Erma Malassab, a Vallejo resident with family ties to the Philippines, was found dead in her Oakwood Avenue apartment on December 10, 2025. A maintenance worker discovered her unresponsive and emergency responders pronounced her dead at the scene from a gunshot wound. The previous evening a coworker had reported her missing after she failed to show up for work and said she had recently argued with her husband, who allegedly threatened to kill her; officers checked her apartment on December 9 and found no answer or obvious signs of disturbance.

Investigators identified 45-year-old husband Zheer Queja Malassab as the primary suspect. Automated license plate readers tracked the couple’s vehicle to Pennsylvania, where state police located it and attempted a traffic stop. After a pursuit ended when snowy roads forced the driver to stop, Zheer was taken into custody. Police reported he confessed to shooting his wife and was being held in Pennsylvania pending extradition to California.

If anyone knew Erma or has information about her last hours or the travel from California to Pennsylvania, please share what you know.