One year ago John Delling made headlines after allegedly murdering a man he described to the Idaho Statesman as being his best friend. His mug shot was seen on televisions and in newspapers all over the northwest — his eyes faced the floor and his face was a mix of shame, sadness and confusion.

Today, Delling is in the custody of Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. He has been found not mentally competent to face trial or capable of making informed decisions about his own mental health treatment. The trial for the murder of Bradley Morse was scheduled to begin on April 4, but proceedings have been suspended until Delling is mentally able to continue.

His journey began in March 2007 and took him more than 6,500 miles across the western United States and allegedly left two men, David Boss and Morse, dead and another seriously wounded.

According to police reports, the last time Carol Delling saw her son was on the morning of March 26, 2007 at their family home in Antelope, Calif. She watched him through the dining room window as he left on his TREK bicycle.

That day he showed no signs of being upset or angry, but on March 25 something had happened. Delling was in the shower when Carol Delling heard him throwing and breaking things. Delling had just broken the plastic holders in the shower, but it scared his mother enough to call the sheriff. When officers arrived, Delling told them and his mother that he was moving — the next day he was gone.

This was not unusual. Delling had left for periods of time before and violent outbursts had not been uncommon. Friends and family described violent run-ins with Delling as far back as his high school years.

Throughout the month of March and early April, Delling traveled more than 6,500 miles across the western U.S., covering California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona and Nevada.

Boise police said Delling’s trip included stops in Alhambra, Antelope, Sacramento and Blythe, Calif.; Baker City, Ore.; Scipio, Utah; Tucson, Ariz.; and Jerome, Boise and Moscow in Idaho.

He traveled on his bike, rented cars, bought a bus and plane ticket and along the way altered his appearance by trimming his hair and sideburns.

Delling’s mother may not have been aware, but only days before she saw him last, Delling had allegedly shot Arizona student and former Boise resident Jacob J. Thompson.
On the evening of March 20, 2007, Delling got Thompson’s attention by tapping on his window and asking him to move his truck. Thompson’s roommate woke him around 1:30 a.m. to tell him about the man asking him to move his vehicle.

Thompson was moving his truck when he asked Delling, who was sitting on his bicycle, if he was the one who had asked him to move. Delling then fired five times at the driver’s side door. Thompson was hit by three of the bullets — one in his arm, one in his shoulder and the third hit his face and lodged in the back of his head. He survived.

Thompson identified Delling from a photo lineup, but at first police did not connect the shooting to the later murders of David Boss and Bradley Morse. Someone who had been following media coverage pointed out the shooting in Arizona along with the man’s age and connection to the Boise area — it was only then that Delling was connected to the Arizona shooting.

Moscow
When John Delling arrived in Moscow in late March his brother, Eric Delling, a student at the University of Idaho, was completely unaware of his presence. Cell phone records indicate that Delling had attempted to contact his brother three times starting on March 28. The last time he and his brother actually spoke was earlier that month and Eric Delling told police he could not remember what they spoke about.

Delling made five phone calls to local numbers while in Moscow. The last call was to David Boss at 12:12 a.m. on the morning of March 31. The call lasted 15 minutes and 49 seconds — it was the last call that Boss would receive before his death.

Boss’ roommate, Patrick Sullivan, described Boss’ last day to police as a normal day. The two went through their normal morning routine: Boss was fixing breakfast while Sullivan took a shower, he then grabbed something to eat and engaged in small talk with Boss. Boss went into the bathroom as Sullivan left for class. When he returned home, Boss was cooking dinner wearing casual clothing. After cooking his dinner, Boss sat down in the living room to watch a DVD. Boss said most of his friends were out of town at a concert in Seattle and he did not have plans for the night. Sullivan was going out to meet some friends, but did not invite him along.

When Sullivan returned home that night he found Boss on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. He checked his vital signs, realized he was not breathing and called the police.

Police responded to a call about a breathing problem after 1 a.m. on March 31, 2007. Sullivan was outside of the apartment, and police reports say he pointed to the open front door of the apartment and said, “In there.”

Boss was laying on his back dressed in pajama bottoms and a black T-shirt. His head was turned so his left cheek was almost hitting the floor, his eyes were swollen and discolored and a pool of blood surrounded his head.

Autopsy reports say Boss was shot twice in the head at close range with a .38 caliber handgun. The first shot was fired 6-8 inches from his head and the second was fired at less than 1 inch away.

Delling and Boss were childhood friends. They both lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same schools. Boss’ parents describe Delling as being just another neighborhood kid growing up. The two had grown apart as many childhood friends do, but Boss remained loyal to Delling. Delling briefly attended UI, but Boss’ stepmother, Debbie Boss, said the two had only really seen each other once or twice while they were attending school together. Though they hadn’t seen much of each other, Boss’ father suggested that his son go to a counselor to get help for Delling.
Boss had never had the same violent run-ins with Delling that many others had described. Though when the two got older, their interests differed and Delling became increasingly strange, but Rick Boss said his son never turned his back on Delling.

The last time Boss saw Delling before the night of his murder was just a few months earlier over his Winter Break. Delling had just shown up at their door and told the Boss family that he was on a driving trip. Boss and Delling then had a very short conversation; it was so short that Delling never even sat down.
Not everyone had treated Delling as kindly as Boss had over the years. When Delling was in high school he moved to another neighborhood where Eric and Carol Delling described incidents of bullying. Delling had been beat up, tormented and even urinated on by peers.
Carol Delling told police that her family moved to Antelope, Calif. because she felt that her family was in danger. Before the murders he told his mother that he thought Boise was out to get him again.

Afraid for his life
After Boss’ murder Moscow police contacted Eric Delling. When police told him that something had happened to Boss, he realized that his brother had killed him.
“That goddamn John killed David,” he said.
The last time he knew of his brother being in the area was when he left school at UI. When he was asked who his brother would stay with when he was in town, he first said that he would stay with Boss, then took it back saying that he probably wouldn’t because of something Delling had said.

When Eric Delling was at his parent’s home for Winter Break, Delling told him he thought it was Boss who was “stealing his powers,” something Delling had said about others in the past.
There had been times when Delling tried to hurt himself, even going as far as trying to stab himself. Eric Delling told police his brother thought people were stealing his pancreatic power and if he removed his pancreas they would be unable to steal his powers.
Eric Delling was afraid for his own life. Delling had hurt people before. He said Delling had hit his mother on one occasion and had also done things like pulling some people out of a car and beating them.
“If John hurt David, he’d hurt me,” Eric Delling told Moscow police.

On April 1, Eric Delling called the police. He dialed 911 after hearing suspicious noises outside of his apartment. Officers responded, but found nothing. He told the police that he did not know if his brother was in the area but that he was unstable and capable of anything. He no longer wanted to stay in his apartment and officers escorted him to his car.
At that point, Eric Delling did not know his brother had left Moscow.

Boise
On April 3, 2007 the body of Bradley Morse was found in a pond in east Boise. Morse’s car was missing from the scene and detectives began to look for the vehicle.
Like Boss, he was shot twice in the head with a .38 at close range. It didn’t take long before police suspected that the two murders were connected, but weren’t sure of the connection between the three men.
Boss and Thompson had both attended school with Delling, but Morse had no apparent connection. It was not until later that a connection through online gaming was made. The two had met through an online gaming site and Delling had used the Internet to find out that Morse worked at Idaho Parks and Recreation.
Because Delling was allegedly murdering people from his past in Boise others in the area were warned to be cautious if they saw him. In a jailhouse interview with the Idaho Statesman last year, Delling said he was looking for people who had harassed him as a child. He said he had been harassed by his peers and even sexually abused while he was growing up in Boise.

The last mile
Moscow police, working with Delling’s cell phone provider, were able to locate Delling in Sparks, Nev. Officers found Delling with Morse’s vehicle on April 3, 2007, just minutes after information about the stolen vehicle was broadcasted to other law enforcement. According to police reports they saw a man matching Delling’s description walk out of a city park and almost fall onto the sidewalk. He was wearing blue jeans and a white shirt with the word IDAHO across the front. Delling initially gave officers a fake name, but was taken into custody for the possession of the stolen vehicle.

Among his possessions they found a backpack containing a stainless steel .38 caliber revolver like the one used in the murders of Boss and Morse, a nylon holster and a box of ammunition.

Later, Delling was extradited to Ada County for possession of the stolen vehicle. Delling has been charged with first degree murder in Latah County for the death of David Boss, first-degree murder in the death of Bradley Morse and grand theft for stealing Morse’s car in Ada County. Delling has been found to not be competent to stand trial at the moment, but the Statesman reported that an order signed by Judge Deborah Bail said there is “substantial probability that the defendant will be fit to proceed in the foreseeable future.”

If Delling is convicted in Ada County he will not face the death penalty. Though insanity is not a defense in Idaho, the defendants mental health can be used as a mitigating factor when considering sentencing. It will not be until after Delling’s trial for the murder of Bradley Morse is concluded that he will be prosecuted in Latah County for the murder of David Boss.

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