Anne Fielder and her husband Ian, both aged in their 60s, were returning home from dinner at a friend's house.
An oncoming ute - a vehicle police say was reported stolen and being driven by a man on bail for methamphetamine charges - crossed the centre line and crashed into the Fielders' vehicle. The crash, on State Highway 25 near the Kopu Bridge in Coromandel, killed the couple and the 20-year-old other driver.
The young man has his father with him in the vehicle, and he is in hospital following the crash.
The reportedly stolen ute was believed to have been involved in an Auckland purchase that had gone wrong.
The Fielders' neighbour said the couple had been on their way home from a friend's place, where they had dinner every Thursday, when the crash happened last night.
"It was a little ritual they had," he said.
"I still can't believe it. It's just wrong."
The neighbour said he was heartbroken at the deaths of the couple, who he described as "fun-loving, friendly" people.
He had heard the crash shortly after finishing work in Kopu last night.
He was washing his truck in a yard in Kopu when he heard the bang, from the crash.
"I thought that someone had dropped something from the freight yard. Then I heard sirens.
"Then I came over the bridge to come home and bang, there it all was."
He didn't find out his neighbours were involved until this morning.
Speaking to the Herald about hearing the news, he had to fight back tears.
"I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it.
"It's just wrong."
The neighbour said they had lived in the area for "30 years or so".
They had raised their kids there. Their grandchildren lived in the area too, and had been friends with the neighbours' children.
"If the grandkids had a party we would go over, have a couple of drinks and that kind of thing," he said.
Anne had been a meat inspector and Ian was a forklift driver.
Outside of work, he said they were "neat" people who enjoyed a laugh as well as being outdoors.
"They loved their golf, loved fishing."
Anne Fielder, in particular, was very down to earth.
"A spade is a spade with Anne, that's just how she was."
