Man sought in wife’s death — relatives cite years of abuse

A 34-year-old woman was trying to leave a violent marriage when she was slain in San Francisco’s Mission Terrace neighborhood, family members said Friday.

Hours after the grieving relatives of Vanessa Palma spoke, investigators confirmed they were searching for her estranged husband, Robert Riley, 43, also known as Chui Chekele Riley.

Officials said he may be driving a white Chrysler 300, with license plate 7UAB831, and should be considered armed and dangerous. They did not discuss a motive in the case.

Palma was fatally shot just after 11 a.m. Thursday on the 4500 block of Mission Street. She was one of five shooting victims in three incidents over 24 hours Thursday and Friday in San Francisco.

Palma, a South San Francisco resident, “was a very kind person, so caring and so close with her family,” said her aunt, Maria Napuri.

Napuri, the sister of Palma’s mother, said the three recently traveled to Italy, in part to help Palma heal from what she had described as a violent relationship in which her husband hit her for years.

Napuri said her niece also was subjected to his threats and other abusive behavior that family members witnessed.

“He told her, ‘If you ever leave me, I’ll kill you,’ ” Napuri said.

Four hours after Palma was killed, three men were shot in the Mission District near Cesar Chavez Street and Treat Avenue, police said. One died at the hospital. The medical examiner’s office identified him as Jaime Poole, 21, of San Francisco.

Then, early Friday morning, a shooting in San Francisco’s Polk Gulch left one man wounded and seeking help at a Polk Street doughnut shop. Robert Rueca, a police spokesman, said investigators believe the shooting occurred a couple of blocks away, on the 1500 block of California Street.

The victim was expected to survive, Rueca said. The three shootings are not considered to be linked.

Palma’s family had been impatient for the Police Department to publicly identify Riley as a suspect.

“There were so many witnesses” to prior violence, Napuri said. “People need to know he’s out there.”

Napuri said Palma worked at a family member’s souvenir shop in San Francisco, and had recently moved out of the apartment she shared with her husband. But “he wouldn’t let go” and continued to contact her, Napuri said.

A cousin, J.C. Carlo, described Palma as a “happy soul who always had a smile.”

“We just want to find justice for her,” he said.