Josiah Divodi-Lessa, 7, male, White/Caucasian, was gravely wounded by gunfire on the night of August 21, 2025, after deputies responded to a shooting at a residence on Oakwood Road in Cameron Park, El Dorado County. He was transported to a hospital, where he died. His mother, 29-year-old Marissa N. Divodi-Lessa of nearby Shingle Springs, was found dead at the scene from gunshot wounds.
The killings shook their community; memorials soon identified Josiah by name and age and described him as a second-grader at Blue Oak Elementary School.
Investigators quickly focused on a single suspect: Darin McFarlin, a Cal Fire captain assigned to the Amador-El Dorado unit. He was arrested the night of the shootings and later charged in El Dorado County Superior Court with five felonies, including two counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors alleged special-circumstance factors, asserting the victims were killed to prevent their testimony as witnesses to a crime, and also filed counts related to domestic violence, child abuse, and the attempted murder of another child identified in court records as “J. Doe.” McFarlin pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail as the case proceeds.
Public remembrances for the family soon appeared online, reflecting the grief coursing through Shingle Springs and the surrounding area while the criminal case moved forward. Community reports and memorial pages echoed the official accounts of the date, place, and circumstances of the violence, naming Josiah and his mother and situating the tragedy within the tight-knit foothill communities they called home.
According to publicly available victim and incident listings, Josiah’s death is recorded as a fatal shooting on August 21, 2025, tied to the Cameron Park scene but connected to his family’s Shingle Springs residence. Those records align with law-enforcement statements and court filings that outline the dual homicide and the charges now pending against the accused fire captain.
