She Killed a Husband, Then a Wife. Now, 36 Years to Life.

For more than 30 years, Rebecca “Becky” Marodi ran toward fire for a living. On the night she died, a security camera watched her run across her own patio, begging her wife for her life. ^{1 6 14} The woman holding the knife had killed a spouse before, served prison time for it, been paroled — and then married again. ^{6 10}

On September 2, 2026, that history caught up to Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi in a San Diego County courtroom. ^{2 3} Judge Selena Epley sentenced the 54-year-old to 36 years to life in state prison for the second-degree murder of Becky Marodi, 49, a Cal Fire captain. ^{2 6 7} The sentence closed a plea entered August 4, 2026, about a month before trial was set to begin, in which Marodi admitted the killing, admitted using a knife, admitted a prior strike conviction, and waived appeal of the term. ^{10 11 13}

Becky Marodi was a captain at the French Valley fire station in Riverside County, with more than three decades at Cal Fire. ^{6 7} She was killed on the night of February 17, 2025, at the couple’s home on Rancho Villa Road in Ramona, in San Diego County’s backcountry. ^{2 3} She was stabbed 23 times in the neck, chest and abdomen. ^{3 9} Her mother, Lorena Marodi, who lived on the same property, found her that evening and called 911. ¹ Becky died at the scene. ^{1 3} The couple had been married about two years, a relationship described as nearing its end. ¹

The state’s strongest witness was a camera. Around 8 p.m. on February 17, the home’s Ring camera recorded Becky being chased across the patio, screaming, “Yolanda! Please… I don’t want to die!” ^{14 1} The affidavit describing the video says Yolanda answered, “You should have thought of that before.” ¹⁴ Marodi was described as holding a knife with blood on her arms, while Becky appeared with blood on her back. ^{1 14} The same camera later recorded Marodi loading pets and luggage into her Chevy Equinox. ¹

What followed was flight, not first aid. That same night Marodi crossed into Mexico, a crossing logged by the Department of Homeland Security shortly after 9:15 p.m. ^{5 12} She was arrested in Mexicali on March 22, 2025, about five weeks later, and turned over to U.S. Marshals. ^{5 10} Prosecutors would later title the case plainly: Ramona wife who killed a fire captain and fled to Mexico. ^{5 8}

The past is what turns this from a domestic murder into an indictment. In October 2000, Yolanda Marodi fatally stabbed her then-estranged husband, James Olejniczak, in San Bernardino County. ^{10 18} She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2003 and was released on parole in 2013, after about a decade behind bars. ^{6 10} That conviction was treated as a strike in the 2025 case, which is why a second-degree murder plea could still lock in a life term rather than a term of years. ^{10 11} The method was the same — a knife, in a home, on a spouse — 25 years apart. ^{10 18}

In court on September 2, grief did the talking the law cannot. Lorena Marodi told the court that losing her only child had a grief that “ripples into every part of her life,” called it “the privilege of a lifetime” to have been Becky’s parent, said she had “stood strong to receive justice,” and asked that Marodi “be kept behind bars for the rest of her life.” ^{2 16} Judge Epley called Becky “a hero in our community.” ^{3 4} District Attorney Summer Stephan added that the case showed “no one is immune to domestic violence.” ^{5 8}

The number needs translation. In California, “36 years to life” is an indeterminate life term, not a release date. ^{2 9} Thirty-six years is the minimum before Marodi can even be considered for parole, and the Board of Parole Hearings would still have to find her suitable. ^{2 9} She would be about 90 years old by then. ¹ She could die in prison without ever being released. ^{2 9}