Woman who fatally stabbed husband 2 decades ago admits to fatally stabbing firefighter wife

A woman in California admitted on Tuesday that she stabbed her wife to death last year, more than two decades after facing prison time for killing her ex-husband in a similar manner.

Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi, 54, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the the death of her wife, Rebecca “Becky” Marodi , 49, a respected California firefighter. She was arrested in connection with the crime last year after fleeing to Mexico.

Rebecca Marodi was found dead in her San Diego County home on Feb. 17, 2025, with several injuries to her neck, chest and back “consistent with a stabbing,” the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.

Her wife “was seen on surveillance video earlier in the evening arguing with Rebecca and physically assaulting her,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Rebecca Marodi’s mother, Lorena Marodi, found her daughter with multiple stab wounds and called for help, according to the sheriff’s office. Life saving measures were performed on site, but Rebecca Marodi succumbed to her injuries.

Yolanda Marodi was captured by Mexican official s in the country more than a month later before being brought back the United States. She was found at a hotel roughly 2.3 miles south of the U.S. border in the city of Mexicali, the Baja California Citizen Security Secretariat (SSCBC) said at the time.

An affidavit for Yolanda Marodi’s arrest describes Ring security video captured outside the couple’s home in Ramona, California — about 45 miles northeast of San Diego — on the day that the firefighter was slain.

The document said Rebecca Marodi could be seen with blood on her back and was heard on the video saying, “Yolanda! Please … (I) don’t want to die.” Yolanda Marodi, seen in the video holding a knife, responded, “You should have thought about that before.”

Later, she can be seen wearing different clothes and packing her silver Chevrolet Equinox SUV before driving away, according to the document.

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

Lorena Marodi told authorities that her daughter informed Yolanda Marodi about a week before the killing that she was ending the marriage, according to the affidavit.

“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, starting as a volunteer in Moreno Valley, according to a joint statement from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, and the Riverside County Fire Department.

The 49-year-old was on the frontlines of the Eaton Fire — one of the state’s deadliest blazes in recent years — last year, according to an Instagram post from Cal Fire’s battalion in Temecula, California, a community about 65 miles north of San Diego.

“Becky was a beloved member of our community and Department, and we miss her greatly,” Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department said in a statement after Rebecca Marodi’s killing last year.