Time line problems in murder suspect's answers

On her second day in the custody of police investigating the murder of Rhoni Reuter and Reuter's unborn daughter, Marni Yang willingly answered questions about her activities the night before the slayings.

But on the videotape of her questioning shown Thursday in a Lake County courtroom, police repeatedly confront Yang with conflicts between her version of events and evidence they say they have.

The officers do not directly accuse Yang of being deceptive, but tell her they are simply trying to understand how there could be conflicts in a story she seems confident is the truth.

Yang, 42, is charged with first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child in the Oct. 4, 2007 deaths of Reuter and the baby, who was fathered by former Chicago Bears safety Shaun Gayle.

Her attorneys are attempting to get a judge to bar the use of anything Yang said to police during three days in January 2008 when she was questioned about the Deerfield killings, then released without being charged.

Yang was eventually charged with the slayings in March 2009 after police said they secretly tape recorded her discussing the crimes with a friend.

On the tape shown Thursday in the courtroom of Associate Judge Christopher Stride, Yang tells police she was in her Chicago home on the night of Oct. 3 when her son called at 10:42 p.m. to tell her he did not want to go to school the next day.

She explains to the investigators she did not answer the call from her son, who was also in the house but believed his mother was elsewhere. She said she had shut off the phone when she arrived back at the house around 10 p.m. after a meeting with Gayle.

However, when the detectives tell Yang records they obtained from her phone service provider show her phone was more than 1½ miles from her house when the call from her son was placed, Yang replies she is at a loss to explain how that could be.

Later in the tape, Yang tells investigators it was about 10:30 p.m. Oct. 3 when she discovered the battery in her car was dead and she would not be able to get to work the next morning.

She said she sent an e-mail message from her phone to her employer sometime between 10:30 and 10:45 p.m. saying she would not be able to come into work the following day.

Detectives tell Yang records from her phone service provider show the e-mail was sent at 9:31 p.m., or sometime during the time period she would have been driving from Gayle's house to hers.

Prosecutors will not comment when questioned if they intend to use any of the videotaped sessions at Yang's trial that is expected to begin in January.

More of the videotapes are expected to be shown in court today.