Leichia Reilly - Missing Since 1985 from Seneca, New York

Missing Person: Leichia Reilly

Middle initial: M.

Last contact: January 31st, 1985 at about 3 AM

Last seen: Witnesses, including an NFL player, reported seeing her leave the Pierce Arrow Restaurant with Daniel D. Rose. I think the address of the Pierce Arrow Restaurant was 3036 West Seneca Street as they used that address in their classifieds.

Age when Leichia Reilly disappeared: 21

Sex: Female

Height in inches: 65, which is 5'5"

Weight in pounds (lbs): 125, range given of 120 to 125 pounds

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian

Hair color: Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Family: Patrick F. Reilly (father), Suzanne M, Sharrow (mother)

Missing Person's Birthday: October 5th, 1963; she has a landing page at Ancestry.

Scar or distinctive characteristic: She had a large scar on her knee. She had moles on her chest/breast, back, and arms. She had freckles on her face, pierced ears, and a cleft chin.

Details from a government source (might be paraphrased): Leichia was last seen about 3AM on 1/31/1985 leaving the Pierce Arrow Restaurant/nightclub at Seneca Street & Center Road in West Seneca, NY. She may have been in the company of a white male driving a blue Chevrolet Camero. Lechia was last seen wearing a black waist-length coat with red trim, a sleeveless charcoal-colored cotton jumpsuit with an elastic waist, and a round-neck white sweater with multiple colors including purple and red. She had a red purse with a shoulder strap. Leichia was last seen wearing red perforated shoes with medical heels.

Link to government source: https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/2885/attachments?nav

Commentary and Research

By: Shane Lambert

Leichia Reilly was last seen at 3 AM on January 31st, 1985, which was a Thursday morning. She was out at a restaurant/nightclub known as the Pierce Arrow Restaurant. She has not been heard from since.

 

The first instance of journalism I found about her disappearance was in The Buffalo News on February 14th, 1985 under the marginal headline "Trooper Probed."  The trooper is not named in this article nor in the early journalism. However, in a 2020 article on January 24th, he was named as Daniel D. Rose. 

The snipped article below was on February 14th, 1985. Another appeared on February 15th stating that the trooper had retained a lawyer and that he was being questioned at that time, not as a suspect but as someone who was in the company of Reilly and failed to report his knowledge as to what he knew of her actions at about the time of her disappearance.

After mid-February in 1985, there was a gap in journalism related to this case. However, another article I found appeared in The Buffalo News in July of that year. An authority on the case is quoted in the article, making statements that would suggest the missing person is dead. Furthermore, 200 police officers were working on the case who failed to produce a lead or any physical evidence as to her fate. The article from July 31st, 1985 also said that the state trooper was no longer on the force for an unrelated matter.

July 31st, 1985. The Buffalo News. Gene Warner.

Early in the next year, about a year after she went missing, the police searched the Chaffee Landfill, which was in the Sardinia are, for her body, according to an article in The Buffalo News on February 5th, 1986 (Gene Warner). This search was unsuccessful and lasted until late in February. An article from March 16th, 1986 stated that the police had a tip that the body had been dumped into a dumpster which, presumably, they must have thought would have gone to the Chaffee Landfill site. This same article says that the state trooper faced an unrelated charge on January 7th, 1986.

Has Leichia Reilly been found?

What stood out with this case is that witnesses said that they saw Reilly leave with Daniel D. Rose. Rose has denied doing this, which brings into question why witnesses would state that he did leave with her. One of the witnesses was a running back for the Buffalo Bills named Robb Riddick.

The Buffalo News. Friday, January 24th, 2020.

Important Addresses for This Case

• Leichia Reilly lived on Leacliff Lane; in modern times that's located just south of Cazenovia Creek and east of Union Road
• The Chaffee Landfill is about a 30-minute drive from West Seneca, using modern routes and locations. According to 1985 journalism, the Landfill was located off Hand Road, which is where the modern landfill still is. This is the landfill that was searched but it was not thought that her body was dumped there. It was thought that her body was put in a dumpster and that the dunpster's contents were destined for the Chaffee Landfill.
• The West Seneca Pierce Arrow Restaurant was at 3036 West Seneca Street. That's a 2.6 mile drive according to modern Google Maps.
• Rose's apartment was in Lackawanna

Daniel D. Rose's Timeline

• Witnesses place him leaving the Pierce Arrow Restaurant at 3 AM with Leichia Reilly
• He returns to the restaurant at 3:55 AM
• Leaves the restaurant with a friend a short time later, at about 4 AM
• The distance from the restaurant to Lackawanna would be a short drive
• The friend says shortly after they arrived at Rose's apartment, he, Rose, went out again
• Rose was in the apartment at 10 AM but the friend was sleeping in previous hours.
• Unaccounted time: 55 minutes between 3 AM and 3:55 AM and the time between about 4:30 AM and 10 AM.
• There was a trooper named Daniel D. Rose who was part of a 1982 trial involving a nightclub drama as well. I wondered if they were the same individuals.