Manhunt underway after police say woman killed her wife, a California fire captain who battled Eaton Fire, and fled to Mexico

KFMB, SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO, FACEBOOK, BECK MARODI, CAL FIRE & RIVERSIDE HAZMAT TEAM, SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF’S, CNN, Facebook/Beck Marodi

By Hanna Park, CNN

(CNN) — Newly revealed details from an arrest warrant describe the final moments of a California fire captain found fatally stabbed in her California home last week. Authorities allege her wife carried out the killing before fleeing across the border to Mexico.

Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca “Becky” Marodi, 49, was discovered with multiple stab wounds in her home in Ramona on February 17, according to an arrest warrant filed in San Diego County Superior Court Friday.

Marodi’s mother called 911 around 9 p.m., according to the warrant. Deputies arrived within minutes, but Marodi was pronounced dead at the scene about 15 minutes later.

According to the arrest warrant, surveillance footage from the couple’s home captured part of the attack. At 8:08 p.m., the warrant says, Marodi is seen running across the patio, pursued by her wife, Yolanda Marodi, also known as Yolanda Olejniczak.

“Yolanda! Please… I don’t want to die,” Rebecca Marodi was heard pleading, investigators said. Olejniczak is said to have responded, “You should have thought about that before.”

The surveillance footage shows Olejniczak holding a knife, apparent blood visible on her arms, ordering Marodi back inside the home, the warrant says. Marodi is heard repeatedly asking Olejniczak to call 911 before the two move out of frame. It was the last time Marodi was seen alive on camera, the warrant says.

Minutes later, according to the warrant, Olejniczak was seen on the front door camera loading pets, luggage and belongings into a silver crossover SUV. By 8:22 p.m., she had left the home, investigators said.

Homeland Security records show her vehicle crossing into Mexico less than an hour later, the warrant said.

An acquaintance of Olejniczak contacted investigators with the contents of a text message Olejniczak sent her the day after the killing, according to the warrant.

“Becky came home and told me she was leaving me, she met someone else, all the messages were lies,” Olejniczak wrote, according to the warrant. “We had a big fight and I hurt her… I’m sorry.”

Marodi sustained multiple stab wounds to her neck, chest and abdomen, authorities said.

Olejniczak, who remains at large, was sentenced in 2004 after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of her then-husband, serving time in prison until 2013, according to court records.

“We are not able to discuss the facts or evidence in open cases,” San Diego County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Tanya Sierra said Wednesday.

Last month, Marodi helped battle the Eaton Fire as it ravaged Los Angeles County. “She was on her engine in one of our strike teams of fire engines that were sent to assist,” said Capt. John Clingingsmith Jr., of Cal Fire Riverside County.

“When we arrived on scene, fire (was) all around us,” Marodi said in a social media video posted by Cal Fire. “The feeling that I got while we were trying to make a stance on this fire was overwhelming and sad. I just wanted to be able to make a difference. At one point, we just said if we can save these three houses, let’s do it.”

In a statement, Cal Fire honored Marodi’s decades of service and mourned her death.

“Captain Marodi served over 30 years with Cal Fire, primarily in Riverside County, but also serving time in San Bernardino and San Diego Counties,” the agency said. “The tragic loss of Captain Marodi is mourned by her family, friends and her Cal Fire family.”

The Cal Fire San Diego Benevolent Fund, a nonprofit organization founded by firefighters and community advocates, has raised over $21,000 to help support Marodi’s family and cover the cost of her funeral services.

Marodi began her firefighting career in 1993 as a volunteer firefighter in Moreno Valley, according to the nonprofit. She went on to serve as a seasonal firefighter in Riverside and San Bernardino counties before becoming fire apparatus engineer in 2007 and captain in 2022.

She had been the primary caregiver for her 77-year-old mother, who lived with her.

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