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Past links shooting victims

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 11, 2007

BOISE, Idaho - The investigation began with a university student slain in the Idaho town of Moscow. By week's end, authorities were unraveling the killing of a second young man, whose body was dumped in a Boise pond, and the wounding of a college student in Tucson, Ariz.

Police say the common thread is 21-year-old John Joseph Delling, a former Boise high school classmate of two of the shooting victims. The third attended a nearby high school at about the same time.

"All these seem to be specifically targeted, at least in time and place," said Sheriff Gary Raney of Ada County, Idaho. Authorities indicated they may be linked to an undisclosed incident from years before.

"The connection probably goes back four or six or eight years ago - that's our best guess," Raney said.

Carol Delling told the Idaho Statesman that her son is troubled.

"We're just praying for everyone, and we're grieving, and John was very sick, and that's all I can tell you," she said.

Delling is now jailed in Nevada, but authorities fear there could be more victims along the path of his monthlong, 6,500-mile road trip that began March 1 and took him through California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona and Nevada, Raney said. Police used financial records and rental car records to track his movements.

"We're concerned that this is not over yet," Raney said. "We've been overwhelmed with these possibilities."

The violence may have started March 20, when University of Arizona student Jacob J. Thompson was lured out of his Tucson home and shot three times, in the face, shoulder and arm, Raney said. Thompson survived and picked Delling out of a photo lineup.

Eleven days later, University of Idaho student David Boss apparently let someone into his Moscow apartment, only to be shot twice in the head at close range.

On Monday night, Bradley Morse, 25, was shot in the head as he left his job as a janitor at the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation in Boise. His body was found in a nearby pond.

Delling was arrested April 3 in Sparks, Nev., driving Morse's car. He is still awaiting extradition to Idaho.

After discovering Boss' body, Moscow police warned three other former classmates of Delling's that they may be in danger, Assistant Police Chief David Duke said. Authorities would not release their names, but said all had been involved in an incident with Delling during his sophomore year at Timberline High School. Additional details weren't released.

Boss' father, Rick, told the Idaho Statesman that his son was friends with Delling growing up, and he knows of no ill will between them.

The Idaho Statesman reported Tuesday that juvenile records reveal Delling has a history of violence.

[Last modified April 11, 2007, 02:33:46]