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--></style><title>Statesman: Boise homicide linked to Moscow
murder</title></head><body>
<div><tt><font color="#000000">UPDATED 10:56 p.m. -- Suspect in U of I
murder connected to East Boise slaying<br>
Patrick Orr and Cynthia Sewell - Idaho Statesman<br>
Edition Date: 04/03/07<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
The Ada County coroner said late Tuesday that Morse died of two
gunshot wounds to the head.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Authorities would not say Tuesday if the dark, Nissan four-door sedan
belonged to Morse or to someone else.<br>
<br>
Delling and Boss both attended high school in Boise and University of
Idaho.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Morse, a seasonal employee with the state parks department, was to
graduate next month from Boise State University.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
"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.<br>
<br>
Authorities would not say Tuesday if the dark, Nissan four-door sedan
belonged to Morse or to someone else.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Interviews in Moscow helped police identify Delling as a person of
interest in Boss©– death, Duke said.<br>
<br>
"A motive hasn©–t been determined at this point," Duke
said.<br>
<br>
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.</font></tt></div>
<div><tt><font color="#000000"><br></font></tt></div>
<div><tt><font color="#000000">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.</font></tt></div>
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