A Ramona woman who allegedly stabbed her wife — a veteran Cal Fire captain with more than three decades of service — and fled to Mexico was ordered to stand trial for murder following a preliminary hearing at El Cajon Superior Court.

Yolanda Marodi, 54, is charged with the killing of Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca "Becky" Marodi, 49, at the couple's Rancho Villa Road home on the night of Feb. 17, 2025. According to testimony presented at the hearing, the victim sustained 23 stab wounds to her neck, chest and abdomen and died at the scene. Rebecca Marodi had worked for Cal Fire for more than 30 years, serving the state agency through some of Southern California's most devastating wildfire seasons.

Testimony from sheriff's detectives painted a harrowing sequence of events captured by a Ring camera at the home. Footage showed Rebecca Marodi fleeing as her wife chased her, with the victim repeatedly calling out for her mother. According to court documents, the victim was heard pleading, "Yolanda! Please ... I don't want to die." Yolanda Marodi responded, "You should have thought about that before," the documents state. Approximately 10 minutes after the attack, Yolanda Marodi was recorded loading items into a vehicle and driving away. She crossed the U.S.-Mexico border about an hour later; Mexican authorities arrested her roughly a month after that near a hotel in Mexicali. She remains in custody without bail.

An arrest-warrant declaration filed by a San Diego County District Attorney's Office detective indicated Rebecca Marodi had sought to leave the marriage shortly before her death. The day after the killing, according to the court document, Yolanda Marodi sent a text message stating, "Becky came home and told me she was leaving me ... We had a big fight and I hurt her ... I'm sorry."

Yolanda Marodi also carries a prior conviction involving the death of a spouse. She was previously convicted in San Bernardino County for the stabbing death of a former partner and served nearly a decade in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. She is due back in court in April; a jury trial is tentatively scheduled for June.

This story was reported by City News Service and published via Patch (patch.com).