Suspect had covered tracks until friend wore wire: cops


March 5, 2009

BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter/drozek@suntimes.com
Before she gunned down the pregnant girlfriend of ex-Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle, Marni K. Yang donned a disguise, switched license plates on a rental car and even built a silencer for the 9mm pistol she allegedly used, Lake County authorities said Wednesday.

While contending "jealous rage'' prompted Yang to kill Rhoni Reuter, 42, of Deerfield, officials said that anger didn't prevent Yang from taking elaborate precautions to avoid arrest.

Yang, 41, a Northwest Side resident, did such a good job covering her tracks that it took her own secretly recorded conversations to trigger her arrest this week for the 2007 murder, officials said.

"The break came from the defendant's own words,'' Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller said after Yang made her first court appearance on first-degree murder charges. "She clearly had a jealous rage directed at the victim, Rhoni Reuter."

The methodical steps allegedly taken by Yang to commit the killing contrasted with her fiery anger toward Reuter that authorities allege prompted the Oct. 4, 2007, killing.

Yang was upset that Reuter was pregnant with a daughter -- already named Skylar Reyne -- fathered by Gayle, officials said.

"The defendant was jealous that Ms. Reuter was pregnant by her boyfriend. The defendant had been dating that same boyfriend," prosecutor Jeffrey Pavletic said.

Yang, a divorced mother of three, also was sexually involved with Gayle, sources said.

Outside the courtroom, however, Gayle denied being romantically linked with Yang, though he acknowledged she was a friend and had helped him with real estate ventures. He said Yang may have killed Reuter in an attempt to deepen her relationship with him.

"This happened because this individual wanted to replace Rhoni," said Gayle, who wiped his eyes several times during Yang's bond hearing.

Yang had been suspected for months of killing Reuter, but authorities previously lacked the evidence to file charges, officials said. Part of the reason was Yang's complex effort to hide her involvement in the slaying, authorities said.

Yang, a divorced mother of three who worked as a real estate broker, left behind her cell phone on the day of the killing so she couldn't be tracked by her calls as she drove to Reuter's condo in a rented car that bore stolen license plates to hinder identification, Waller said. She wore sunglasses, baggy sweats and a wig to disguise her appearance, and the seven gunshots she fired into Reuter were muffled by a silencer she had built for the weapon, officials said.

After the slaying, she dumped the pistol in a bucket, poured in quick-drying cement, then disposed of the weapon in a Chicago Dumpster, authorities said.

But in recent days, a female friend of Yang's began providing information to police -- and allowed investigators to record her conversations with Yang.

On wiretaps made within the last week, Yang allegedly "admitted her involvement in various parts of the crime,'' Waller said.

Deerfield police and the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force set up a "wire room'' that enabled them to monitor around-the-clock conversations the woman had with Yang, Deerfield Deputy Police Chief Rick Wilk said.

"Marni Yang in her own words described how she committed this murder and how she got rid of the evidence,'' Wilk said.

Yang's friend also said Yang allegedly told her the night before Reuter was slain that she planned to commit the killing, officials said.

Late Wednesday, Reuter's relatives issued a statement:

"We are relieved that this person is finally off the streets and will no longer be a threat to anyone else. We know that with whatever happens, it won't return Rhoni and Skylar back to us, but we are hopeful it will give us some rest after all this time."

Yang, who was denied bail, has refused to speak to police or prosecutors, authorities said.

On a Web site promoting her real estate business, Yang described herself as "aggressive, sophisticated, knowledgeable."

The Niles North High School graduate said on her Web page that "her expertise ranges from first time buyers to luxurious, custom dream homes."

DAMN

ain't no dick worth all that, if he don't want you he don't want you.


poor girl

Crazy. Ass. Bitch.