Rhoni Reuter

By Tara Overzat

Last night’s Dateline focused on the October 2007 murder of Rhoni Reuter, longtime girlfriend of ’85 Chicago Bears star Shaun Gayle. Often these Datelines are predictable and all fingers point to the significant other. Reuter, however, who was several months pregnant was instead killed by one of Shaun’s many other girlfriends, a real-estate agent and wannabe model, Marni Yang.

What is disturbing though is how the cold and calculating Yang was caught. Both Yang’s teenage son and her “best friend” (as labeled by Dateline) told police she was capable of putting seven bullets into a pregnant woman’s body. The best friend went so far as to help police gather enough evidence to arrest Yang by wearing a wire tap and luring the murderer into a local Denny’s, where she again recounted the crime to her friend.

Yang, despite how clearly those close to her saw she was disturbed, could not have been arrested before the murder. Yet, this woman being out in society resulted in an innocent woman and unborn child (a girl to be named Skylar) being murdered in cold blood.

How twisted a mind must a mother of three have that her eldest son finds the courage to tell police he believes she committed murder? What did she do those children? What awful misgivings did her “best friend” have that made her help police build a case against her?

How do we shine a bright enough spotlight on evil so that the most twisted of thoughts never manifest into reality? How do we stop the person we think is capable of killing from actually killing? Is there a way to stop the sociopath in her tracks?