Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
Bad Romance on ABC chronicled the murder of former NFL star Shaun Gayle’s pregnant girlfriend Rhoni Reuter by Marni Yang. The episode “Death at the Door” aired on March 11, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET.
The episode synopsis read, “When a former NFL star’s pregnant girlfriend is found murdered on the kitchen floor of her apartment, police begin looking for the killer, but it’s a wired conversation with a friend that leads them right to the killer.”
Marni Yang was convicted of fatally shooting Reuter, who was seven months pregnant, on October 4, 2007, in her Deerfield, Illinois, apartment. Prosecutors believed that Yang, who was also involved with Gayle, committed the crime in a fit of jealousy, per CBS News.
Investigators linked Yang to the incident using a string of evidence. Moreover, the accused admitted to the murder during an undercover conversation with a close friend. Following her murder conviction in 2011, she received two life sentences in prison.
According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Marni Yang is serving her sentence in the Logan Correctional Center.
Did Marni Yang confess to killing Rhoni Reuter?
According to Oxygen, Marni Yang confessed to committing Thoni Reuter’s murder, which was the most crucial evidence. One of her close friends, Christi Paschen, agreed to record an undercover conversation between them. Yang admitted to wearing a wig and sunglasses as a disguise to shoot Reuter.
Yang said, “I had a wig. I had dark sunglasses this big covering my face—a hoodie on. OK? I had dark makeup on my face and I had gloves on. She [Reuter] opened up the door—she started screaming. I took — took the first shot.” She further claimed to have put the gun in a bucket of concrete and threw it in a dumpster.
Investigators found that she searched for Reuter’s home address on her work computer and bought books on making a silencer. Marni Yang also admitted to authorities that she owned a .9mm gun—a similar weapon was used for Reuter’s murder—which went missing. Moreover, police found a receipt for a rental black Volkswagen Rabbit, which surveillance captured near the victim’s home.
However, Marni Yang now claims that she offered a false confession. ABC7 Chicago stated that Yang told her defense attorney in an interview from prison that she gave a false confession because authorities threatened to arrest her son for the crime.
Yang said, “I made up everything I said. As soon as I saw that wire, I thought it was an opportunity to do it. I was not speaking to her [Christi Paschen], I was speaking to the police through her.”
She also added, “I was just not thinking, beyond putting a stop to what was happening to my children. I believed once the case got into the hands of the legal system it would be clear I did not commit this crime.”
Marni Yang is now serving two life sentences in the Logan Correctional Center, per prison records.
