Slain Wife Had Been Threatened Before

Close friends of Jennifer Espiritu say their worst fears were realized when they heard of the shooting yesterday morning that killed her, her husband, Adonis Espiritu, and a friend, Kevin Matchett.

"I told her, `Do whatever you can to get away from him (her husband),' because I was afraid he might be capable of something like this," said Bobby Gilham, whose wife, JoJo, was Jennifer Espiritu's best friend.

"I felt since he had said he was going to kill her it could happen."

Jennifer Espiritu and Matchett, both 26, apparently were shot by Adonis Espiritu with a semiautomatic rifle as they sat in the front seats of a car in the parking lot of the CitiGate apartment complex at 11355 Third Ave. N.E.

Adonis Espiritu, also 26, then apparently shot himself.

The Espiritus had lived at the apartment complex for about a year and a half. Matchett is from Tacoma.

Gilham, who met Jennifer Espiritu in the Philippines in 1980, said the Espiritus were married in Kirkland in October 1992 and had marital problems most of this year.

Gilham said he feared Adonis Espiritu was capable of violence, partly because he had seen the young man's semiautomatic weapon in the couple's apartment.

"It was at their first-anniversary party, and there were people all around, and he had it sitting there right on top of the TV. He said he needed it because he had been a security guard, but I wasn't too sure. . . ."

Within the past week, Jennifer Espiritu had contacted police twice over concerns about her safety. She called police Saturday morning after she received a threatening phone call from her husband.

Adonis Espiritu had told his wife he was going "to kill her" and "get her" because she went out with a friend, according to one report.

On Monday, Jennifer Espiritu again called police to report that her husband had withdrawn $500 from the couple's bank account. He said he would give the money back only if Jennifer had sex with him that night, the report said.

She said she did not want her husband charged in the incident. Police officers gave her a domestic-violence information sheet and advised her to obtain a "no-contact order."

Seattle police spokeswoman Vinette Tichi said there was little officers could have done because neither incident was immediately threatening. "It shows how difficult these domestic-violence cases are," Tichi said.

Tichi said the case was referred to the city attorney.

The two reports detailing the domestic-violence complaints were faxed to the city attorney's office at 2 p.m. yesterday.

The deaths will likely add impetus to a proposed change in the way the city handles certain domestic-violence cases, said Lori Mayfield, assistant to City Attorney Mark Sidran. Mayfield said that under normal circumstances, domestic-violence cases that do not involve arrests take up to a week to get to the city attorney's office and then a couple of more days to be assigned to a "victim advocate."

Sidran and Police Chief Norm Stamper have been discussing a plan to transfer some of the victim-advocate positions to the Police Department. "Our goal is to shorten the amount of time it takes to get a victim linked up with an advocate," Mayfield said.

The Gilhams said Jennifer Espiritu told them about the threats, and the locks on her apartment had been changed.

"She said she couldn't leave the apartment because she'd lose her deposit, but that would have been better than losing her life," Gilham said.

Adonis Espiritu was married previously and has one young son. Court records show that marriage ended in divorce in August 1992. Two months later, Adonis and Jennifer were married. Court records show they filed for divorce last spring, but the petition was later withdrawn after the couple indicated they were attempting reconciliation.

JoJo Gilham, who met Jennifer in high school, described her friend as a shy person who seldom talked about her problems but sometimes worked two jobs because of the couple's financial difficulties.

JoJo Gilham last saw Jennifer Espiritu on Monday night, when the two went to a mutual friend to see about a possible loan for Jennifer. The Espiritus, she said, had run up $4,000 in debt, largely through credit-card purchases. Adonis Espiritu was chronically unemployed, she said.