whether the evidence included DNA.

McDonald, who has a history of arrests on drug and assault charges, and Reilly lived in the same area and knew each other, although their exact relationship was not clear last night.

Naish said homicide detectives worked "very hard and very long" in pulling the pieces of the investigation together.

"They took this case very personally," he said. "It was an ongoing and intensive investigation."

Reilly's mother, Dawn Fox, who could not be reached for comment last night, had said from the beginning that she thought her daughter's killer had to be someone her daughter knew.

Reilly was last seen alive by friends about 4 a.m. Aug. 24, 2004. Her mother had seen her an hour earlier sitting with friends on a bench across from their home on the 2400 block of Amber Street.

A man walking his dog found the girl's body in a lot on Martha Street near Hagert Street, around the corner from her home.

Police said then that her killer might have used an object such as a belt to strangle her and that she bore signs of blunt-force trauma to the head.

Reilly, who had been planning to enter her sophomore year at Kensington High School, had just started working for The Inquirer's circulation department, and had encouraged friends to join her.

A $10,000 reward had been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Nicole's killer.

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