DES MOINES - A man who died after driving his sport utility vehicle into the Mississippi River at LeClaire was wanted for a domestic assault in Iowa City.

Iowa City police said they responded to the assault about 9 a.m. Sunday.

"We were investigating a serious domestic assault and trying to locate the subject who was operating that vehicle," Sgt. Denise Brotherton, an Iowa City police spokeswoman, said Monday. "He was our suspect."

Brotherton said the man had told the victim he planned to kill himself, and he sent text messages to others saying he intended to harm himself.

"He had made a threat of suicide and we had tracked his cell phone," she said. "We didn't have specific information that he was going to LeClaire."

A state trooper pulled the man over near the river in LeClaire about 1:15 p.m., but before the trooper could make contact with him, the man drove the red Ford Explorer into the river, said Jessica Lown, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

"Several crews from Scott County responded and assisted with the search," she said. "About three hours later they pulled the vehicle out and found the driver inside."

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lown said an autopsy was performed Monday. Results weren't immediately available.

The man's name wasn't immediately released.

Brotherton said the victim of the assault suffered serious injuries. The victim was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Iowa City before being transferred to University Hospitals, she said.

Brotherton said the victim remained hospitalized on Monday.

She declined to release further details of the assault because the investigation is continuing.