A fugitive suspected of stabbing her wife, a veteran state firefighter, at their home and then fleeing to Mexico, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder charge.
Yolanda Marodi, 53, is accused of killing her spouse of two years, Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca “Becky” Marodi, at the couple’s home on the night of Feb. 17. She soon crossed the border, authorities said, but was arrested in Mexicali Saturday and returned to the U.S. for prosecution.
At the defendant’s arraignment, Superior Court Judge Peter Lynch ordered that she remain in custody without bail, citing 34 stabbing or slashing wounds that Rebecca Marodi sustained in the fatal attack.
The judge also referenced Yolanda Marodi’s “violent criminal history,” a prior voluntary manslaughter conviction, for the 2000 stabbing death of James Olejniczak, her husband.
Marodi appeared in court remotely from a hospital bed, though the reason for her treatment was not disclosed. She will be jailed after she’s discharged from the hospital, but the judge set a hearing for next month to potentially revisit her bail status.
Deputy District Attorney Maura Duffey, who is prosecuting the case, said after the hearing at the El Cajon courthouse, “This is a very tragic case of intimate partner violence … The victim was a beloved member of the Cal Fire community and I know that this loss is being felt in that community.”
Deputies responding to a report of an assault in Ramona last month 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.
According to a 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.
Yolanda Marodi’s manslaughter conviction led to a prison stint from February 2004 to November 2013.
Rebecca Marodi’s firefighting service began in 1993 as a volunteer crew member in Moreno Valley. She rose to become a captain at the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department in 2022.
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