Latest news with #YolandaMarodi
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Yahoo
Wife of slain Cal Fire captain pleads not guilty to first-degree murder after arrest in Mexico
For five weeks, Yolanda Marodi was on the run from authorities. The 53-year-old was the prime suspect in the killing of her wife, Rebecca Marodi, 49, a fire captain who was found stabbed to death last month in the couple's home in Ramona, Calif., officials said. Her fugitive status ended this weekend when Yolanda Marodi was arrested in Mexico. She entered a plea of not guilty to first-degree murder Wednesday during her arraignment at San Diego's East County Superior Courthouse. She appeared via video from a San Diego hospital; her public defender requested a bail review hearing for April 28. Yolanda Marodi was at the hospital receiving medical treatment and will be moved to a jail after her release. She was arrested Saturday at a hotel in the Ferrocarril neighborhood of Mexicali, according to the Baja California Citizen Security Secretariat. She was transported to the U.S. border by Mexican state security agents and released to the U.S. Marshals Service, according to a news release from the San Diego County Sheriff's Office. After her killing, Rebecca Marodi's friends held a "celebration of life" ceremony for the Cal Fire captain, who had battled the Eaton fire. "She always showed up," friend Ami Davis told The Times. "She would always be there, no matter what it was, something big or something small. She would take the day off and help me with my motorcycle. She was constantly thinking about people in some way, shape or form." Read more: Woman suspected of killing Cal Fire captain was convicted of killing her first spouse Rebecca Marodi's death may have come after she announced the end of her relationship with Yolanda. Rebecca's mother, Lorena Marodi, informed detectives that Rebecca told Yolanda a week before she was killed that she was ending their marriage, according to an arrest warrant filed in San Diego County Superior Court. In home security video, Rebecca was seen with blood on her back running from a woman believed to be Yolanda. 'Yolanda! Please...! I don't want to die!' Rebecca screamed, according to the warrant. 'You should have thought of that before,' Yolanda responded while standing over Rebecca holding a knife, according to the warrant. She also had blood on her arms. About 10 minutes later, Yolanda was captured on the security camera gathering pets and luggage and loading them into a Chevrolet Equinox SUV, according to the warrant. Yolanda drove away and her vehicle was logged by the Department of Homeland Security entering Mexico that same night. This is the second time Yolanda Marodi has killed a spouse, according to detectives. In 2004, Yolanda Marodi, whose last name was then Olejniczak, was convicted of killing her then-husband, James Joseph Olejniczak, according to court records. She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and served time in prison from February 2004 until November 2013. According to prosecutors, Marodi used a knife in that killing. The couple had filed for divorce in May 2000, according to family court records from the Vista courthouse. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
26-03-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Wife of slain Cal Fire captain pleads not guilty to first-degree murder after arrest in Mexico
For five weeks, Yolanda Marodi was on the run from authorities. The 53-year-old was the prime suspect in the killing of her wife, Rebecca Marodi, 49, a fire captain who was found stabbed to death last month in the couple's home in Ramona, Calif., officials said. Her fugitive status ended this weekend when Yolanda Marodi was arrested in Mexico. She entered a plea of not guilty to first-degree murder Wednesday during her arraignment at San Diego's East County Superior Courthouse. She appeared via video from a San Diego hospital; her public defender requested a bail review hearing for April 28. Yolanda Marodi was at the hospital receiving medical treatment and will be moved to a jail after her release. She was arrested Saturday at a hotel in the Ferrocarril neighborhood of Mexicali, according to the Baja California Citizen Security Secretariat. She was transported to the U.S. border by Mexican state security agents and released to the U.S. Marshals Service, according to a news release from the San Diego County Sheriff's Office. After her killing, Rebecca Marodi's friends held a 'celebration of life' ceremony for the Cal Fire captain, who had battled the Eaton fire. 'She always showed up,' friend Ami Davis told The Times. 'She would always be there, no matter what it was, something big or something small. She would take the day off and help me with my motorcycle. She was constantly thinking about people in some way, shape or form.' Rebecca Marodi's death may have come after she announced the end of her relationship with Yolanda. Rebecca's mother, Lorena Marodi, informed detectives that Rebecca told Yolanda a week before she was killed that she was ending their marriage, according to an arrest warrant filed in San Diego County Superior Court. In home security video, Rebecca was seen with blood on her back running from a woman believed to be Yolanda. 'Yolanda! Please...! I don't want to die!' Rebecca screamed, according to the warrant. 'You should have thought of that before,' Yolanda responded while standing over Rebecca holding a knife, according to the warrant. She also had blood on her arms. About 10 minutes later, Yolanda was captured on the security camera gathering pets and luggage and loading them into a Chevrolet Equinox SUV, according to the warrant. Yolanda drove away and her vehicle was logged by the Department of Homeland Security entering Mexico that same night. This is the second time Yolanda Marodi has killed a spouse, according to detectives. In 2004, Yolanda Marodi, whose last name was then Olejniczak, was convicted of killing her then-husband, James Joseph Olejniczak, according to court records. She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and served time in prison from February 2004 until November 2013. According to prosecutors, Marodi used a knife in that killing. The couple had filed for divorce in May 2000, according to family court records from the Vista courthouse.
NBC News
25-03-2025
- NBC News
Wife arrested in Mexico in connection to California fire captain's murder
Mexican authorities handed over Yolanda Marodi to U.S. law enforcement, who is suspected of killing her wife, Rebecca Marodi, a respected California fire captain. NBC News' Dana Griffin reports on how Mexican authorities were able to track her down and return her to U.S. 25, 2025
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Yahoo
Woman Suspected of Murdering Cal Fire Captain Captured in Mexico After Month-Long Manhunt
The wife of beloved Cal Fire Captain Rebecca "Becky" Marodi was captured in Mexico roughly 100 miles away from the home the couple shared in Ramona more than a month after she allegedly stabbed the veteran firefighter to death in an attack that was captured on the couple's security cameras. Marodi pleaded with her wife, Yolanda Marodi, 53, who is also known as Yolanda Olejniczak, "I don't want to die," in the minutes before her death, according to an arrest warrant. "You should have thought of that before," the knife-wielding attacker growled back, authorities surveillance footage shows Olejniczak holding a knife, her arms covered in what appeared to be blood, ordering Marodi back inside the home, the warrant says. Marodi is heard repeatedly asking Olejniczak to call 911 before the two move out of frame. Marodi sustained multiple stab wounds to her neck, chest, and abdomen, authorities was captured in the Baja, California community near a hotel by Mexican authorities and taken into custody in her pajamas. In the days after the grisly slaying Yolanda Marodi allegedly confessed to the crime in a text message to an associate, officials say, writing: "Becky came home and told me she was leaving me. She met someone else… We had a big fight, and I hurt her... I'm sorry." Officials said that once they confirmed her identity, she was taken into custody and transferred to the border, "allowing U.S. authorities to proceed with legal action." She was turned over to U.S. Marshals Sunday, San Diego law enforcement officials confirm. On the night Rebecca died, Marodi's mother called 911 around 9 p.m., according to the warrant, but by then, Yolanda was gone. The footage showed her loading an SUV with pets and luggage, driving away from the murder scene at 8:22 p.m., and crossing into Mexico less than an hour later, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Deputies arrived within minutes of a 911 call from Marodi's mother, but the fire captain was pronounced dead at the scene despite the valiant efforts of her firefighting colleagues. Yolanda Marodi had already served time in prison for the killing of a former spouse James Olejniczak. In 2004, she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter after the fatal stabbing of her then-husband, serving time in prison until 2013, according to court records. Stay in the Know! Get the top news from Los Angeles Magazine sent to your inbox every day. Sign up for The Daily Brief below or by clicking here.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Yahoo
Woman accused of killing her California fire captain wife captured in Mexico
SAN DIEGO — A woman suspected of fatally stabbing her fire captain wife at their home in Southern California has been captured in Mexico after more than a month on the run, Mexican officials said Saturday. Yolanda Marodi was taken into custody after being found at a hotel roughly 2.3 miles south of the U.S. border in the city of Mexicali, the Baja California Citizen Security Secretariat (SSCBC) said in a statement. The SSCBC said Marodi was transferred to the border with the help of Mexico's National Institute of Migration. She was turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service after being returned to the United States at a U.S. port of entry, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said in a statement about her capture. She was wanted by U.S. authorities in the Feb. 17 killing of 49-year-old Rebecca 'Becky' Marodi, a respected California fire captain, at the couple's home in San Diego County. The secretariat said cooperation and an exchange of information with U.S. authorities helped lead to the arrest. An affidavit in support of an arrest warrant for Yolanda Marodi cites home security video depicting a horrific scene outside the couple's home in Ramona as she confronted a bloodied Rebecca Marodi with a knife on Feb. 17. As the pair ran across a patio that night, Rebecca Marodi was heard on the recording saying, "Yolanda! Please … ! don't want to die," according to the declaration. At one point, Yolanda Marodi responded, "You should have thought about that before," according to the affidavit. Rebecca Marodi's mother, who lived with the couple, called authorities to say her daughter had been stabbed, according to the document. Shortly after, the home's security camera captured Yolanda Marodi, wearing different clothes, placing belongings, luggage and pets in her silver Chevrolet Equinox SUV and driving away, according to the document. The same night, the SUV crossed into Mexico, about 45 miles south of Ramona, the affidavit stated, citing Department of Homeland Security records. Yolanda Marodi was charged with murder on Feb. 21. The search for her included the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Marshal's Service San Diego Fugitive Task Force, authorities said. Carlos Zúñiga, spokesperson for Baja California's state security agency, said authorities there had been searching for her in coordination with U.S. counterparts, NBC San Diego reported last month. In 2003, Yolanda Marodi pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of husband Jim Olejniczak in 2000, the station reported. She was released from custody a decade later. The affidavit states that an unnamed witness received a text from Yolanda Marodi a day after Rebecca Marodi's killing, stating that Rebecca Marodi had told Yolanda Marodi "she met someone else" and was leaving her. 'Becky came home and told me she was leaving, she met someone else, all the messages were lies. We had a big fight and I hurt her…I'm sorry," the text stated, according to the affidavit. First responders at the home reported Rebecca Marodi had multiple stab wounds, including lacerations to her neck, chest and abdomen, the document said. She was declared dead at the scene. According to a joint statement from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, and the Riverside County Fire Department, Rebecca Marodi worked in firefighting for more than 30 years, starting as a volunteer in Moreno Valley, a city about 85 miles north of Ramona, in Riverside County. She was a seasonal firefighter, then a full-time one, before she moved up to engineer in 2007 and captain in 2022, working mostly in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to the statement. Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department thanked authorities following Yolanda Marodi's capture. "We thank our law enforcement partners in San Diego and Mexico for their hard work," spokeswoman Maggie Cline De La Rosa said in a statement. "Becky was a beloved member of our community and Department, and we miss her greatly." Rebecca Marodi dedicated much of her career to peer support, "always prioritizing the well-being of her colleagues," according to the statement. An Instagram post from Cal Fire's battalion in Temecula, California, a community just north of Riverside County's border with San Diego County, showed Rebecca Marodi on the front lines of the Eaton Fire in Altadena, the deadliest of the state's windstorm-driven blazes in January. A Cal Fire San Diego Benevolent Fund online drive to raise money for Rebecca Marodi's family described her as a woman who "dedicated more than three decades to serving and protecting our communities with unwavering bravery, leadership, and commitment." This article was originally published on
