The California firefighter killed in a stabbing last week was captured on a home security camera bloodied and appearing to plead for her life with the woman now wanted in connection with the death, court records show.
When Rebecca Marodi, a captain with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told her wife that she did not want to die, Yolanda Marodi responded, “You should have thought about that before,” according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant filed in San Diego County Superior Court last week.
The video showed Yolanda Marodi, 53, chasing Rebecca Marodi, 49, and holding a knife, with blood visible on her arms, according to the affidavit.
Yolanda Marodi previously pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of an estranged partner in 2003, prison officials have said. She was released from custody a decade later.
Roughly a week before her death, Rebecca Marodi told her wife of roughly two years that that she planned on ending their marriage, according to the affidavit.
The events of Feb. 17 were captured on a Ring camera on the patio of the couple’s home in Ramona, northeast of San Diego, according to the affidavit.
The video showed Rebecca Marodi repeatedly asking her wife to call 911. At 8:09 p.m., they went inside, according to the affidavit. Minutes later, Yolanda Marodi — wearing a different outfit — was seen gathering pets and luggage and leaving in a silver SUV.
The vehicle, a 2016 Chevrolet Equinox, was seen entering Mexico at 9:16 p.m., according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security log cited in the affidavit.
Minutes before the SUV crossed the southern border, Rebecca Marodi’s mother dialed 911 and told authorities her daughter had been stabbed, the affidavit states.
Authorities found Rebecca Marodi with multiple stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The next day, Yolanda Marodi sent a text message to a person identified in the affidavit as a known associate that said: “Becky came home and told me she was leaving, she met someone else, all the messages were lies. We had a big fight and I hurt her…I’m sorry.”
Yolanda Marodi is being sought by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, a spokesman for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said.
