SANDY, Utah, July 27, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Court paperwork unsealed this week in the investigation into the death of Masako Kenley suggests she was in a long-term relationship with William O’Reilly, 75, the man charged with first-degree murder in her stabbing and shooting death.
The documents also reveal that a male friend and confidant of Masako told police the Sandy woman was being blackmailed into continuing the relationship with O’Reilly, out of fear of exposure.
A search warrant dated July 6 of this year allowed Sandy Police officers to search O’Reilly’s residence in South Jordan, court documents show. Masako’s body had been found July 6 in a heavily wooded area near 8900 South and 1000 West, in Sandy, near the Jordan River.
Her remains were found three days after she went missing on the evening of July 2 and was reported missing by family members in the early hours of July 3.
“On July 3, 2021, William Kenley reported to Sandy Police that his wife, Masako
Kenley was missing,” the newly unsealed Sandy Police statement says. “He stated he last spoke to Masako on the phone on July 2, 2021, at approximately 1600 hours.
“During the investigation into the disappearance of Masako, detectives became aware that she had been having an affair with a married man, William O’Reilly, for the past 16 years.”
Masako knew O’Reilly as a post office co-worker from many years before, her most recent work supervisor told Gephardt Daily.
Masako’s male friend told investigators that O’Reilly had been forcing Masako to have sexual relations with him by blackmailing her and saying that he would tell her husband she was having an affair with him, the document states.
Masako’s male friend and confidant also “advised that O’Reilly was stalking Masako and had placed a tracker on her vehicle which O’Reilly had bought for her.” A mechanic working on her car had discovered the tracker about two months earlier, the friend told police.
The court document says Masako told her husband on July 2 that she was going to Layton for dinner with several female friends, “but was actually going to meet up with O’Reilly.”
O’Reilly told investigators he had rented a hotel room in Midvale, “And he and
Masako got into a disagreement” over finances.
During that disagreement, Masako demanded that O’Reilly take the tracker off her vehicle, he told investigators, and he stated that Masako left the hotel in the white Odyssey on July 2, which was the last time he saw her.
Surveillance footage contradicted O’Reilly’s story, the Sandy Police statement says. O’Reilly also changed his claim a few times about where he had last seen Masako, whose Honda was seen being driven by a male to the Sandy Costco parking lot on July 3.
“Detective Glick told O’Reilly to be honest with what was going on because we would find the body,” the court document says. “O’Reilly nodded his head and said, ‘I know.’
However, he denied doing anything to hurt Masako.”
O’Reilly signed a consent form to allow officers to search his phone, but when they did, they found that all of his text messages and phone calls had been deleted.
After the initial interview with Detective Glick, O’Reilly returned to his residence, where he overdosed, apparently in an attempt at suicide, the court document says.
The court statement says O’Reilly also lied about where Masako’s phone and belongings would be found. Her wallet and one blue sandal were later discovered in O’Reilly’s two Toyotas.
As part of the warrant-approved search of O’Reilly’s residence, clothing that appeared to be blood-stained was recovered, as was a knife consistent with the length of the one that was used to stab Masako.
Phone pings, commercial video surveillance and a cadaver dog ultimately led investigators to Masako’s body, which had been hidden among cattails near the Jordan River. She had multiple stab wounds and a bullet lodged in her jaw.
A relative of O’Reilly reportedly told police that O’Reilly had brought a Glock for repair, saying the handgun, with a shell inside, had jammed and needed repair. The relative surrendered the gun to police.
O’Reilly has been held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail since his arrest.
