Police ID driver, his wife who was killed when Toyota plowed into Bay Park home

A woman who was killed Monday when her husband crashed a truck into her Bay Park home, sparking a small fire, was identified Tuesday by San Diego police, as was her spouse.

Officials also said Monday that it was Monica Coates, 61, who called 911 to report that her husband, 62-year-old Stephen Coates, was the driver involved in the crash. Monica had a temporary restraining order against her husband, police said.

San Diego Police officer Paige Foster said a call came in at 7:38 a.m. Monday after the white Toyota Tacoma hit the house before coming to rest inside the home at 4312 Dakota Drive at Fontana Avenue.

“Numerous neighbors reported a traffic accident, a vehicle driving into a house,” Foster said. “When officers got there, they found a woman who was deceased inside the home.”

Police said Monday that a neighbor heard screams inside the house after the wreck.

“I saw a couple other people up there throwing rocks at the windows. Some of the neighbors who were trying to get in there to stop [the driver],” neighbor Glen DeBarge told NBC 7 on Monday.

When officers arrived eight minutes after 911 got the call, they saw smoke from a small fire and entered the building, where they found Monica, who had been burned, dead in the master bath. That’s also where investigators found Stephen, who had also been burned.

Stephen was initially arrested on suspicion of intentionally crashing into the home, and the crash was being investigated as a homicide. He was taken to a hospital for treatment after the incident, police said. Tuesday, however, police said he had been arrested and would be charged with murdering his wife and that he started the fire in the home.

Neighbors said Stephen had recently moved out after suffering physical and mental health issues. They also told police the couple has two college-aged sons who recently celebrated Christmas, visiting their mother at the home.

One neighbor, Nancy Allan, said that the Coates, who lived next door, had been troubled in recent weeks and it appeared the husband had moved out.

“I kept looking and, he hadn’t been coming home,” Allan said. “So I got kind of concerned and thinking, ‘Uh-oh, what happened?'”

A few days ago, Allan said, she saw Stephen speeding through the neighborhood.

“Didn’t stop, didn’t wave, and it’s just unlike him, so I thought, ‘Something’s wrong, something’s up,’ ” Allen said.

Another neighbor, Bang Duong, said he spoke with Monica before Christmas and that she had mentioned her husband’s mental state.

“She didn’t know what was happening with him,” Duong said. “So we’re, you know, we were just hoping, praying that, you know, it’d get all better.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked being urged to call SDPD at (619) 531-2293. Tips can also be called in anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.