Wife of slain California fire captain arrested in Mexico after month-long manhunt

The woman accused of murdering her hero fire chief wife in an horrific stabbing attack has been captured in Mexico following a month-long manhunt.

Mexican authorities announced on Saturday that 53-year-old Yolanda Marodi, also known as Yolanda Olenjniczak, was taken into custody near a hotel while still in her pajamas.

She was captured in the Ferrocarril neighborhood of Mexicali, Baja California in connection with the brutal stabbing death of her wife, Cal Fire Captain Rebecca ‘Becky’ Marodi.

Authorities say Olenjniczak was found loitering in the vicinity of the hotel when she was identified and detained. 

After confirming her identity and an outstanding warrant, she was promptly handed over to authorities to be extradited back to the US.

It was just over a month ago on February 17 in Ramona, San Diego County, California that deputies responded to a radio call for an assault with a deadly weapon.

When they arrived they found beloved 49-year-old Captain Rebecca Marodi unresponsive in her own home and suffering from multiple stab wounds.

Despite the desperate efforts of deputies and responding Cal Fire paramedics – her own colleagues – Marodi was pronounced dead at the scene.

SoCal fire captain Rebecca Marodi, 49,  was found dead from multiple stab wounds inside her Ramona, California home last month. Her wife Yolanda Marodi, 53, has been arrested as the prime suspect in her murder

Police on both sides of the southern border had been searching for Yolanda Olenjniczak in connection with Marodi’s murder

In the days that followed, the public learned how the suspected killer was not a stranger or an intruder, but her own wife. 

The pair had been married for just over two years, but what may appeared to have been a committed and stable relationship had unraveled with the final moments captured by their home’s own security system.

An arrest warrant laid bare the final moments of Captain Marodi’s life. 

At around 8pm that evening, security footage allegedly captured Olenjniczak chasing her wife across their patio. 

In audio recorded during the same scene, a woman’s voice – believed to be Marodi’s – is heard pleading: ‘Yolanda! Please… I don’t want to die.’

‘You should have thought about that before,’ Olenjniczak is alleged to have replied.

Video footage later showed her standing over Marodi with a knife in her right hand and blood visible on her arms. 

Within minutes, the footage then shows her gathering up her pets, loading luggage, and speeding away in a silver Chevrolet Equinox.

As investigators dug deeper into Olenjniczak’s background, a disturbing pattern emerged.

California Fire Captain Rebecca Marodi, 49, was stabbed to death in her own home last month

Marodi was due to retire later this year after more than 30 years with CalFire

Yolanda had previously pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of her ex-husband in October 2000

Police allege she stabbed her wife, Fire Captain Rebecca Marodi, 49, inside the Ramona home they shared on February 17

The Ramona, California home where Fire Captain Rebecca ‘Becky’ Marodi was murdered

Yolanda, left, previously served time in jail in 2000 for fatally stabbing her ex-husband James J. Olejniczak Jr., 26, as they were getting a divorce 

In 2004, she was convicted of voluntary manslaughter after fatally stabbing her then-husband. She served 11 years in prison for that crime and was released. 

More than two decades later, she now stands accused of yet another fatal stabbing.

Three days after Marodi’s death, Olenjniczak sent a text message to an associate confessing to a confrontation. 

‘Becky came home and told me she was leaving me. She met someone else… We had a big fight, and I hurt her… I’m sorry,’ the message read, according to the arrest warrant.

Captain Rebecca Marodi was a force of nature in the California firefighting world, dedicating more than 30 years to Cal Fire, much of it in Riverside County. 

She began as a volunteer in Moreno Valley and steadily rose through the ranks, gaining admiration, respect, and making lifelong friendships.

Marodi, who served for 30 years with Cal Fire, was one of the thousands of firefighters who battled the deadly Eaton Fire in January

Marodi’s firefighter colleagues carried her out of her home in a flag-draped casket 

She had recently helped battle the Eaton Fire during January’s deadly wildfires and was planning her long-awaited retirement later this year.

‘The tragic loss of Captain Marodi is mourned by her family, friends, and her Cal Fire family,’ the department said in a statement.

John Clingingsmith, Cal Fire Riverside County public information officer and a longtime friend paid tribute to her.

‘She was always very positive,’ he said. ‘Always had a smile on her face. It didn’t matter what the situation was.

‘I think that’s one of the things everybody has been talking about – her smile, her laugh, and just the fact that she was always there.’