California woman who served a decade in prison for killing a partner will now serve 36 more for murdering her wife

The California woman who fled to Mexico after fatally stabbing her wife, a captain with the state’s wildland firefighting agency, was sentenced this week to 36 years to life in prison, officials said.

Yolanda Marodi, 54, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder in the Feb. 17, 2025, death of Rebecca Marodi, 49, at the couple’s home in Ramona, northeast of San Diego, the county’s district attorney said in a statement.

Yolanda Marodi previously pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of an estranged partner in 2003 and served roughly a decade in prison.

Yolanda and Rebecca Marodi’s marriage of roughly two years was deteriorating when Yolanda Marodi stabbed her wife roughly two dozen times, the district attorney’s office said.

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Some of the events of Feb. 17, 2025, were captured in grim security camera video from the couple’s patio, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant. When a bloodied Rebecca Marodi told her wife that she didn’t want to die, Yolanda Marodi responded, “You should have thought about that before.”

Roughly a week earlier, the affidavit states, Rebecca Marodi had told her wife she planned on ending their marriage.

In a text message cited in the affidavit, Yolanda Marodi told someone that she hurt Rebecca Marodi after learning that the relationship was over and her wife said she’d met someone else.

Yolanda Marodi was captured in Mexicali, just south of the U.S. border, on March 22, 2025.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Rebecca Marodi’s mother said it had been “the privilege of a lifetime” to be her parent.

“In the face of the greatest darkness, I have stood strong to receive justice for my amazing, beautiful, strong daughter,” said Lorena Marodi, who found her daughter’s body and called 911.

“Every morning when I wake, the image of my baby girl lying on the floor with stab wounds to her back and lifeless haunts me,” she said. “Despite the horrific violence bestowed upon Becky, I refuse to allow Yolanda’s darkness to consume me.”