Just in: Another madman! He ordered a body bag on Amazon to move his deceased father’s body to the garage after leaving the corpse in the bedroom for several days.
A Texas man is accused of fatally beating his father and leaving his body inside their El Paso home for days before ordering a body bag online and moving the remains to the garage, where a foul odor eventually prompted a neighbor to call 911 and led to a SWAT response, according to arrest affidavits.
John Michael De Coste, 29, is charged with murder in connection with the death of his father, identified in court documents as David Edward De Coste.
A second person, Idalia Nunez De La Torre, 28, is accused of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence involving a human corpse.
The SWAT incident happened on Tuesday evening on the 6800 block of Villa Hermosa.
According to the affidavits, El Paso police were dispatched to the home after a neighbor called 911 and reported that the garage door had been open for several days and that a strong foul odor was coming from the property.
When officers arrived, they also smelled the odor and saw that the garage door was slightly open.
During a safety sweep, officers found a body wrapped in plastic in the garage, the affidavits state.
Police continued searching the home but initially could not locate anyone else. After officers heard a voice inside, the El Paso Police Department SWAT team was called to the scene.
De La Torre eventually came out of the home, and De Coste later surrendered and was taken into custody, according to investigators.
Both De Coste and De La Torre gave recorded statements to investigators.
De La Torre told investigators she began living with De Coste and the victim on Aug. 2.
She said she and the victim had kissed on several occasions while De Coste was away from the home.
According to her account, De Coste later walked into a bedroom and saw her and the victim kissing.
According to the document, an argument between the two men followed and escalated into a physical confrontation. De La Torre told police she did not witness the physical altercation and did not participate in assaulting the victim.
De Coste gave investigators his own account of the confrontation, which he said occurred sometime between Aug. 4 and Aug. 7.
According to the murder affidavit, De Coste said he had been showering when he walked into his bedroom and saw the victim on top of De La Torre, kissing her.
De Coste told investigators the victim was highly intoxicated and said the victim went toward the bedroom to retrieve a gun after being confronted, the document stated.
De Coste allegedly told investigators he followed the victim and saw him attempting to retrieve a handgun, the affidavit stated.
The document states De Coste said he pushed the victim, causing him to fall and strike his head, then slapped and kicked him several times while he was on the floor.
De Coste said the victim eventually stopped fighting, grabbed a pillow and lay down on the floor.
He told investigators he periodically checked on the man during the night and heard him snoring. The following morning, De Coste told investigators he found the victim lifeless.
According to the affidavit, De Coste told police he was afraid to contact emergency services or law enforcement because he had an active warrant.
Investigators allege the victim remained inside De Coste’s bedroom for approximately three to four days after his death.
De Coste told investigators that after the victim had been dead for several days, he ordered a body bag from Amazon, according to the affidavit.
He allegedly asked De La Torre to help place the body in the bag and move it into the garage, the document stated.
De La Torre similarly told investigators that De Coste ordered the body bag and that the two placed the victim’s body inside it before moving it to the garage.
She also admitted using cleaning products on the area where the body had previously been located, according to her affidavit.
The document states De Coste allegedly told investigators that he became angry and enraged after seeing the victim kissing De La Torre and could not remember exactly how he assaulted him.
He further said that the thought of burying the victim’s body in the desert crossed his mind, according to the affidavit.
An autopsy found blunt-force trauma injuries and a right subdural skull fracture, according to the murder affidavit. The preliminary autopsy findings listed the manner of death as homicide.
The murder affidavit alleges De Coste caused the victim’s death by pushing and assaulting him with his hands and feet.
De Coste is charged with murder, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence with a human corpse, and continuous violence against the family.
De La Torre is charged with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence- a human corpse.
According to LinkedIn, the victim, David Edward De Coste, was a retired El Paso police detective.
De Coste has an extensive criminal history. He was previously charged with resisting arrest, driving while intoxicated, and possession of drug paraphernalia, but all those charges were dismissed. He also has a charge of assault causing bodily injury in family violence.
