Victim of Alleged SF Hit-and-Run Murder Is Remembered as a Beloved Trans Elder

A woman who was killed in a hit-and-run this week in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood is being mourned as a beloved elder in the city’s transgender community, as prosecutors filed murder charges against the man accused of running her over.

Valentino Amil, 30, is accused of striking Dannielle Spillman, 74, with his black Mercedes sedan after a brief altercation while pulling out of the parking lot of the Tower Car Wash on Mission Street just after 3:20 p.m. Monday. He is charged with murder and a felony hit-and-run.

“We believe that this was an intentional act, an intentional killing,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Thursday in announcing the charges. “I want to send my condolences to the friends and family of the victim in this case, who tragically died for absolutely no reason. We will continue to do everything that we can … to ensure that the killer is held accountable.”

Amil appeared in court for the first time on Thursday before about a dozen supporters, including his wife and 11-month-old baby. He was denied bail and will remain in custody, with arraignment set for April 24.

Video footage shows Amil’s vehicle protruding into the street, blocking the sidewalk as Spillman walks up. Spillman appeared to approach the driver’s side of the car, and according to Jenkins, the two had a brief exchange before she stepped into the street to continue walking around the front of the vehicle.

As Spillman moves around the sedan, Amil appears to pause, then accelerates onto Mission Street, knocking her onto the hood of the car. She slides off the front right side of the vehicle, which continues driving ahead, crushing her under the car’s wheels as it drives off, leaving her in the road. According to court filings, the vehicle appeared to run over her neck and head.

Amil was traveling to Disneyland with his wife and two kids when he encountered Spillman and was left fearing for his life by the exchange, defense attorney Seth Morris said in a statement on Wednesday. Morris described the exchange as aggressive and said Spillman appeared “homeless, intoxicated and belligerent,” suggesting that she had doused the car with a liquid, which Amil feared was gasoline. He said that Amil acted in self-defense when he accelerated into Spillman.

But Jenkin said that based on video footage and witness statements, the district attorney’s office does not believe the “victim posed any significant threat that would have warranted the lethal use of self-defense.”

“That amount of violence doesn’t add up,” said Derrick Guerra, a friend and caregiver to Spillman. “The portrayal of a homeless person trying to break into [Amil’s] car, it doesn’t look like that was happening. [Spillman] wasn’t unhoused, and she doesn’t need to rob anybody. She would never do that.”

Guerra said Spillman was a skilled guitarist, adding that he believes she might have been heading to or from Real Guitars in the Mission, a guitar shop where she volunteered, at the time of the hit-and-run. On Wednesday, Guerra said he and some other friends set up a memorial for Spillman around a tree outside of Real Guitars.

“They considered her to be family,” Guerra told KQED on Thursday. “She would always insist on throwing parties for them, on their birthdays or for holidays. She would go out of her way. She was a very kind, giving person.”

He said local transgender rights organizations are working on a larger vigil for Spillman early next week.

KQED’s Juan Carlos Lara contributed to this report.