Pair of drifters held in W. Phila. beating death

Two drifters from California are in police custody after they severely stomped and beat two men, killing one, on the rooftop of an abandoned West Philadelphia apartment building last month, police said.

Homicide Captain Mike Costello said at a news conference yesterday that Echo Nicole Ward, 24, and Conor McCarthy, 24, were arrested and charged with murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy, and related crimes in the June 18 beating death of Timothy Bradly, 27, of Columbus Boulevard.

Homicide Lt. Philip Riehl said that the night before Bradly was found dead, he and a friend were partying on the roof of the abandoned building when they got into an argument with a man and a woman.

The couple attacked Bradly and his friend, stomping and beating them severely, police said. When Bradly's buddy, who was beaten unconscious, came to in the early morning of June 18, he found Bradly dead and called police.

Investigators at first had little to go on, knowing only that the victims' female attacker went by the name of Echo, Costello said.

But after some intense gumshoe work, detectives learned that "Echo" was Ward and her partner was McCarthy. Both were transients who'd crisscrossed the country in recent months, police said.

Riehl said physical evidence at the scene, as well as knowledge that Echo hailed from California, helped lead detectives to Ward, who had a criminal record in Modesto, Calif.

That record included vandalism outside a bar and a domestic incident involving the father of her child, Riehl said.

Investigators then were able to identify McCarthy through Ward. McCarthy's name popped up in various crime reports involving Ward. The couple also resembled a composite that witnesses of the Bradly beating had helped police create, Riehl added.

The couple were wanted for a June 30 domestic incident in Franklin, Pa., their last known address, so Philadelphia police took them into custody, Costello said.

In that case, the hefty Ward is accused of stabbing McCarthy, and McCarthy is accused of beating her, Riehl said.

Riehl said the suspects' transiency posed unique investigative challenges.

"It's very commonplace for us to get cases with very little evidence," he said, "but to have a case with transients who travel all across the country made [investigating] extremely difficult, because there's no solid link with them to Philadelphia, which is where most of our intelligence and resources are." *

Staff writer Christine Olley contributed to this report.