Cal Fire captain faces five felony counts, including murder, in deaths of girlfriend and her son
By Daniel Macht, Cecil Hannibal
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EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. (KCRA) — Cal Fire captain is facing five felony counts in connection with the shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her young son, according to a criminal complaint filed in El Dorado County Superior Court on Monday.
Those charges against Darin McFarlin, 47, include two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of 29-year-old Marissa N. Divodi-Lessa, of Shingle Springs, and her son Josiah Divodi-Lessa. The child was a second-grade student at Blue Oak Elementary School.
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office has said that deputies responded to a report of a shooting at McFarlin’s home Thursday around 9 p.m. Marissa Divodi-Lessa was pronounced dead at the scene, while Josiah Divodi-Lessa died at the hospital. Another child was found safe in the home.
McFarlin was detained in Mono County around midnight.
The murder charges against him include special circumstances for multiple murders. They also allege the mother and her son were witnesses to a crime and killed for that reason.
The court documents say the penalty for a conviction on those murder charges with the special circumstances would be death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to the complaint, McFarlin was also charged with the attempted murder of the second child and for injuring his girlfriend before her death.
The complaint alleges that McFarlin “inflicted corporal injury” on his girlfriend in the bedroom “before she left the room and used her cellphone, and before he obtained the gun and went out to the dining room to kill her.”
The complaint also lists a felony child abuse charge in connection with the second child victim.
McFarlin made an initial court appearance on Monday and pleaded not guilty on all counts.
The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office said the next key court hearings will include a status update on Sept. 29 and a preliminary hearing on Oct. 16.
A Cal Fire representative confirmed to KCRA 3 that McFarlin is a fire captain in the Amador El Dorado unit.
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