The international search is over for the accused killer of Cal Fire Capt. Becky Marodi. As NBC 7’s Allison Ash explains, her loved ones are reacting with relief.
Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi did not put up a fight. She was arrested by Mexican authorities outside a hotel in Mexicali more than a month after a warrant for her arrest was filed in San Diego County.
The charge is murder.
“I’m really grateful that she got caught,” said Ami Mahler Salinas Davis, who told NBC 7 that she and her wife Aisha have been counting the days. “It’s the first thing we thought about every morning when we woke up and the last thing we thought about when we went to bed. It literally has been consuming our lives every moment of every day.”
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They were close friends with Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca "Becky" Marodi and her wife, Yolanda Marodi.
Ami Mahler and “Beck” Marodi — as she called her — shared a love for motorcycles and had personalities that instantly meshed. Yolanda Marodi and Aisha Mahler spent time together when their wives went on rides.
The couple told NBC 7 that right after Becky and Yolanda Marodi got married, the two couples hung out together a lot. But last year, things started to change. The women noticed Yolanda Marodi was trying to control Becky Marodi.
“It was so cool at first,” Ami Mahler. “We were all four together. We were in healthy relationships. We were all talking, and then I look back, and I think, 'Oh, so Beck wasn’t allowed to text me separately so that everything could be seen and monitored.'"
When Ami Mahler tried to talk to Becky Marodi about it, she said Becky Marodi defended Yolanda Marodi, saying she had been through a lot and Becky Marodi didn’t want to treat Yolanda Marodi like her exes.
Aisha Mahler said Yolanda Marodi would privately complain to her about Becky Marodi and made excuses about why Becky Marodi couldn’t do things with her friends.
“Her circle got smaller and smaller and smaller, and all the sudden, we weren’t allowed to hang out,” Ami Mahler said. “We weren’t allowed to talk outside of the group chat.”
Ami and Aisha Mahler said they knew Yolanda Marodi was experiencing health issues and that Becky Marodi was stressed after fighting the massive fires that burned in Los Angeles, so they let it go.
It turns out, the couple said, they didn’t know Yolanda Marodi at all. They had no idea she’d been convicted of killing her ex-husband more than 20 years ago and spent time in prison. They had no idea she was capable of violence.
The arrest warrant filed after Becky Marodi’s murder on Feb. 17 says Ring camera video shows Yolanda Marodi stabbing Becky Marodi and Becky Marodi pleading with her to call 911. Yolanda Marodi is seen leaving the couple’s Ramona house with some of her belongings and the couple’s two dogs.
Her car was seen an hour after the murder crossing the San Ysidro border into Mexico.
The women say they are glad nobody was hurt bringing Yolanda Marodi back to San Diego County to face a murder charge. They have no sympathy for Yolanda Marodi, even though she was once their friend.
“I wouldn’t even say we were friends because I never knew her,” Ami Mahler said. “I was played.”
If convicted, the women hope Yolanda Marodi spends the rest of her life in prison.
“Throw away the key,” Aisha Mahler said.
They praised the work of investigators for bringing Yolanda Marodi back to the U.S. to be held accountable.
Yolanda Marodi will be arraigned on Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court. Ami and Aisha Mahler say they will be there.
