[Vision2020] Statesman: Boise homicide linked to Moscow murder

[Mark Solomon]

UPDATED 10:56 p.m. -- Suspect in U of I murder connected to East Boise slaying
Patrick Orr and Cynthia Sewell - Idaho Statesman
Edition Date: 04/03/07

A body discovered in a pond along the Boise River 
Tuesday morning helped lead police to a man in 
Nevada suspected in that death and the murder of 
a University of Idaho student in Moscow.

Police used cell-phone records and technology to 
track John Joseph Delling, 21, to Sparks, Nev., 
where he was arrested for possessing a stolen 
vehicle and charged with the murder of David 
Robert Boss, 21. Boss, a student from Boise, was 
found dead in Moscow Saturday of two gunshot 
wounds to his head.

Police also say Delling is connected to the death 
of Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation 
employee Bradley Morse, 25, whose body was found 
in a pond near the parks office on Warm Springs 
Boulevard Tuesday.

The Ada County coroner said late Tuesday that 
Morse died of two gunshot wounds to the head.

Moscow police located Delling in Nevada using 
cell phone technology, and alerted Sparks police. 
Police there found a Nissan sedan reported stolen 
out of Boise, and arrested Delling without 
incident nearby, Moscow Assistant Chief David 
Duke said Tuesday night.

Authorities would not say Tuesday if the dark, 
Nissan four-door sedan belonged to Morse or to 
someone else.

Delling and Boss both attended high school in Boise and University of Idaho.

Delling left college in 2005, police said 
Tuesday. They were not roommates but were 
acquainted, Duke said. Delling's last known 
address is Antelope, Calif.

Morse, a seasonal employee with the state parks 
department, was to graduate next month from Boise 
State University.

A state parks employee noticed blood on a 
sidewalk near the pond about 10 a.m. Tuesday and 
then spotted a body lying face down in the water, 
which is on parks department land near the Idaho 
Shakespeare Festival. Officials spent most of the 
day Tuesday combing the banks of the pond. No 
weapon was found at the scene, and it wasn't 
until Delling was arrested with the missing Idaho 
car in Nevada that the two murder scenes were 
linked. Moscow police were able to give Sparks 
detectives the location based on the cell-phone 
data.

"We got info that there was a stolen vehicle 
being driven by a subject of interest in a 
homicide in (Moscow) Idaho in our city," said 
Sparks Detective Rocky Triplett. The department 
also got word that Ada County was looking for the 
same car, which was reported missing from Boise, 
in connection with the murder in Boise.

Authorities would not say Tuesday if the dark, 
Nissan four-door sedan belonged to Morse or to 
someone else.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, police found Delling's cell 
phone number and obtained a search warrant for 
his Sprint Nextel phone records, Moscow Assistant 
Chief Duke said. Detectives found evidence that 
Delling made a cell phone call to Boss' cell 
phone at 12:12 a.m. Saturday.

Boss, a history major, was last seen alive about 
8:30 p.m. Friday. He is thought to have died 
between midnight and 12:30 a.m. Saturday, based 
on reports from neighbors who said they heard a 
noise about that time, Duke said Sunday.

Boss' roommate found him on the floor about 1:45 
a.m. and called for help, but medical personnel 
declared Boss dead at the scene.

Boss' death is the second murder in three years 
in quiet Moscow, the home of the University of 
Idaho. In 2004, University of Idaho football 
player Eric McMillan, 19, was fatally shot in his 
off-campus apartment. His killers are serving 
20-year sentences.

Interviews in Moscow helped police identify 
Delling as a person of interest in Boss©– death, 
Duke said.

"A motive hasn©–t been determined at this point," Duke said.

According to Ada County, Delling has a criminal 
record that included a petty theft charge that 
was dismissed in 2004. In 2005, he was sentenced 
to anger-management classes after being charged 
with felony aggravated assault that was later 
reduced to misdemeanor battery. In February 2006, 
Delling was convicted of misdemeanor stalking. He 
had at least nine traffic tickets and his drivers 
license was suspended in February.

Morse's death is the third murder reported in 
Boise in 2007. It comes just weeks after a 
Meridian bailbondsman was killed in the desert 
south of Boise by a man who was later shot and 
killed in a confrontation with Nampa police.
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