A woman who has stabbed two spouses to death was sentenced Wednesday by an El Cajon judge to 36 years to life in prison for the most recent of those killings, the slaying of her wife, Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca Marodi, in the victim’s Ramona home last year.
Yolanda Marodi, 54, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder in the Feb. 17, 2025, slaying of 49-year-old “Becky” Marodi, who had been with Cal Fire for more than 30 years and was a captain at a station in French Valley in Riverside County.
“We lost a hero in our community,” El Cajon Superior Court Judge Selena Epley said while handing down the sentence, which the defendant had agreed to when pleading guilty. “Nothing this court can do can make up for the loss of this incredible human being.”
The victim’s family and friends remembered her during Wednesday’s hearing as a kind and generous daughter, cousin and friend who loved people and animals, especially horses, and who served her community honorably as a firefighter her entire adult life.
“She moved toward danger to save others,” Lorena Marodi, the victim’s mother, said. “May God bless Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca Marodi for all the good she did and all the love she spread during her short lifetime.”
In pleading guilty last month, Yolanda Marodi admitted that she had a prior strike and a serious felony conviction on her record for the October 2000 slaying of her estranged husband, 27-year-old James Olejniczak, in San Bernardino County. Known at that time as Yolanda Olejniczak, she was subsequently convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to more than 13 years in prison. She was released on parole in that case in 2013.
Yolanda Marodi attended Wednesday’s hearing seated in a wheelchair and wearing a face mask. She did not speak in court, but she penned a three-page letter to the judge and the victim’s mother.
“I apologize to you Lorena, for all of the pain and harm that I have caused you and so many others who also loved and cared for Becky,” she wrote in part. “There is no excuse for taking your daughter’s life.”
She wrote that she lives in her “own hell every day” and that she is begging her mother-in-law for forgiveness. “Not for myself, for I am unworthy of your forgiveness, but for your inner peace and healing,” she wrote.
According to court documents filed by prosecutors and testimony at a preliminary hearing, Rebecca Marodi sustained 23 stab wounds to her neck, chest and abdomen in the fatal attack. Prosecutors alleged that Rebecca was seeking to leave the couple’s deteriorating two-year marriage shortly before she was killed.
“This case … shows that no one is immune to domestic violence,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement. “We can honor Captain Rebecca Marodi’s memory by joining together to safeguard victims of domestic violence and hold their abusers accountable.”
The fatal attack was partially captured on a doorbell camera, authorities have said. That footage has never been shown in court, but it’s been described by prosecutors in an affidavit and by a sheriff’s homicide detective during a preliminary hearing earlier this year.
Detective Jessica Ricca testified that in the video, the victim could be heard calling out for her mother, who lived with the couple at Rebecca’s small ranch on Rancho Villa Road. Yolanda Marodi allegedly responded, “She’s not here.”
The footage allegedly showed Rebecca running and being chased by Yolanda. Then, after some time out of frame of the doorbell camera, the couple appeared again, and this time Rebecca was apparently covered in blood, Ricca testified during the preliminary hearing.
“Yolanda! Please! (I) don’t want to die,” the Cal Fire captain can be heard saying in the video, according to the affidavit filed by prosecutors.
“You should have thought about that before,” Yolanda allegedly responded.
On the video, Yolanda could allegedly be seen standing in front of Rebecca holding a knife and telling her to enter the house, according to the affidavit. That document alleged that Rebecca repeatedly asked her wife to call 911 before the pair re-entered the home.
Ten minutes later, the affidavit alleged, Yolanda was seen loading pets and luggage into an SUV. Less than an hour later, she allegedly drove into Mexico, where she remained on the lam for more than a month until she was detained in Mexicali, across the border from Calexico in Imperial County.
Lorena Marodi was the one who found her daughter lying dead in a pool of blood when she arrived home that night, authorities said. She told the judge Wednesday that she’s still haunted by that image every day, and that the devastation ripples into every part of her life.
“But I refuse to let Yolanda’s darkness consume me,” Lorena said. She recalled how her daughter “brought out the best parts in me,” and that in her adulthood they had become “buds.” When Lorena retired, she moved into her daughter’s home on the Ramona ranch to live a slow, quiet life.
“Yolanda took my daughter, but she can’t take decades of memories,” Lorena said.
While one of Rebecca Marodi’s cousins told Yolanda that she had forgiven her, others who spoke Wednesday said no such forgiveness was forthcoming.
“Your only legacy is being a pathetic coward,” said Katie Stewart, a friend of the victim. “If you ever find yourself in front of a parole board, I’ll be there, too.”
The judge said that as part of the agreed-upon sentence, the District Attorney’s Office had noted that it would object to Marodi ever being released on parole.