Bradley Winter "Brad" Morse, a 25-year-old Caucasian male, was a junior at Boise State University majoring in computer science. On April 2, 2007, he was at his part-time job with Boise Parks and Recreation on Warm Springs Avenue when his life was tragically cut short. Morse was shot and killed as part of a multi-state crime spree carried out by John Delling. His body was then discarded in a pond.
The two had met through online gaming websites, which Delling used to track him down.
The investigation into Morse's death quickly led to Delling, who was 21 at the time. Delling's erratic road trip across the Western United States had already left a trail of violence. Prior to killing Morse, Delling had shot and wounded a former high school classmate, Jacob Thompson, in Tucson, Arizona, on March 20, 2007. Just days before Morse's murder, on March 31, Delling shot and killed another former high school classmate, David Boss, a University of Idaho student in Moscow, Idaho. Delling was arrested in Sparks, Nevada, the day after he killed Morse.
Delling's motives were rooted in severe mental illness. He suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had elaborate delusions that a group of people, including his victims, were stealing his "powers" or "energy," and he believed that killing them was the only way to stop it. Family members and court documents revealed Delling's long struggle with mental health issues, which included bizarre and violent behavior. In exchange for a plea, prosecutors reduced an initial first-degree murder charge, and John Delling pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Bradley Morse. He was subsequently sentenced to two life terms in prison with no possibility of parole for the murders of Morse and David Boss.
