Richy Maria Jacob
In 2011, Marni Yang was convicted for the murder of Rhoni Reuter and her unborn child. Marni Yang was having an affair with Reuter’s boyfriend, Shaun Gayle. Gayle is a former NFL player who played for the Chicago Bears. He had been in a relationship with Reuter for over 17 years. In 2007, a seven-month pregnant Reuter was found shot dead in her apartment. Gayle was still playing for the Bears when he met Yang, who was a real estate agent at that point.
The prosecution alleged that Yang was jealous of Gayle’s girlfriend and wanted him all to herself. In addition, the one piece of evidence that gave it away was a taped conversation between Yang and her friend, Christi Paschen, to whom she admitted that she committed the murder. As a result of this, Paschen was able to lead the police into finding Reuter’s bracelet. It was also alleged that Yang had sex with Gayle the night before the murder. In any case, the taped confession led the investigators to close in on Yang. She was convicted and sentenced to prison for life.
Marni Yang Recent Updates
After having spent almost a decade in prison, Yang recently claimed that she did not commit the murder. Her lawyer said that she made up the confession in an attempt to ensure that her children were not treated as suspects. Her lawyer said they have a tape of the phone call that took place between Yang and her father before she confessed to the crime. In that tape, she says she is going to fabricate evidence to make the police think that she committed the crime. In addition to this, her lawyer, Jed Stone, also claimed that her prosecutors back then knew about this particular phone call.
Her father spoke to The Chicago Tribune, in which he paraphrased what she told him that day. He said: “ She says, I’m going to get in the car, drive and meet Christi, and make up a story that I committed the murder.” He also says that she went ahead with this plan as her family was constantly being harassed in relation to not only the crime but also her relationship with Gayle. Yang also stated that her children were being questioned with respect to the case. During the initial phase of the investigation, the police had dismissed Gayle as a suspect.
In February 2020, Yang’s lawyers were granted permission to access the evidence of the old case to give Yang a chance at a retrial. There was a fingerprint that was found at the crime scene. It was found that those prints did not match either Yang or anyone from Reuter’s family.
The court’s judgment to release evidence comes with other claims made by Yang’s lawyer that her attorney back then did not contest the evidence presented with its obvious loopholes and also blames the prosecution for withholding information regarding this evidence that would have helped Yang. Former FBI agent John Larsen said that the prosecution withheld the reports, which stated that the real criminal was deemed to be taller than Yang. This is based on the expert report that was filed.
If all this seems like a spurt of new leading evidence, then there is more. Patch reported that Reuter’s long-term friend, Michelle Ammentorp, stated that Reuter’s relationship with Gayle was mostly an on-and-off thing. In addition, she also said that Reuter’s pregnancy was unplanned and that she was ‘mentally and psychologically abused.’
Marni Yang is Serving Her Sentence
Marni is still serving her two life sentences in Logan Correctional Centre. However, Yang has now come forward to state her side of the story after she was quoted by others since day one the trial. Her interview with ABC 20/20 aims to bring into focus many things that were missed during the trial.
Her children also talk about how they were forced into giving certain statements to the police after they barged into their homes. Though all of these claims were denied by the prosecution, Brandon, Emily, and Andrew talk about what was happening on their side of the story. In addition, Yang’s lawyer, Jed Stone, too shares his insights upon working on the case.
Read More: Who Killed Rhoni Reuter?
