SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Friends of Cal Fire Captain Rebecca Marodi are expressing relief after the arrest of Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi Saturday in Mexicali.
“It was the sigh of relief because we were like it’s been a month why is it taking so long,” said Marodi’s friend, Fran George.
George and Marodi became friends in 2011 and were part of a motorcycle group called Women in the Wind.
“She was taken and that part is not sitting well with any one of us, because she had so much life. She was a firefighter for 30 years out there risking her life for people and being a real hero,” said George.
George says she never met Olejniczak, who had been married to Marodi for two years, but says she had a reputation for being controlling.
“That was the strange thing, Yolanda isolated Becky from everybody, from her riding group, even her mom,” she said.
George says she had no idea Olejniczak pleaded guilty in the early 2000s to voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of her then estranged husband in San Bernardino County.
“That caught everybody by surprise. I was just stunned and shocked that this woman could even get her hooks into Becky,” said George. “When Becky loves she loves hard and I think she (Yolanda) convinced Becky she loved her.”
George says as a riding group they often rode to the mountains, beaches and even to Las Vegas.
“We just hit it off. We love riding, that’s our heart and soul,” she said.
George says she plans to follow this case and the trial every step of the way.
“Becky meant so much to so many, and I can’t just leave it. I don’t want to sit at home and watch it on TV, I need to be there,” she said. “I just want to know that she’s being held accountable. I want her to know Becky was not alone. She had friends. She had loved ones. When we ride we are all a family. We are all sisters. That was my sister you’re talking about.”
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