Wife of slain CAL FIRE captain pleads not guilty to murder
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) - An ex-con suspected of fatally stabbing her wife, a veteran Riverside County Fire Department captain, at their home and then fleeing to Mexico -- where she was apprehended over the weekend -- pleaded not guilty to a murder charge on Wednesday.
Yolanda Marodi, 53, is accused of killing her spouse of two years, CAL FIRE Capt. Rebecca "Becky" Marodi, at the couple's home in Ramona on the night of Feb. 17.
Deputies responding to a report of an assault found the 49-year-old victim suffering from stab wounds to her neck, chest and abdomen. Rebecca Marodi, who had worked for the state firefighting agency for more than 30 years, died at the scene.
Yolanda Marodi allegedly headed across the U.S.-Mexico border shortly after the killing. Mexican authorities arrested her on Saturday near a hotel in the Ferrocarril neighborhood of Mexicali, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
At Yolanda Marodi's initial court appearance on Wednesday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Peter Lynch ordered that she remain in custody without bail, citing 34 stabbing or slashing wounds that Rebecca Marodi allegedly sustained in the fatal attack. The judge also referenced Yolanda Marodi's "violent criminal history'' through her prior voluntary manslaughter conviction, which involved the stabbing death of her previous spouse.
Marodi appeared in court remotely from a hospital bed, though the reason for her hospitalization was not disclosed. Though she will be jailed without bail after she's discharged from the hospital, a hearing was set for next month to potentially revisit her bail status.
According to an arrest warrant declaration filed by a detective with the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, Rebecca Marodi had sought to leave the marriage shortly before she was killed.
The day after the slaying, the court document asserts, the suspect sent someone a text message stating, "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 fleeing their Rancho Villa Road home as her wife chased her.
The bloodied victim was "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-entered 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 then 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 2000.
Mardoni served more than 30 years with Cal Fire, mainly in Riverside County with assignments in Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage. Her service began in 1993 as a volunteer firefighter in Moreno Valley in Riverside County. 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 achieving the rank of captain in 2022 at the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.
On Sunday, Cal Fire officials released a statement thanking their "law enforcement partners in San Diego and Mexico for their hard work'' in apprehending the suspect.
"Becky was a beloved member of our community and department, and we miss her greatly,'' they added.
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing coverage of this case.
