For years, all that many Chicagoans ever knew about Shaun Gayle was his eleven seasons with the Chicago Bears. That he was part of that legendary 1985 lineup that won Super Bowl 20.
However, when his pregnant girlfriend was shot to death in the fall of 2007, Shaun Gayle’s name was thrust into a swirl of salacious headlines involving sex, obsession, and a sinister murder plot.
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Transcript:
Bianca Sloane: (00:00)
For years, all that many Chicagoans ever knew about Shaun Gayle were his 11 seasons with the Chicago Bears. That he was part of that legendary 1985 lineup that won Super Bowl 20. However, when his pregnant girlfriend was shot to death in the fall of 2007, Shaun Gayle's name was thrust into a swirl of salacious headlines involving sex, obsession, and a sinister murder plot.
Bianca Sloane: (01:32)
Hello and welcome to the Dark Side of Love. I'm your host, Bianca Sloane, author of Suspense Novels about the Dark Side of Love. And this week I'm putting a spotlight on the case I'm calling sleeping with the enemy.
Bianca Sloane: (01:47)
Shaun Gayle may not have the national name recognition that his fellow Chicago Bears teammates, Jim McMahon, William The Refrigerator Perry, Walter Payton, or even Da Coach Mike Ditka have, but his legend is secure for the mere fact that he was part of that fabled team that stormed through the 1985/1986 NFL season on its way to stomping New England, 46 to 10 to win Super Bowl 20. Oh, and starring in the Super Bowl Shuffle definitely didn't hurt, probably did not hurt. Anyone who lives in Chicago knows that this is a sports town, stuffed with more sports lore and iconic figures than it knows what to do with. From Michael Jordan and the two, three peats the Blackhawks and their six Stanley cups to the finally, finally broken curse of the Cubs. To those who still call it Comiskey. For the Chicago bears and that glorious season two, still reign Supreme all these years later in the hearts of Chicagoans, it really says something. And anyone who was on that roster? Royalty. Gods.
Bianca Sloane: (02:59)
Shaun played 11 seasons with the Bears as a starting defensive back. And as my brother says, he was a beast on the Gridiron. Off the field, he was known to be the handsome genial bachelor, a good guy. Nice. Everybody loves Shaun. After his playing days were done, he got into real estate, became a sports commentator, wrote a series of children's books and was a spokesperson for various institutions in Chicago. While Shaun presented publicly as this charming bachelor just hadn't been caught yet, the truth was he actually had a longtime girlfriend, as in 18 years long. Rhoni Reuter met Shaun when she was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, which is where the Bears held their training camps on that campus there.
Bianca Sloane: (03:51)
As Shaun told ABC's 2020, the couple met at a Bears charity event there in Wisconsin, and it was one of those kinds of eyes across the crowd things, Shaun likely attracted to her wide open smile, shiny dark hair and brown eyes. After Rhoni graduated, she moved to Chicago, eventually settling in the quaint little suburb of Deerfield, which is north of the city, yet was still easily accessible to her family in Wisconsin, who she was super close to. In describing Rhoni, her family told the Chicago Tribune, she liked quote, all things, Oprah movies, reading popcorn that was popped on the stove and working out. She got a job at Macy's, which she loved, she had a cute little condo. And in theory, she also had Shaun, though, in social media parlance, I think you could say the relationship status would say it's complicated.
Bianca Sloane: (04:48)
Despite being together 18 years, the couple never lived together. Shaun never put a ring on it. And over that 18 year period, Rhoni's brother, Thad, told 2020. He had only met Shaun a handful of times. Think about that. A handful of times in 18 years, you've met your sister's boyfriend. According to what Shaun told 2020, he and Rhoni had an understanding, which I think we all know what that's code for. Rhoni's brother told 2020, he didn't think his sister would be down with a relationship like that. Michelle Ammentorp, a friend of Rhoni's since their days as waitresses at the Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque back in the mid eighties, termed the relationship as one marked by quote, mental and psychological abuse, pretty much from the beginning. As patch.com reported, Ammentorp called herself the girlfriend that got the phone calls: he dumped me cry, cry, cry, followed by, he called he's forgiven me. It was that on-off thing through that relationship.
(05:45)
Rhoni's unplanned pregnancy at the age of 41 marks a shift in her priorities. Ronnie's family says all she ever wanted was to be a mom. And that given her age, she decided to go for it. This was her chance. And she was taking it whether Shaun wanted her to or not. Well, Rhoni was ecstatic at the prospect of motherhood, Shaun decidedly was not embracing fatherhood. The rumblings were was that he did not want to be tied down with that kind of commitment. Didn't want to get married. Didn't want to have a baby. So, all he consoled himself with his girlfriends because see that's what an open relationship really meant. He was free to do whatever and whoever he wanted, and there was quite a healthy roster willing to help with the cause , as in somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 different women.
Bianca Sloane: (06:47)
One of the ladies on his bench was 40 year-old, Marni Yang. Marni, a tiny little redhead, was a single mother of three kids, a real estate agent and fitness model, scoring gigs, as an example, as a Budweiser girl, which involved traveling around to different promotional gigs. She met Shaun in 2005, at where else, a, Bear's event. This particular event was in commemoration of Super Bowl 20 and was at Soldier Field, which is where the Bears play. And through a relationship with a cop she had, who did security for the stadium on the side, Marni landed a temp gig escorting VIP's to the different activities happening that day. Marni told 2020 that Shaun approached her during the event, and throughout the course of the day, they kept bumping into each other and eventually they struck up a conversation.
Bianca Sloane: (07:42)
He mentioned he was looking to do some real estate deals and that's how their relationship started. Business. Business morphed into more, and eventually Marni joined the Shaun Gayle roster. Her friends say she was in love, as in, she bragged all the time to whoever would listen that she was Shaun Gayle's girlfriend. Shaun unequivocally denied this to 2020, rather, terming their relationship as quote friendly. However "friendly" they were, they did take at least one vacation together, traveling to Florida for a diving and fishing trip. On the one hand Marni indicated to friends that she was fine with keeping things casual with Shaun. On the other hand, she had also said she did want a deeper commitment from him. Another thorn, according to her friends was that Shaun told her he didn't want kids and she already had three.
Bianca Sloane: (08:37)
So, it's got to be a bit of a shock when Shaun tells Marni that he was expecting a baby with another woman, which would be Rhoni, and her response was apparently the condom rule doesn't apply to everybody. She also indicated that he was not happy about the baby.
Bianca Sloane: (08:57)
October 4th, 2007. It's just before 8:00 AM. An Indian summer day in Chicago, with temperatures expected to hit the low eighties. Rhoni, who's seven months pregnant, gathers up her purse and keys to head to work. She opens the door to find someone there, someone who starts firing a gun at her. She falls backwards into the kitchen, the bullets still coming. She cradles her stomach in an attempt to protect the baby. The shooter fires into Ronnie seven times. Two of those shots were fired directly into her stomach. The shot that killed her was aimed squarely at the back of her head. Rhoni Reuter was 42 years old.
Bianca Sloane: (09:50)
Rhoni's downstairs neighbor heard the shots. She first called Rhoni to make sure she was okay, leaving her a message, asking her to call her back. The neighbor then calls 911 to report the gunshots. Police arrive at the scene and find no signs of forced entry, nothing taken. There are pictures of Rhoni and Shaun throughout the condo, and of course police immediately recognize him. They find baby clothes from a recent baby shower. An ultrasound photo taped to the refrigerator. There are shell casings for a nine millimeter, including a good amount of unfired bullets, which indicates to police the gun may have been jamming during discharge. As they canvas the neighborhood to see if anyone heard or saw anything, almost immediately, a witness described seeing a black man running from the crime scene toward a dark car.
Bianca Sloane: (10:46)
Meanwhile, police continue combing through that crime scene. And in Rhoni's purse, they find a letter. There's no signature, no return address. And this letter, written in broken English relays to Ronnie all the ways Shaun Gayle is a cheat and a liar. It details exotic vacations he has taken around the globe with other women. It claims Shaun will do nothing but gaslight Rhoni. And the reason the sender knows this is because he does this with her, as well. The sender says Rhoni deserves to know the names of these other women because she's talked to them and she thinks Rhoni should talk to them too. Within this letter is a list of 18 women with their addresses. Shaun told 2020 Ronnie was devastated by the letter. And he, shocker, told her that it was all lies. That's nice. Rhoni getting this letter is bad enough, but her mother also got one. I mean, can you imagine? The man who is the father of your daughter's baby, you get this letter about all of his playmates? That's crazy.
Bianca Sloane: (11:59)
And so rightfully and understandably, this shook Ronnie's mother, Landa. So much so, that according to what Ronnie's brother, Thad, told 2020, it spooked her enouth to call Shaun for reassurances, that her daughter would be okay. She was genuinely worried about what some obsessed, vindictive woman would do to her daughter, especially because she was pregnant. Shaun said the letter was nothing more than the rantings of a crazed fan and not to worry. All lies, move along, nothing to see here. Nothing would happen to Rhoni. Well, as we all know, Rhoni was far from safe. As police continue to process the scene. A call comes in to the Deerfield Police Department. It's Shaun. He's been getting calls from the media about this murder in Deerfield with some reporters questioning if he's a suspect in the slaying. He asks point blank it it's Rhoni.
Bianca Sloane: (13:03)
As the police confirm that Rhoni is dead, Shaun loses it. His distress and anguish are undeniable as he breaks down sobbing at the news. As it turned out, Shaun was in the area and was headed to Rhoni's house, but the police instruct him to come to the station instead. By the time Shaun gets to the station, he's pulled himself together. And this puts cops on a little bit of alert because he's maybe a little too calm in their view, not to mention his relationship with Rhoni automatically makes him a suspect, as is always the case with situations like this. The cops want to know if Shaun has any idea who might want to hurt Rhoni. Shaun points the finger at one of his girlfriends, Monika Kurowska, yet another fitness model and a woman he just happened to have a restraining order against. And the one he believed had sent the letters to Ronnie and her mom. Shaun indicated they dated about six months and given the restraining order, they didn't exactly part as friends, something about her putting a fist through his window because she saw him with, shocker, another woman.
Bianca Sloane: (14:12)
Shaun provides police with the names of his other playmates and also tells them he and Rhoni were excited about the baby. Well, his actions would seem to say otherwise. Shaun informed the cops that the night before the murder, he was home, uh, home having sex with another woman, Marni Yang, the girl from the Bears event who he took on vacation to Florida. I mean, your girlfriend, loose emphasis on girlfriend, is seven months pregnant and you're banging another woman? Yeah, that really sounds like someone who just can't wait to be a dad, doesn't it?
Bianca Sloane: (14:47)
Rhoni's brutal slaying had the gruesome distinction of being Deerfield's first murder in 30 years. So, the pressure was really on to solve it. In addition to verifying Shaun's alibi for the time of the murder - he was in a nearby barbershop getting his haircut - they also questioned Monika and determined she was nowhere near the crime scene because she was a personal trainer, and she was actually with a client that particular morning. So, police pretty much hit a dead end. Until a little birdie who used to be a Chicago police officer, suggests a few days later, that they look at Marni Yang. There's her name again. The woman Shaun was with the night before Rhoni's murder. Marni had had any hot and heavy affair with this cop, and when the cop's wife came up pregnant, Marni got quote, aggressive, threatening. So much so, dude quit the force, packed up his family and fled Illinois.
Bianca Sloane: (15:50)
Before the cops bring Marni in for questioning, they decide to do a little digging around to learn more about her. And I mean, literal digging, as they basically set up a sting operation on her trash. So, for about a month, a cop goes out to her trash cans at about two in the morning and confiscate her garbage. Eventually all this digging does yield a lead. Receipts for some purchases from a hardware store and two books she ordered online about how to make silencers for a gun. This is enough to bring Marty in for questioning and her demeanor, it's weird. She's cooperative, but she's also giggling, kind of breezy. Her alibi for the time of the murder is some convoluted thing about visiting a friend and a dead car battery, but the friend could alibi her an I don't know, it was hard to follow that trail of breadcrumbs.
Bianca Sloane: (16:45)
Even though police do find evidence connecting her to the letters that were sent to Rhoni and her mother, there's just not enough to hold her, and so after three days they turn her loose. However, they don't give up. Over the course of the next year, police keeps searching for new leads, coming back to look at the case with fresh eyes. Finally, they are able to uncover a car rental in Marni's name made two days before the murder and returned the day of the murder. So, this is kind of interesting. Apparently, the first car she rented with bright blue and she brought that back because as Snapped noted, it was quote too visible and she wanted something more discreet. That's not strange at all, is it? From there, the evidence starts piling up. She purchased a burner phone to call her friend Christi Paschen just a few minutes after the murder. Now, Christi is the same friend who provided like a partial alibi for Marnie, the night of the murder. The mileage on the rental car matched to the mile, the distance from the rental office to Rhoni's house in Deerfield to Christi's house in another suburb and back to the car rental office.
Bianca Sloane: (18:10)
Cops decide it's time to rattle Christi's cage and they bring her in for questioning. She folds like a cheap suit and says what the cops already know. Marni killed Rhoni. Christi was able to lead police to evidence that she had helped Marni dump after the murder. It's still not enough. And eventually, Christi wears a wire to get a confession from her friend.
Bianca Sloane: (18:36)
So Christie and Marni meet up at a Denny's for a little chat about murder. And it is a bizarre conversation as the two women alternate between talking about Rhoni's murder and Christi is eating chocolate ice cream. And the nonchalance of it is just unbelievably chilling. Even more chilling were Marni's own words. She described the dark wig, clothes and sunglasses she wore. The makeup she smeared across her face to darken her complexion, because remember a witness said they saw a black man running from the crime scene. Marni says, "She started screaming and I just let her have it."
Bianca Sloane: (19:21)
Marni details Rhoni falling backward into the kitchen, which spurred Marni to declare, "That was it. I just, I took one last shot in the head, finished her off." The coldness, the indifference, absolutely no remorse. Marni would later claim she made the whole thing up, that she saw the wire Christi was wearing, that the whole conversation was just a couple of chicks sitting around having a little conversation about murder. That the police had threatened to arrest her 16 year old son for the crime. So she had decided, well, hell, I'm just going to say I did it because I know the cops are listening and who cares? I'll just play dumb and say I was lying about the whole thing. It's just the most cuckoo clock thing I think I have ever heard.
Bianca Sloane: (20:18)
There was just too much evidence against her and on March 3rd, 2009, a year and a half after Rhoni's savage murder, Marni was finally, finally arrested. The prosecution contended that Marni's motive was pure and simple. Jealousy. She resented Rhoni's status as Shaun's quote, main girlfriend, as evidenced by his no condom rule with her. That she was the one he the most time with. She was obsessed with him. Remember,she pretty much shouted from the rooftops that she was his girlfriend. And she wanted to be Shaun's main, okay, only probably, girlfriend. Simply put, she wanted Rhoni out of the way. She wanted the baby out of the way. And nothing was going to interfere with that goal. Marni was able to hack into Shaun's emails, which is how she found out the names of the other women on Shaun's roster and sent those letters to Rhoni and her mother. She even cleverly see my air quotes, added her own name to that list in a pathetic attempt to throw suspicion off herself. Police believe she also got into Rhoni's computer, which clued her into where Rhoni worked and lived.
Bianca Sloane: (21:40)
Marni's defense team wanted to bring in a glam team, glam squad for her court appearances. But that was nixed. So, the one-time Budweiser girl showed up to court looking decidedly less than dazzling. As juror Kim Gentile told Snapped, Marni was quote, tiny, demure and her formerly red hair was now long and gray, and that she seemed like an innocent, helpless looking woman. The prosecution deftly laid out why Marni was far from innocent. Between the recordings that Christi Paschen made, the books on making silencers, which were a gag gift for a boyfriend that, oh, he didn't want them. So no, wait, you know what? I'm going to use this to do a science project for my kid's school. Then there was the car rental, which Marni would later tell 2020 she rented for a photo shoot with a photographer, except she can't remember his name, which okay. The letter she wrote, by essentially impersonating Monika Kurowska, who was Polish by making it appear the letters were written by someone whose first language was not English, like Monika.
Bianca Sloane: (22:50)
So truly the jig was up for Marni. Kim Gentile, that juror, she described Sean's demeanor during his testimony as a mix of grief and guilt. Curiously, Shaun described Marni's feelings toward him as a crush. I mean, Boris Kodjoe is my Man Crush Monday, but I'm not over here trying to take out Nicole Ari Parker. Marni was obsessed. I think that's a better way to describe her. She was obsessed, consumed with picking off what she viewed as competition. As Marni saw it, Rhoni was standing in the way of what she wanted and because of that, she had to go.
Bianca Sloane: (23:33)
The jury deliberated for four hours, coming back with the guilty verdict. She showed no emotion remained stock still, which Kim Gentile said made Marni even scarier. Marni was sentenced to two life terms for the murder of Rhoni and her unborn child, a baby girl she planned to named Skylar. Rhoni's family filed a wrongful death suit against Marni, eventually winning a $40 million judgment against her. Shaun left Chicago moving to London where he works as an NFL analyst for British broadcaster Sky Sports.
Bianca Sloane: (24:12)
In November, 2020, Marni retained a new defense team with the intention of seeking a new trial after a previous request for an appeal of her conviction was struck down. Her new defense team says unidentified male DNA found at the scene points to the real killer. They've also raised questions about Shaun's alibi, as well as the angle of the shooting, insisting that Marni was too short to have fired the fatal shots. The Patch.com reports that Rhoni's friend Michelle, she believes that based on ballistics, that the real killer is still out there.
Bianca Sloane: (24:50)
In April of 2020, Marni contracted COVID-19 and asked to be released from prison, citing underlying health issues exacerbated by the virus. Her request was denied.
Bianca Sloane: (25:03)
Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of the Dark Side of Love. I'm your host, Bianca Sloane and show your love for the Dark Side of Love by visiting the darksideoflove.com for show notes, transcripts, and a chance to support the show. You can also learn more about my Suspense Novels about the Dark Side of Love by visiting biancasloane.com. Thanks for hanging out with me and join me next time for another tale of love gone wrong. I'll see you on the dark side.
Sources:
20/20 - Shaun Gayle Exclusive: Pregnant Girlfriend's Killing Exposes Obsessive Stalker, April 13, 2011
Chicago Tribune – Marni Yang was convicted of murdering Rhoni Reuter, lover of former Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle. Now a friend of Reuter believes Yang is innocent, by John Keilman, November 20, 2019
Patch.com - Convicted murderer Yang contracts coronavirus in jail by Eric DeGrechie, November 20, 2020
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