Police affidavits describe overlapping but distinct accounts from a son accused of murder and a woman charged over what allegedly happened afterward.
EL PASO, Texas — Two recorded interviews became central to an El Paso homicide investigation after police found 59-year-old David Edward De Coste dead in a garage: one from the son accused of killing him, and another from the woman authorities say later helped move and clean up around his body.
John Michael De Coste, 29, and Idalia Nunez De La Torre, 28, were taken into custody Aug. 18 after a police response and SWAT operation at the De Coste home on Villa Hermosa Drive. Their statements to detectives did not give investigators identical views of what happened inside the house. Instead, the accounts described different parts of a sequence that police say began with a personal confrontation, continued with David De Coste’s death and ended days later when a neighbor noticed an open garage and foul odor.
De La Torre’s account established how recently she had entered the household and described the relationship dispute that preceded the violence. She told investigators she began living with John De Coste and his father on Aug. 2. During the following days, she said, she and David De Coste kissed several times when John was not at the house. At some point, according to the affidavits, John De Coste saw his father and De La Torre kissing. She told detectives an argument followed and developed into a physical confrontation.
But De La Torre said she did not see the actual fight and did not participate in harming David De Coste. That distinction is important to the charges authorities ultimately filed. Police accused John De Coste of murder, while De La Torre was charged with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence involving a human corpse. The public reports reviewed do not show that authorities accused her of taking part in the fatal beating itself. Prosecutors instead focused on what they allege she did after David De Coste was dead.
John De Coste’s statement supplied detectives with a more detailed version of the physical confrontation. He placed the incident sometime from Aug. 4 through Aug. 7 but reportedly could not give investigators the exact day. He said he had been showering before entering a bedroom and finding his father with De La Torre. According to police records, he described his father as heavily intoxicated and said the older man moved toward another bedroom and attempted to get a gun after the confrontation began.
The younger De Coste said he stopped his father by pushing him, causing him to fall and strike his head. He also acknowledged slapping and kicking him repeatedly while the older man was on the floor, according to the affidavits. John De Coste told investigators that his father fought back before eventually ceasing to resist. His account that David De Coste sought a gun is an allegation within his police statement; the reports reviewed do not present it as an independently established court finding.
John De Coste then described a period in which he apparently did not initially believe his father had died. He said David De Coste took a pillow and lay on the floor. During the night, the son said, he checked on him and believed he heard him snoring. By the next morning, however, he determined that his father was no longer alive. Investigators later obtained an autopsy finding that attributed the death to blunt-force trauma and a skull fracture. Police allege the fatal injuries resulted from the assault John De Coste described.
What happened after the death creates the point at which the defendants’ statements again overlap. John De Coste allegedly told investigators that he did not report his father’s death because he feared being arrested on an outstanding warrant. Authorities believe the body remained inside a bedroom for three or four days. The affidavits then describe an online purchase: investigators say John De Coste ordered a body bag through Amazon before asking De La Torre to help him move the body.
Both defendants allegedly told investigators about putting David De Coste’s body into the bag and taking it into the garage. De La Torre also said she used cleaning products on locations where the body had been, according to police. At an Aug. 25 hearing concerning her bond, prosecutors again alleged that she helped clean the scene and place the body into the bag. Those assertions remain part of the state’s pending case against her and should not be read as a finding that she committed the offense.
The alleged effort to conceal the death did not prevent conditions at the home from drawing attention. By Aug. 18, a neighbor had noticed that the garage door had been open or partly open for days. The neighbor also reported a strong odor and called 911. Police were dispatched shortly after 3 p.m. to what was initially classified as an unknown problem at the residence in the 6800 block of Villa Hermosa Drive.
Officers said they noticed the odor after reaching the property. During a safety sweep, they found a body wrapped in plastic in the garage. At that stage, however, the officers did not immediately account for everyone who might be inside. Police said they detected signs of additional occupants and later heard a voice. The department secured the area and requested assistance from its SWAT team and Crisis Management Team as the residential call became a prolonged law-enforcement operation.
De La Torre eventually exited the house. John De Coste came outside later and was taken into custody as well. Their interviews then allowed detectives to work backward from the body in the garage to the alleged confrontation days earlier. Forensic findings gave investigators another piece of the timeline. Authorities said the autopsy showed injuries consistent with blunt-force trauma, including a skull fracture, and police treated David De Coste’s death as a homicide.
Investigators also learned that the victim had once worked within the same law-enforcement community. David De Coste was a retired El Paso police detective, according to local reporting and his obituary. The obituary said he had served in the U.S. Army before his police career. Nothing in the available records indicates that his prior employment was connected to the alleged confrontation, but it added a notable dimension to an investigation handled by his former department.
The charges against John De Coste extend beyond the murder accusation. Police reports also identified tampering with or fabricating evidence and continuous violence against family among the allegations against him. He was booked without bond after his arrest. De La Torre was initially held on a reported $150,000 bond on the evidence-tampering charge. The different charges reflect the different conduct authorities attribute to each defendant.
The affidavits offer investigators’ reconstruction, not a final judicial determination. Several portions of the sequence come from John De Coste himself, including his account of the firearm, the physical struggle and his observations of his father during the night. De La Torre’s version provides another perspective but leaves the fight unwitnessed from her standpoint. Those statements, together with physical and forensic evidence, would be subject to scrutiny as the prosecutions proceed.
No reliable report reviewed through Sept. 29 showed that either case had reached a final resolution. John De Coste therefore remains accused of murder rather than convicted, and De La Torre remains accused of evidence tampering. What is publicly established is narrower: police found David De Coste dead, an autopsy attributed his death to blunt-force injuries, and investigators used the two defendants’ accounts to construct the criminal cases now before the court system.
Author note: Last updated September 29, 2026.