Californian woman who fatally stabbed her wife sentenced to 36 years to life
Yolanda Marodi has been sentenced for the murder of her wife Rebecca (San Diego sheriff’s office | Riverside County Fire Department)
Yolanda Marodi has been formally charged with murder and sentenced to 36 years to life after fatally stabbing her wife, a California fire captain.
Marodi, 54, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder in the 17 February 2025 killing of her wife Rebecca Marodi.
Yolanda previously spent roughly a decade in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of an estranged partner in 2003.
Some of the events were caught on security camera from the couple’s patio, as reported by NBC News. In the video, Rebecca can be heard telling her wife that she didn’t want to die, to which Marodi responded: “You should have thought about that before.”
Rebecca, who had worked for the state firefighting agency for more than 30 years, died at the scene.
Roughly a week earlier, Rebecca had told her wife she planned on ending their marriage.
Yolanda crossed the US-Mexico border about an hour after the killing. Mexican authorities arrested her just over a month later near a hotel in the Ferrocarril neighbourhood of Mexicali, according to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.
During the sentencing hearing, Rebecca’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.”
“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 […] Despite the horrific violence bestowed upon Becky, I refuse to allow Yolanda’s darkness to consume me.”
The San Diego County District Attorney, Summer Stephan, said, “This was a vicious murder of a respected and dedicated Fire Captain who dedicated her entire career to serving her community.”
