RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An ex-con suspected of fatally stabbing her wife, a veteran Riverside County Fire Department captain, at the victim's home last month and then fleeing to Mexico was behind bars Monday following her capture south of the border.
Mexican authorities arrested Yolanda Marodi, 53, over the weekend in connection with the slaying of her spouse of two years, Capt. Rebecca "Becky" Marodi, in Ramona, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office.
The suspect was being held without bail at Las Colinas women's jail in Santee pending arraignment, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Deputies responding to a report of an assault on the evening of Feb. 17 found the 49-year-old victim suffering from stab wounds to her neck, chest and abdomen at the couple's residence in the 20200 block of Rancho Villa Road, north of state Route 78. The victim, who had worked for the state firefighting agency for more than 30 years, died at the scene.
Rebecca Marodi had sought to leave the marriage shortly before she was killed, according to an arrest-warrant declaration filed by a detective with the District Attorney's Office.
On the day after the slaying, the court document states, the suspect sent someone the following text message: "Becky came home and told me she was leaving me, she met someone else, all the messages were lies. We had a big fight and I hurt her ... I'm sorry."
The warrant declaration states that surveillance-camera footage captured images of Rebecca Marodi trying to flee for her life outside the home with her wife chasing her.
The victim, who appeared to be bloodied in the video, was "heard yelling out, `Yolanda! Please ... I don't want to die,"' the document states. Yolanda Marodi, who appeared to be holding a knife and seemingly had blood on her arms, responded, "You should have thought about that before," according to the document.
The mortally wounded victim repeatedly asked her wife to call 911 before the pair re-enter the home, the declaration states.
About 10 minutes later, the camera recorded video of Yolanda Marodi, who also goes by the last name Olejniczak, loading items into a Chevrolet Equinox and driving off, the declaration states.
Yolanda Marodi served prison time from February 2004 to November 2013 for the October 2000 stabbing death of her first spouse, James Olejniczak, in San Bernardino County. She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in that case. Family court records filed at Vista Courthouse indicate that the couple had filed for divorce in May of 2000.
Rebecca Marodi's firefighting service began in 1993 as a volunteer crew member in Moreno Valley. She went on to serve as a seasonal firefighter in Riverside and San Bernardino counties before being promoted to fire apparatus engineer in 2007 and captain at the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department in 2022.
"CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department is aware that Yolanda Marodi was apprehended," officials with the agency stated Sunday. "We thank our law enforcement partners in San Diego and Mexico for their hard work. Becky was a beloved member of our community and department, and we miss her greatly."
