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

Yolanda Marodi pleaded guilty to stabbing Rebecca Marodi last year. Shortly before the deadly attack, Rebecca Marodi had told her wife she planned on ending their marriage, officials said.

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.

Cal Fire Captain, Rebecca Marodi.Cal Fire / Riverside County Fire DepartmentSome 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.”