Montco to seek death penalty for rape, killing of teen girl

Montgomery County prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the man accused of raping and murdering his girlfriend's 14-year-old daughter, officials said yesterday.

District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said her office filed a notice of intent on Tuesday, stating that Mark Patrick O'Donnell, 48, of Plymouth Township, met the criteria for seeking a death sentence.

Police said O'Donnell killed Ebony Nicole Dorsey, a popular freshman at Wissahickon High School, the morning of Dec. 7 after he returned to his Plymouth Township home, where the teen had been baby-sitting his 4-year-old daughter.

The teen's mother, Danielle Cattie, 34, of Whitpain Township, reported her daughter missing later that day when she did not come home after school. She told police that O'Donnell had spent the previous night with her and smoked a "significant amount of crack cocaine," a drug that makes him violent.

O'Donnell said he had driven the girl home, but police found a small plastic storage bin containing Ebony's body two days later. They said O'Donnell killed her, stuffed her into the container, and concealed it outside a Blue Bell residence.

O'Donnell, who is represented by Thomas C. Egan 3d, has admitted the slaying but offered different scenarios for the rage that he says provoked it. In one explanation, he said he caught the teen molesting his daughter, an accusation police called baseless.

Ferman said her office can seek the death penalty if a first-degree murder occurs during the commission of a felony. In this case, Ferman said O'Donnell committed two: involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and rape.