David Edward De Coste’s law-enforcement career became part of the backdrop to a homicide investigation unfolding inside his own West El Paso home.
EL PASO, Texas — David Edward De Coste spent part of his life serving in the Army and later worked as an El Paso police detective. In August, officers from that same police department entered his West El Paso home and found the 59-year-old dead, his body concealed in the garage, according to police and court records.
His son, John Michael De Coste, 29, is charged with murder after investigators alleged that an argument inside the Villa Hermosa Drive residence turned violent days before police found the body. Authorities also accused him of evidence tampering and continuous violence against family. A woman who had recently begun living in the house, 28-year-old Idalia Nunez De La Torre, faces a separate evidence-tampering charge tied to allegations that she helped move and clean up after the body. Neither defendant has been convicted of the allegations arising from David De Coste’s death.
Information published after the killing described David De Coste as a former soldier and retired detective. His obituary said he had served in the U.S. Army before continuing a career in law enforcement with the El Paso Police Department. Those details do not explain the confrontation that police say killed him, but they underscore an unusual aspect of the case: a former investigator became the victim in a homicide inquiry ultimately handled by the agency where he once served.
The criminal case is built in significant part on statements John De Coste and De La Torre gave detectives after their Aug. 18 arrests. Their accounts place the beginning of the dispute inside the shared home during the first week of August. De La Torre told investigators that she had moved into the residence on Aug. 2. She said she and David De Coste kissed on several occasions while his son was away and that John De Coste eventually saw the two of them together.
John De Coste told investigators that he walked into a bedroom after showering and saw his father kissing De La Torre. His statement placed the encounter sometime between Aug. 4 and Aug. 7 rather than on a precise date. He said he became extremely upset and later confronted his father. According to the affidavit account, he said David De Coste was intoxicated and went toward a bedroom where he attempted to retrieve a firearm. The younger man said he pushed his father while trying to stop him.
That push, investigators say, was followed by more violence. John De Coste allegedly acknowledged slapping and kicking his father after the older man fell and struck his head. He told detectives his father fought back before eventually stopping, taking a pillow and remaining on the floor. His statement portrayed the encounter as beginning amid an effort to keep his father from getting a gun. Police, however, ultimately arrested him on a murder charge after the autopsy and investigation. His version of the confrontation has not been adjudicated in court.
The hours after the fight form a separate part of the prosecution’s narrative. John De Coste allegedly said he checked on his father during the night and at one point believed he heard him snoring. He said that by the next morning, David De Coste appeared to be dead. Rather than immediately summon police or emergency medical personnel, investigators say, the younger De Coste left the death unreported. He later told detectives he was afraid to call 911 because he had an active warrant.
The body remained inside the residence as the days passed, according to police. Investigators believe David De Coste was left in a bedroom for roughly three or four days before being transferred elsewhere. Court records say John De Coste ordered a body bag online through Amazon after the death. Once it arrived, police allege, he asked De La Torre for help placing his father’s body in the bag and moving it into the garage.
De La Torre denied taking part in the fatal violence, according to the reports describing her statement. She told detectives she did not see the fight between father and son and had not harmed David De Coste. Investigators nevertheless allege that she participated later by helping move the body. She also allegedly told police she used cleaning products on places in the house that had been in contact with the body. Prosecutors repeated cleanup allegations during an Aug. 25 bond hearing in her case.
The investigation entered public view only after someone outside the home became concerned. On Aug. 18, a neighbor called 911 and reported that the garage door had remained open for several days and that a strong odor was coming from the property. Officers were dispatched to the 6800 block of Villa Hermosa Drive shortly after 3 p.m. Police records initially described the call as an unknown problem, giving responding officers little indication of what they would encounter inside.
The officers noticed the odor and entered as part of a safety sweep. They found David De Coste’s body wrapped in plastic in the garage, according to the arrest affidavits. They then encountered another problem: signs that people might still be somewhere inside the residence even though officers initially could not locate them. After a voice was heard, the property was secured and the department called its SWAT and Crisis Management teams.
The police operation continued for hours. De La Torre eventually exited the residence, and John De Coste later came outside and was taken into custody. Their recorded interviews gave detectives an account reaching back nearly two weeks from the police response. Investigators also relied on an autopsy, which authorities said found blunt-force injuries and a skull fracture. Police classified the death as a homicide and alleged that John De Coste caused the fatal injuries by pushing and striking his father.
John De Coste was booked without bond following his arrest, according to police and contemporaneous local reports. De La Torre’s bond was initially reported as $150,000. Her later court appearance produced additional discussion of the state’s evidence-tampering allegations, but the hearing did not decide whether she committed the charged offense. As in any criminal case, allegations in affidavits and statements by prosecutors remain accusations unless established through a guilty plea or at trial.
The available reports also leave important questions unresolved. John De Coste could not provide detectives with a precise date for the confrontation. The claim that David De Coste tried to obtain a firearm comes from the younger man’s account. De La Torre’s description of events differs in perspective because she said she did not witness the actual fight. Those statements may be examined against forensic evidence and other records as the criminal process continues.
For David De Coste’s family and former colleagues, the court case follows a death that sharply contrasts with the public-service history described in his obituary. The retired detective’s Army and police careers are documented parts of his life; the circumstances of his death are now the subject of unresolved criminal charges. No reliable later report reviewed through Sept. 29 established a final disposition of the cases against his son or De La Torre.
Author note: Last updated September 29, 2026.