It was 10:23 p.m. A Saturday. Two calls rolled into the Elk Grove Police Department, seconds apart: A motorcyclist was down on East Stockton Boulevard.

The night was clear, the pavement was dry, the street lights were on.

Between 10:23 p.m. and 8:03 the following morning, 22 Elk Grove officers would respond to the hellish scene, where 54-year-old Stanley Spaeth had been killed instantly, struck from behind by a black, 1997 Acura TL. Spaeth, a Sunday school teacher and family man working two jobs, had sent his wife a text message at 8:05 p.m.

Kiss me, he wrote with his thumbs the night of April 18. Later, they chatted briefly by phone.

That was the last time Denise Spaeth would hear from her husband of 20 years. But she would soon hear the name "Rebecca Vela," the 33-year-old Sacramento woman arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Vela had been down this legal road before, with three prior convictions for drunken driving.

This was different. Now they were talking murder.

Men still dominate drunken driving statistics, but women are setting an alarming new pace.

Between 2000 and 2008, DUI cases filed against women in Sacramento County rose 60 percent, triple the increase for male offenders, according to an analysis done for The Bee by the District Attorney's Office.

The trend is especially dramatic among young women, including teenagers, statewide. In 1998, girls made up 16.8 percent of the total DUI arrests of those under 18, according to data from the California Office of Traffic Safety. By 2007, that percentage had shot up to 24.3 – the largest increase of any age group, male or female.

While men lead in drunken-driving busts, teenage girls and women of all ages are rapidly gaining entry to this dangerous club. In California, the female DUI arrest rate rose between 1998 and 2007 in every age group – from the under-18 crowd up to the 71-plus, state figures show.

"Males are still the major knuckleheads, but females for some reason seem to be trying to catch them," said Christopher Murphy, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety.

"I think this is a wake-up call to say, 'Wait a minute. It's not just the boys. … It's our daughters, too.'"

As DUI arrests of women climb, so do the body counts.

In the last 12 weeks, at least four people have died in the Sacramento area in crashes involving female drivers suspected of being under the influence.

Nancy E. Richards, a 26-year-old mother of three, lost her own life June 11 when she veered into a construction zone at 70 mph near Marconi and Howe avenues and killed a worker, Arnoldo Plasencia, a 49-year-old father of five. While the toxicology report on Richards has not been completed, the California Highway Patrol reported a strong odor of alcohol in her vehicle.

A 14-year-old boy, Devante Parker, died May 28 after being struck by a van the night before and dragged 100 feet in his Phoenix Park neighborhood. The 28-year-old driver, Latoya Marie Buckner, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. No charges have been filed as the case remains under CHP review.

The Sacramento District Attorney's Office moved quickly in filing charges against 33-year-old Rebecca Vela, suspected of hopping lanes and speeding when she rear-ended Stan Spaeth just north of Elk Grove Regional Park. The 5-foot-2, 130-pound woman was booked into the Main Jail at 3:51 a.m. on April 19 and, two days later, she was facing charges of murder, felony DUI and hit and run.

Law enforcement would not reveal Vela's blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash. Vela did not respond to requests to interview her, relayed through the jail and her attorney.

"I have difficulty having mercy for her at this moment," said Denise Spaeth, 50, who is left alone to raise their two teenage daughters, one of them deaf.

"I don't hate her; I disdain terribly what she did," Spaeth said. "You don't just lose what you have right now. You lose your future."

Call The Bee's Marjie Lundstrom, (916) 321-1055.