Cal Fire captain gets life in prison for killing girlfriend, her 7-year-old son
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- Darin Blake McFarlin was sentenced for killing his girlfriend and her son in Cameron Park.
- McFarlin was a Cal Fire Captain when he shot Marissa Herzog and Josiah Divodi-Lessa.
- Herzog and her 7-year-old son were killed in a domestic violence incident at their home.
Joy Cavaghan exchanged text messages with her daughter, Marissa Herzog, one afternoon last summer. She didn’t know those text messages would be the last time she ever spoke to her daughter.
It was a day off work for Herzog and her boyfriend, Cal Fire Capt. Darin Blake McFarlin. Herzog, her two small children and McFarlin were relaxing at their Cameron Park home watching the 2008 Christian faith-based movie called “Fireproof,” a story about a firefighter struggling in his marriage.
Cavaghan, speaking Monday afternoon in a packed Placerville courtroom, said her daughter told her in text messages that McFarlin didn’t like the movie and had walked out of the living room. Cavaghan didn’t think much of it at the time, assuming it was just a disagreement over a movie her daughter thought he would enjoy.
“I had no idea her life was in danger, nor the lives of my babies,” Cavaghan told a judge on Monday.
Later that night, McFarlin and Herzog had a loud argument in their bedroom. In a rage, McFarlin tried to strangle Herzog before grabbing a loaded gun and following her into the family room. He shot her in the head, killing Herzog, before fatally shooting her 7-year-old son, Josiah “JoJo” Divodi-Lessa, in the chest.
On Monday, El Dorado Superior Court Judge Mark Ralphs sentenced McFarlin to two consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing Herzog and her son in the domestic violence attack that led to the deadly domestic violence attack.
Pleaded guilty to murder
McFarlin, the former Cal Fire captain, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder for the Aug. 21 shooting, along with attempted murder for threatening to shoot Herzog’s then 9-year-old daughter, Serafina, who escaped the Cameron Park home and sought help. The victims’ family said the girl, who witnessed the killings of her mother and brother, suffered severe emotional trauma.
McFarlin held the rank of captain in the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, working in the agency’s Amador-El Dorado unit. He had worked for Cal Fire since 2000 and was fired following his arrest.
El Dorado County Chief Assistant District Attorney Lisette Suder called McFarlin a “narcissist” who loved the image of being a firefighter and cared more about his self-interest than the lives of a mother and her children.
Explaining the facts of the murder case to the judge, prosecutor said McFarlin could not stand that a firefighter was portrayed negatively in the “Fireproof” movie the couple was watching that summer evening.
Argument over ‘Fireproof’ movie
Suder said the argument in the couple’s bedroom stemmed from McFarlin demanding that Herzog acknowledge the firefighter’s wife in the movie was at fault for the troubled marriage, not the firefighter. The prosecutor said McFarlin attacked Herzog, trying to strangle her.
Herzog escaped into the family room, threatening to call police. Suder said Herzog instead called her father to document the violence. McFarlin then grabbed a loaded gun from a safe in the bedroom and followed her.
Herzog was on the phone with her father when she asked McFarlin if he was going to shoot her. Suder said McFarlin told her yes. That’s when the call ended.
The prosecutor said McFarlin struck Herzog in the head with the weapon, and she cried out for her children, who came into the family room scared and holding hands. McFarlin then fired, striking Herzog in the head in front of them.
Suder said McFarlin then shot the boy in the chest, fatally wounding Josiah, with his sister nearby. The girl begged McFarlin not to shoot her as he pointed the gun at her.
McFarlin eventually told the girl to leave the house through a doggy door, Suder said. She hid outside, fearing he would chase her. McFarlin grabbed belongings and left the home.
About 9 p.m. on Aug. 21, El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies were called to a reported shooting at a home in the 3000 block of Oakwood Road in Cameron Park. Deputies found Herzog dead from gunshot wounds and Josiah wounded; he later died at a hospital.
McFarlin fled El Dorado County after the shooting. Deputies in Mono County arrested him early Aug. 22 on Highway 395 near Bridgeport — nearly a four-hour drive away — and took him into custody without incident.
Grieving family speaks in court
In court Monday, McFarlin spoke briefly from the jury box next to his court-appointed attorney, Timothy Pappas. He sat quietly through the two-hour hearing as family members described the anguish caused by the killings, especially for the girl who witnessed them.
“I’m truly very sorry for what I did ... especially to Serafina,” McFarlin said in court. “And I will be held accountable for this.”
In just one emotional outburst throughout the hearing, one family member called McFarlin a “coward” moments after the convicted murderer apologized in court.
A few dozen family members and friends packed the courtroom and were given an opportunity to deliver victim impact statements before sentencing. That included a letter written by Serafina, who was in school Monday. Her family said it was better that she not attend.
“Ever since Darin killed my mother and brother JoJo, I have been really sad and in shock,” Serafina wrote in her letter read out loud in court. “I miss them every single day.”
Other family members, including Cavaghan, spoke about the deaths. She said McFarlin “hid behind his uniform and profession” while isolating her daughter from others.
“(McFarlin) shot an innocent child in the chest and almost shot another,” Cavaghan told the judge. “They didn’t stand a chance... He deserves nothing else but death.”
Richard Herzog, Marissa Herzog’s father, struggled to hold back emotion while speaking. He said he still remembers hearing his daughter’s frightened voice on the phone as she said McFarlin had tried to strangle her — and that he had a gun.
“I’ll never forget it,” Richard Herzog told the judge. “We don’t understand none of this. Nobody has the right to take their lives away.”
