RAMONA — A woman suspected of killing a Cal Fire captain who was her wife is facing murder charges today after authorities in Mexico turned her over to U.S. Marshals at a U.S. port of entry.
Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi, 53, drove to Mexico through the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Feb. 17, the same evening Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca “Becky” Marodi, 49, was found mortally wounded at the couple’s home on Rancho Villa Road, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
Yolanda Marodi was arrested at a Mexicali hotel just south of the U.S. border, according to officials in Mexico. She was turned over to American authorities and processed by the U.S. Marshals in San Diego County before being booked into custody on suspicion of murder Sunday.
She is accused of stabbing her wife of two years to death in their Ramona home because Rebecca Marodi sought to leave the marriage, according to an arrest warrant declaration issued for the veteran firefighter’s spouse.
The declaration from a San Diego County District Attorney’s Office peace officer states that Yolanda Marodi texted a “known associate” on Feb. 18: “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.”
That text was allegedly sent one day after Rebecca Marodi was found mortally wounded at the couple’s home. The declaration states she sustained multiple stab wounds to her neck, chest and abdomen.
The arrest warrant declaration states that Ring camera surveillance footage from outside the home captured Rebecca Marodi leaving the residence with her wife chasing after her.
The victim, who appears to be bloodied in the video, “is heard yelling out ‘Yolanda! Please … I don’t want to die,”’ the document states. Yolanda Marodi then responds, “You should have thought about that before,” according to the declaration, which says the suspect appears to be holding a knife in her hand and has blood on her arms in the footage.
Rebecca Marodi repeatedly asks her wife to call 911, and at some point, the pair re-enter the home.
The declaration states that about 10 minutes later, Yolanda Marodi is seen loading items into a Chevrolet Equinox and leaving the residence.
Court records show 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 the North County courthouse in Vista indicate James Olejniczak and Yolanda Olejniczak filed for divorce in May of 2000.
The investigation into the homicide was ongoing, sheriff’s officials said.
Marodi’s service began in 1993 as a volunteer firefighter in Moreno Valley, Riverside County. She then served as a seasonal firefighter in Riverside and San Bernardino counties before being promoted to fire apparatus engineer in 2007 and achieving the rank of captain in 2022 at the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.
“CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department is aware that Yolanda Marodi was apprehended. 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,” the department said in a statement Sunday.
