California Woman Pleads Guilty to Killing Firefighter Wife, 22 Years After Fatal Stabbing of Husband

A California woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of her wife, a veteran firefighter, more than two decades after she admitted to killing her former husband in a similar manner.

Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi, 54, entered the plea in connection with the death of Rebecca "Becky" Marodi, 49, who was found dead in the couple's home in Ramona, in San Diego County, on February 17, 2025.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Office said at the time that Rebecca Marodi had multiple injuries to her neck, chest and back that were "consistent with a stabbing." Her mother, Lorena Marodi, found her and called for help. Life-saving measures were performed at the scene, but she died of her injuries.

Yolanda Marodi "was seen on surveillance video earlier in the evening arguing with Rebecca and physically assaulting her," the sheriff's office said.

An affidavit filed in support of her arrest describes Ring security video recorded outside the couple's home, roughly 45 miles northeast of San Diego. According to the document, Rebecca Marodi could be seen with blood on her back and was heard saying, "Yolanda! Please … (I) don't want to die." Yolanda Marodi, holding a knife, replied, "You should have thought about that before," the affidavit says. She was later seen in different clothes, loading a silver Chevrolet Equinox and driving away.

She fled to Mexico and was captured more than a month later at a hotel about 2.3 miles south of the U.S. border in Mexicali, according to the Baja California Citizen Security Secretariat, before being returned to the United States.

In 2003, Yolanda Marodi pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2000 stabbing death of her husband, Jim Olejniczak, according to NBC San Diego, which reported she was released from custody a decade later.

Lorena Marodi told authorities her daughter had said about a week before the killing that she was ending the marriage, the affidavit says. "Becky came home and told me she was leaving, she met someone else, all the messages were lies," Yolanda Marodi wrote to an unnamed associate the day after the killing, according to the affidavit. "We had a big fight and I hurt her…I'm sorry."

Rebecca Marodi worked in firefighting for more than 30 years, beginning as a volunteer in Moreno Valley, according to a joint statement from Cal Fire and the Riverside County Fire Department. She was on the front lines of the Eaton Fire, one of the state's deadliest blazes in recent years, according to an Instagram post from Cal Fire's Temecula battalion.

"Becky was a beloved member of our community and Department, and we miss her greatly," the departments said after her death.