A little over a month after Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca "Becky" Marodi was fatally stabbed inside her Ramona home, her accused killer was arrested in Mexico, law enforcement officials in that country confirmed to NBC San Diego on Saturday.
A news release issued by the Baja California Citizen Security Secretariat (SSCBC) stated that Marodi’s wife, Yolonda Marodi, had been taken into custody by law enforcement, who were coordinating with the counterparts in San Diego County.
U.S. authorities requested help locating Yolanda, according to the SSCBC, which said that she was arrested near a hotel on Fresnillo Avenue in Mexicali. Officials said that, once they confirmed her identity, she was taken into custody and transferred to the border, "allowing U.S. authorities to proceed with legal action."
U.S. officials said in a warrant for Yolanda's arrest that they had video showing her crossing the border into Mexico in the hours right after the Feb. 17 slaying.
Court documents show Yolanda Marodi — who is accused of stabbing her wife, a Cal Fire captain, to death last week at their home in Ramona — pleaded guilty to fraud in 1995 after she stole more than $4,000 in state aid for nearly a year. The complaint says she accepted child welfare payments for her oldest son while she was fully employed.
The Arrest Warrant
NBC 7 gained access to the arrest warrant for Yolanda, which contains chilling details about the case, including the fact that the slaying was recorded by a home security system, on which the killer can be heard stating, "You should have thought about that before," while the victim pleaded for her life.
The court document details specifics about the killing, including the fact that Becky had been stabbed and cut in the neck, chest and abdomen. The attack was reported to 911 at a little before 9 p.m. on Feb. 17 by Becky's mother, Lorena, who also lived at the home on Rancho Villa Road. Becky was treated by paramedics at the house and brought to Sharp Hospital, where she was pronounced dead roughly 15 minutes later.
While Lorena was being interviewed by county homicide detectives, she said Becky had told her 53-year-old wife, Yolanda, the week prior that she was "ending their marriage," according to the warrant. Although Yolanda was normally home, she was missing the night of the killing, Lorena said, who also told detectives that the home had Ring video surveillance, which could be reviewed on Lorena's phone.
Detectives watched the video later that night, which, according to the warrant, showed that, at a little after 8 p.m. that evening (about an hour before Lorena called 911):
"a female believed to be Rebecca was seen running across the patio camera angle with a female in a yellow shirt, believed to be Rebecca's wife, Yolanda, chasing after her. A female voice, believed to be Rebecca, is heard yelling out, 'Yolanda! Please…! don't want to die.' Rebecca reappears in the patio camera angle with what appears to be apparent blood on her back. In response to Rebecca's statement of not wanting to die, Yolanda responded, 'You should have thought about that before.' "
Monday marks one month since the death of Cal Fire Captain Rebecca Marodi. NBC 7’s M.G. Perez shows us the tribute from her loved ones.
According to Cecilia Markland, an officer with the San Diego County District Attorney's office, Yolanda is seen on the video standing in front of Becky at one point, apparently holding a knife and with what seems to be blood on her arms. Yolanda then ordered Becky inside, and the bleeding victim pleaded repeatedly for her attacker to call 911.
The couple then went inside and, at 9:20, the Ring camera at the front door captured Yolanda packing up pets, luggage and other items, then loading them into a silver Chevrolet Equinox SUV, according to the arrest warrant, which goes on to say that detectives later checked with the Department of Homeland Security, which recorded that vehicle passing into Mexico later that night, the last time anybody has a possible record of Yolanda's whereabouts until the news on Saturday of her arrest.
Three days after the killing, Markland wrote in the arrest warrant, a witness shared a text with investigators that Yolanda allegedly sent the day after Becky was stabbed to death that said, "Becky came home and told me she was leaving me, she met someone else, all the messages were lies. We had a big fight and I hurt her… I'm sorry."
A Previous Killing
This isn’t Yolanda's first brush with the law: More than 20 years ago she did prison time for the stabbing death of her ex-husband, James Olejniczak.
Yolanda was in prison from February 2004 to November 2013 for that killing. Yolanda Olejniczak, as she was then known, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the October 2000 stabbing death of her first spouse, James Olejniczak, in San Bernardino County, according to court documents.
More is being uncovered about Becky Marodi's suspected killer, who is also her estranged wife, reports NBC 7's Allison Ash.
