Marni Yang Gunned Down a Pregnant Woman in an Attack Fueled by Jealousy — Where Is She Now?

According to ABC News, on the morning of Oct. 4, 2007, 42-year-old Rhoni Reuter was getting ready for work. She lived in Deerfield, Ill., an opulent suburb of Chicago, and worked at a local Macy's. Preparing for her day was undoubtedly slowed by the fact that Reuter was seven months pregnant. She and her partner, former Chicago Bears defensive back Shaun Gayle, had been together for nearly 20 years and were looking forward to the new addition to their relationship.

As Reuter opened her front door, she was gunned down in what was described as execution style by police, said the Los Angeles Times. In a call to police obtained by 911, Gayle is heard asking authorities if he's a suspect. At the time, he was aware of rumors that a pregnant woman in Deerfield had been killed and was told he was a suspect. It was on this call Gayle discovered that Reuter was the victim. A woman by the name of Marni Yang was arrested and charged with Reuter's murder. Where is she now?

Marni Yang is currently serving a double life sentence at Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Ill. In March 2011, Yang was found guilty of "first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child in the death of Rhoni Reuter, the pregnant girlfriend of former Chicago Bears player Shaun Gayle," reported ABC 7 News.

It took the jury only three hours to convict Yang, which they attributed to a secretly taped confession entered as evidence. When police learned that Gayle was having an affair with Yang, a 43 year-old mother of three who was also his real estate agent, they reached out to one of her closest friends, per the Los Angeles Times. Christi Paschen was tasked with using a wire tap in order to get a confession from Yang.

During one conversation, Yang described the murder in grizzly detail and even explained what she did with the gun. "They are never going to get it," Yang said to Paschen. "It’s under tons and tons and tons of Chicago trash."

Assistant State’s Attorney Ari Fisz believes Yang grew more jealous and enraged when Reuter got pregnant. He pointed to the fact that Reuter used a burner phone and rented a car days before the murder. She also bought books about making gun silencers.

In February 2022 Yang's attorney, Jed Stone, taped an interview with his client that he then handed over to ABC 7 News. "I made up everything I said," she said to Stone. When they recorded the conversation, Yang had been in prison for 13 years and has maintained her innocence since her conviction. Yang claimed that authorities threatened to arrest her son if she didn't take credit for the murder.

"I was just not thinking, beyond putting a stop to what was happening to my children," Yang said in the interview. "I believed once the case got into the hands of the legal system it would be clear I did not commit this crime."

Yang told her lawyer that she knew conversations with her friend were being recorded and that it was an opportunity to save her son.

A year after Yang recorded the interview with her lawyer, Yang was back in court for a different reason. Fox 32 Chicago reported that Scott believes the state is "ignoring newly discovered evidence that points to a different suspect in the killing of Rhoni Reuter." As of the time of this writing, a new trial has not been scheduled.