A year later, mom still seeking justice for daughter

URBANA – Yvonne Jayne and her family will be lighting a candle Sunday night in memory of her late daughter. They're hoping it will shed light on the plight of victims of domestic violence.

April Ruthann "Rudy" Rahming, 23, died Oct. 25, 2008, under circumstances that are less than clear to authorities.

What police know with certainty is that she was riding in a pickup truck with her boyfriend, Charles Laroe, 26, and that she came out of the truck in the 1800 block of Brownfield Road in northeast Urbana and was run over. Laroe put her back in the truck and drove her to her mother's house on Kerr Avenue, telling deputies their home was closer than the hospital and that her stepfather knew CPR.

Ms. Rahming's stepfather tried CPR on her badly injured body with the help of a neighbor, but she died there of multiple traumatic injuries. Jayne said the blood stains won't come out of her carpet.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy," said Jayne, 44.

Rudy, as she was called by her family, was the oldest of her seven children. She was in and out of the hospital for the first year of her life after a difficult birth but was healthy ever since, her mother said.

"Me and her did everything together. We were like best friends," she said. "We would trick people. Sometimes she'd drive my van and people didn't know which one of us it was. The mailman thought we were sisters."

Jayne said her daughter's relationship with Laroe was abusive. Jayne herself obtained an order of protection against him about three weeks after her daughter's death, which remains in effect. Laroe is currently appealing that order to the Fourth District Appellate Court in Springfield, according to his attorney, Scott Dempsey of Champaign.

Contacted Thursday, Laroe declined to talk to The News-Gazette about Ms. Rahming.

Jayne said she and her daughter had talked about what would happen if Rudy died.

"I promise that if anything happens to you, I will make sure there is justice and everybody will find out what happened," Jayne recalled telling her first-born.

Her promise was more easily recited than executed.

Laroe was arrested for driving under the influence on the morning of the accident, but those charges were later dismissed and no others have been filed.

State's Attorney Julia Rietz stressed that the case is still open.

"There is what we believe happened and what we can prove happened. Unfortunately, the two are very different at this point," said Rietz.

Champaign County sheriff's Lt. Ed Ogle said his detectives finished their investigation last spring and forwarded the reports to Rietz for her review.

"What we believed happened is there was some sort of domestic argument. They had been at the Shell station (on North Cunningham Avenue in Urbana). We have video evidence (from the gas station) to show that she ran away from the Shell. We also have video evidence showing that he pursued her," Ogle said.

"We also have evidence where he pulled off to the side of the road in that vehicle and at some point she re-entered the vehicle – either by force or on her own – and then a short time later she exits the vehicle – either on her own or by some other means – and she was run over by the right rear dual tires. His statement to police was that she jumped from the moving truck," Ogle said.

A coroner's jury heard all that evidence in January and could not determine the manner of Ms. Rahming's death. Their choices are homicide, suicide, accident or undetermined.

Jayne said her daughter attended Unity High School and graduated from St. Joseph-Ogden High School in 2004. She and her husband lived in the state of Washington for a time while he served in the military. After divorcing him, she moved back to Urbana.

Rudy knew Laroe for about three years and lived with him in Urbana part of that time, Jayne said.

She had a job at an Urbana nursing home and had just been accepted into Parkland College's nursing program not long before her death, her mother said.

She said her daughter and Laroe frequently argued.

"She was looking for a better job to make it on her own," said her mom. "When we went to get her that morning, (of the day she died) she had her stuff packed."

Jayne said she misses her daughter.

"Oh, yea, every second," she said.

Meantime, Rietz is left with a case that is less than perfect from a prosecutor's viewpoint and is hoping some other evidence may develop that will improve it. The pickup truck Ms. Rahming came out of remains in the sheriff's impound lot and the state's attorney's office advocates stay in touch with the Jaynes.

"As with all situations such as this, our heart goes out to the families who have not obtained that closure they need and the results they desire," Ogle said.

 

What: Candlelight vigil for April Ruthann "Rudy" Rahming, 23, who died a year ago.

When: 7 p.m. Sunday.

Where: 1800 block of Willow Springs Road, Urbana, the location where she fell from a moving pickup truck a year ago. It's just east of the Motel 6 at 1906 N. Cunningham Ave.

Why: To remember Rudy and bring attention to the problem of domestic violence.

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