Homicide suspect had record as a juvenile, records show

BOISE – A man suspected by police of killing two people and injuring a third had a criminal record as a juvenile and a history of stalking, according to court documents.

John Joseph Delling, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of David Boss, a University of Idaho student, in Moscow on March 31. Police also have said he is a suspect in the slaying of Meridian resident Bradley Morse in Boise a few days later, and the March 20 shooting of University of Arizona student Jacob Thompson. Thompson survived the attack outside his Tucson, Ariz., home on March 20.

Delling, Boss and Thompson were all former classmates at Timberline High School in Boise. Morse attended high school in nearby Meridian at about the same time as the other three.

Juvenile court records obtained by the Idaho Statesman through a public records request show that Delling pleaded guilty to battery and malicious injury to property for using a 3-pound club to hit a neighborhood teen and smash his car in 2003.

Delling allegedly made threats to kill the teen because the boy had “ruined his life,” according to the court records. After the incident, Delling’s family moved to a different home and transferred the 17-year-old Delling from Timberline High School to Boise High School.

The victim in the case requested that Delling be given a mental evaluation, but it’s not clear if he was ever evaluated. Delling was ordered to serve weekend detention, probation and community service. The victim’s name was not released.

“This is an isolated event due and unavoidable to situational, social and immature human perception enigmas of today,” Delling wrote the judge in 2003. “I believe I have learned my lesson and realize the full spectrum of understanding behind all this and its evil roots.”

In 2005, Delling pleaded guilty to charges of stalking three men in Boise. The three men all lived on the same cul-de-sac in Delling’s neighborhood, Boise police Lt. Scott Johnson said.

Delling was accused of parking outside their homes, using his car to “spin cookies” and squeal his tires in their cul-de-sac, as well as loitering on the bike path behind the homes, Johnson said.

After complaining to Delling about his behavior, one of the men woke to find the tires on his vehicle had been slashed, Johnson said. That was enough to prompt one of the men to put up video cameras and install a security system at his home, he said.

“He would be seen riding his motorcycles past the residences five or six times a day, walking up to them several times a day, he would be on the bike path near the residences,” Johnson said.

None of those men was a former classmate, Johnson said, though one was the father of a former classmate of Delling.

After Boss’ slaying last month, Moscow Assistant Chief of Police David Duke said his office warned three people in the Boise area that Delling had made threats that indicated they also might be harmed, although police did not offer them any special protection.

Police have not identified the three men, and it is not clear whether any of the three were involved in the 2003 case.

However, authorities said all had been involved in an incident with Delling during his sophomore year at Timberline.

Additional details weren’t released.

Delling’s mother, Carol Delling, said her son was ill.

“We’re just praying for everyone, and we’re grieving, and John was very sick, and that’s all I can tell you,” she told the Idaho Statesman.

Boss’ father, Rick Boss, said he knew of no ill will between his son and Delling and said Boss remained friends with Delling even as other friends turned away.

“It’s almost like he singled out the ones that were nice to him,” Johnson said. “He seemed to have been on the fringes of the group (in high school). He never seemed to have fit in very well.”