A Southern California woman who once served time for fatally stabbing a husband has admitted to killing her second spouse. Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi, 54, pleaded guilty Tuesday in San Diego Superior Court to second-degree murder in the February 2025 killing of Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca “Becky” Marodi, KTLA reports. The 49-year-old was found by her mother in the home they shared, suffering multiple stab wounds; she died at the scene. Rebecca Marodi, who worked for Cal Fire for around 30 years, helped fight the Eaton Fire weeks before she was murdered.

Investigators say home security video captured the attack and recorded Rebecca Marodi yelling, “Yolanda! Please! I don’t want to die!” and Yolanda Marodi replying, “You should have thought of that before.” Authorities say she fled to Mexico around 75 minutes after the killing and was arrested there a month later. She faces up to 36 years to life at her Sept. 2 sentencing. Rebecca Marodi’s mother told investigators that her daughter had told Yolanda Marodi a week earlier that she was ending the marriage, the Los Angeles Times reports. The couple had been married for around two years.

Court records show that Yolanda Marodi, then known as Yolanda Olejniczak, was sentenced to 11 years in 2004 for killing her husband, Jim Olejniczak, in Riverside County. She was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and was incarcerated until 2013. Rebecca Marodi’s friends say Yolanda Marodi showed “controlling, isolating behavior” before the murder, the Times reports. They say their friend didn’t tell them about her wife’s criminal history.