Yolanda Marodi: Pleads not guilty in court for fire captain wife's murder; victim's mother speaks out about her daughter
After a month on the run, Yolanda will face a trial for allegedly murdering her wife upon learning the marriage was ending.
Lorena Marodi arrived at her daughter’s home on Feb. 17, 2025 to discover the worst: 49-year-old Rebecca Marodi had been murdered and her wife, Yolanda, was nowhere to be found.
Since then, she told CBS, she has waited in anticipation for Yolanda to be captured and brought to justice after camera footage from the home captured part of the alleged murder.
On Feb. 18, 2025, according to the arrest affidavit, police reviewed that footage given to them by Lorena and watched a harrowing crime take place. A woman they believe to be Rebecca was seen running across the patio at about 8:08 p.m., chased by a woman in a yellow shirt they believe to be Yolanda.
A voice, believed to be the victim, yelled out, “Yolanda! Please… I don’t want to die.”
Rebecca appeared on camera again with what looked like blood on her back.
“You should have thought about that before,” came the response, believed to be from Yolanda.
A week before, Rebecca had apparently told Yolanda the marriage was over.
The affidavit states that camera caught Yolanda, minutes after the alleged murder, packing personal items and pets into her SUV before leaving. An hour later, background checks revealed she entered Mexico, where she hid out until March 22, when Mexican authorities caught up to her and handed her over to the U.S. Marshals.
“Now that she’s caught, Miss Yolanda has been caught, I really want to thank detective [Jessica] Ricca and her team. They’ve worked endlessly to do this, to take care of this,” Lorena told CBS.
“They got her, and I’m just, I can take another breath, lower my shoulders a little bit more. My baby was a wonderful person. Touched a lot of people,” she added.
Lorena described her daughter as a courageous woman who loved animals.
“She was so brave and so giving and so loving, and, I mean, I have woodpeckers here because she stopped and picked up a wounded one down the road, brought him home, and he apparently called his family because they're all here pecking on the trees,” she explained.
When Rebecca’s friends organized a motorcycle ride to her favorite spot, Josie’s Hideaway in Santa Ysabel, Lorena got to ride on Rebecca’s motorcycle for it.
“Becky’s got a big old Harley roadster, whatever. And one of the bike riders up there from Josie’s took me for a ride on it, because Beck and I had never got to go for a ride we were supposed to,” she said.
Yolanda made her first court appearance via video at San Diego’s East County Superior Courthouse on March 26 to plead guilty to first-degree murder, CBS reports. She remains in the San Diego County hospital to receive treatment, though investigators haven’t revealed what she is being treated for.
ABC7 reports that Superior Court Judge Peter Lynch ordered for Yolanda to remain in custody without bail, noting Rebecca had suffered 34 stab wounds and that Yolanda had a criminal history, having previously been charged in the murder of her husband in 2004 for which she served prison time.
A hearing has been set for next month to potentially revisit her bail status.
“This is a very tragic case of intimate partner violence,” said Deputy District Attorney Maura Duffey, the case prosecutor, following the arraignment hearing. “The victim was a beloved member of the Cal Fire community and I know that this loss is being felt in that community.”
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