The California fire captain murder case took a major turn Tuesday when Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi pleaded guilty to killing her wife, veteran Cal Fire captain Rebecca “Becky” Marodi, after prosecutors said she fled to Mexico and was brought back to the United States.
Marodi, 54, entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder in a San Diego County courtroom. When the judge asked how she pleaded to count one, Marodi answered, “Guilty.” She had earlier pleaded not guilty before reversing course. As part of the plea, she also admitted a prior serious felony conviction tied to the 2000 stabbing death of her then-husband, James Joseph Olejniczak. In that case, she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2003 and was released in 2013, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Rebecca Marodi, 49, was found fatally stabbed at the couple’s home in Ramona in February 2025. Prosecutors said surveillance footage showed her running from the house while Yolanda Marodi pursued her. Authorities said Rebecca Marodi suffered multiple stab wounds in the Feb. 17, 2025 attack, including injuries to her neck, chest and back that were consistent with a stabbing.
Investigators later said Marodi crossed into Mexico after the killing and remained there for more than a month before being arrested in Mexicali and returned to the United States. The case drew attention not only because of the circumstances of the death, but because of the defendant’s long criminal history involving another fatal stabbing decades earlier. The California fire captain murder case has now moved from investigation to conviction, with sentencing set for Sept. 2.
