The Lethal Library

32. A Trail of Paranoia: The Untold Chaos of John Delling

• The Lethal Library • Episode 32

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In this episode of The Lethal Library, Dani and Stephanie delve into the chilling case of John Delling. What starts as typical teenage misbehavior escalates into a paranoia-driven murder spree. From breaking windows and issuing threats to committing multiple murders, Delling's journey is a dark reminder of the dire consequences of untreated mental illness. The hosts provide their signature blend of dark humor and insightful commentary, making this episode both engaging and thought-provoking. Plus, listener shout-outs and summer updates!

Contact The Lethal Library at TheLethalLibrary@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok!

Stephanie:

welcome back everyone to another episode of The Lethal Library. I am Stephanie. And I'm Danny. And we are your hosts for another True Crime Tale today. Danny has another new one for us out of the state of Idaho. Right. And I'm sure it's gonna be a doozy'cause that's all that she finds. So what do we got, Danny?

Dani:

You know how some people have a bad attitude in high school? Oh, me. Maybe they mouth off in class. Maybe they key somebody's car. And then there's John Delling. What started as a teenage grudge over getting kicked out of a party turned into smashed windows, stalking random fights, and eventually a murder spree fueled by paranoia and delusion.

Stephanie:

Wow. Hmm. Escalating very quickly. It seems like

Dani:

This isn't just another small town Idaho story. This is what happens when untreated mental illness and simmering personal beefs come together in the worst possible way. Today we're walking through the case of. John Joseph Dilling from his first outburst as a teenager to his final sentencing as one of Idaho's convicted killers. Wow. I want to hear this story, resources used for today's episode in the Idaho Statesman. Love her.

Stephanie:

Um, before we segue into everything, Danny, I do just wanna say thank you to our listeners who have been so very supportive. we know that we're only doing this every other week right now'cause we're just trying to live our lives in summer, just as you probably are too. And we've been. Able to have some fun. So thank you for being patient. Thank you for the comments that you leave on our episodes. We've had some great interaction. we had a little sticker giveaway. We were so excited to send those out to those that participated. We hope you love them. and some of you even re posted our stuff. We have our, our friend, I won't say her real name, but our friend Luna on TikTok re reposted us. We thought that was so cool. So thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. We really appreciate it. It makes us feel so special and lovely.

Dani:

Thank you. It does. I was like, oh, I was so sorry. It just

Stephanie:

unexpected. Yeah. Completely unexpected. So, um, we really appreciate, and Luna, your sound

Dani:

perfect. Yeah, it was very cute. So thank you. Thank you so

Stephanie:

much.

Dani:

All righty. 2003 oh three baby. In April of 2003. John Delling at the age of 17 smashed up a fellow teenager's car. Matt Meyer. Was at a local store and saw Delling, and I want you to remember this name. Okay. Matt Meyer. Matt Meyer. Matt and Delling had had a previous beef, so Matt and his friend flipped off. Delling. Total High School. Yeah. Oh. You're like, oh, you dude. Yeah. Go fuck yourself. Flip from the bird. Yep. And then it was on Delling used a three pound club to smash Matt's Cale and beat his arm. Beat his arm? Yeah. Oh, this wasn't any club. It was the club. Like those little ones that you would keep in your car or whatever your lock, you locked your steering wheel, the club. Oh no shit. No shit. Oh my gosh. Wow. I was like, I read a club and then I was like, and then some, some parts that referenced the club and I'm like, what? What the hell? And I was like, oh, that club. Wowie. Wow, that's a little aggressive. So back in the day, you buy this metal thing as seen on tv. Mm-hmm. Now these hooks, I don't even understand how that worked, but you put it on your steering wheel and nobody could steal your car. Yep. And I mean, we're

Stephanie:

car thefts even that rampant here. What city are we in? Boise. Let me just tell you, I only recently started locking my car.

Dani:

Mm-hmm.

Stephanie:

I know that's dumb. Um, and I did have my car not broken, not broken into a few times just opened, which I feel like is better, but I mean, what did I have in there? Trash. A couple fast food bags and some change that was sticky from a drink that spilled in the cupholder. You don't even have CDs

Dani:

to jack anymore. This, this was in my, this was

Stephanie:

in my 93 Honda, and I'm like, it has a cassette player, bro. Yeah. What are you gonna do? Like, oh no, it's still my stereo. It doesn't have a system in this, it's a 1993 Honda Accord. Yeah, like it was the valet edition, like the, the special fancy edition. It came with a valet key so that the valet couldn't get into your you

Dani:

fucking

Stephanie:

box bougie. It was a boujee bitch in 93. Yeah. But in nowadays times not quite so boujee.

Dani:

Well, there's not even anything to, you don't have, you know, back in the day you had your CDs and the stereo system and you know, well, we talked about your sister's removable face. Boom. It was a big deal. Yeah, but not so much anymore.

Stephanie:

I bet the people that broke into my car felt sorry for me. They're like, oh, you're poor bitch. I feel kind of bad being here. You have 17 cents and like a stain on your seat from where you spilled your coffee.

Dani:

I'm not even gonna steal your 75 cents. Yeah. Keep you have in. Yeah, keep it

Stephanie:

in the cigarette. You've got a couple chapsticks in here that are melted. Wow. You, you're, you're having a hard life, sis. Yeah. Like, we're just gonna, we're gonna go home for the night. Yeah. I feel bad.

Dani:

but this was a pretty serious attack. Mm-hmm. Delling had made threats to kill Matt because he said he had ruined his life. Oh man. What was the beef? Earlier in 2002, Delling had came to a party where Matt was. After Delling made a sexual threat to a girl at the party, Matt and his friends kicked him out. They said, hell no, brother. So, you know, you get these, you can really get lifelong enemies in high school over stupid shit. Oh yeah. But I mean, he, he shouldn't be making sexual. To anybody and they're like, no dude, you're fucking weird. Get the fuck outta here. And when you're in high school, it's such

Stephanie:

a bubble.

Dani:

Mm-hmm. That it

Stephanie:

does feel like it's gonna be the rest of your life. Even if you do something just silly and embarrassing. Not even like a serious thing like this is you embarrass yourself at parties. And this is before like smartphones recorded it, but everyone talked about Yeah. This is before social media. Yeah. And it still felt like it was gonna be the end of the world. Mm-hmm. So sounds like he took that very personally.

Dani:

No, he. Said Matt ruined, ruined his life. Ruined my, yep. so this was a big deal in this neighborhood because it was a, you know, all the kids went to the same high school. They all lived in the same neighborhood. So reputation. Mm-hmm. With this outburst, ING's parents moved to a new neighborhood and he went to, he changed from Timberline High School to Boise High. Okay. Which. I can see what I, I see what they're doing. Like let's remove the mm-hmm. Him from this situation. So he is not running into this kid that just hopefully start over. Right. That's right. The big deal. Starting over. Let him figure out, find a new group of friends where he is not been embarrassed or plus they don't want him. Trying to jump this kid again or whatever. Yeah. So, because clearly it was, he threatened to kill him, like, yikes. And he, he got in trouble for this. So Delling ended up pleading guilty to battery, a malicious injury to property for the incident. Mm-hmm. And in a letter wr written to the judge, he said, quote, this is an isolated event due and unavoidable to situational social and immature human perception enigmas of today. He wrote this. Yes. He needed to put that thesaurus down immediate. And it doesn't. Too many, doesn't it? It doesn't flow, but he's not done. Oh Lord. I believe I have learned my lesson and realized the full spectrum of understanding behind all of this and its evil roots. Before Chat,

Stephanie:

GPT and ai, there was a thesaurus and he was. The sourcing. He was the sourcing. He was the source maxing, and he needed to dial that down. Five or six clicks. That first sentence didn't even make sense. It did not. Would you mind reading it again? Sure. Just because my brain was like, huh,

Dani:

I know I

Stephanie:

had a

Dani:

hard time reading it.'cause it doesn't make sense. Okay. This is an isolated event. Due and unavoidable to situational social and immature human perception. Enigmas of today. Enigmas.

Stephanie:

I'm sorry, my whole brain melted once again hearing that, because there's just no way to even piece that together.

Dani:

Uh,

Stephanie:

I feel like they were all put in a bowl and he's like, enigmas, that's a winner. Boom, boom, boom. Big words. Gimme 17 of them right now.

Dani:

Delling was held in state custody for three days, and then he served 10 weeks of home detention.

Stephanie:

That's a long time in high school.

Dani:

Yeah. I'm

Stephanie:

not saying like feeling bad, I'm just saying being grounded for a month was like, oh, it's the end of the world.

Dani:

Your life is over. Mm-hmm. Um, but 10 weeks of home detention, and he was ordered to have no contact with the victim or his family. Good idea. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go. And I think that, that, I'm sure this was negotiated in a plea deal, right? Sure. All of these things, and I'm sure that that was something that his parents considered in moving. Yeah.

Stephanie:

Like so he

Dani:

could go back because Cut it off. He was not gonna be able to go back to high school. Yeah. You have a no contact order. Yeah. He would have to go to a different high school anyways. So the parents and plus those poor parents. How embarrassed like, dude, really? Why are you being such you? You did what? You can't be beating the shit outta someone's car and arm. And it was a Cabrio le oh my god. childhood friend Daniel Ek at this time. And said he noticed a change in Delling. He'd become unstable, wary, and very paranoid. The Thompsons ING's neighbors around this time were eating dinner when they saw a fight next door. Apparently, ING's parents went to look at a motorcycle that he wanted, but they didn't purchase it. Delling was irate. The neighbor's witness telling pushed down his father in the front yard and then he threw his mother's purse into the street. Shit. This is,

Stephanie:

especially for that time, for a kid to act like that, that wasn't a common thing.

Dani:

And I feel even with all this drama that he had, right, with getting in trouble with the law, they were still considering. They can giving you a motorcycle it, they went to look at it. So they had to be considering it. Yeah. And when they decided to not purchase it for whatever reason, maybe it was too fast, maybe it was too expensive. Maybe they said, fuck this kid. Maybe he was being a little shit. And they're like, no. But I think they were trying to be a good parent. That's hard. I think so too. Delling, finally graduates from Boise High and leaves to attend the University of Idaho and Moscow, which has been in the news lately. Y'all have heard it? Yeah, I know you have. and that, that's one reason that this story came on my radar. No shit. Yeah. Is because it's just a very recent thing going on with the Kohlberg stuff in mm-hmm. University of Idaho and I was like, oh yeah, I know about one up there. So. on April 25th, this is just gonna keep escalating. There's it's, there's no there. Yeah. On April 25th, 2005, Delling was cited for a misdemeanor. He was accused of disturbing the peace after threatening residence in his dorm.

Stephanie:

Now you have another new fresh start, and college is your bubble's bigger. You should. That's at least how it was for me. I know it's how, how it is for a lot of people. You realize things are never as serious as you think they are In high school, you have more friends. People are starting to have jobs, beginning to be adults. It's not as

Dani:

clique-ish.

Stephanie:

You know, you're gonna

Dani:

find your person like, yeah, I feel like college. Like there's an opportunity more to find somebody who's And to

Stephanie:

not be like your typical jock cheerleader. Right, right.

Dani:

You're gonna find somebody that fits your jam. Yeah. You're gonna

Stephanie:

find your group and hopefully move on and realize that. You don't gotta take this shit. So se seriously, like,

Dani:

but that's, that wasn't the case for Delling. he was kicked out of the university shit. It must have been bad then. Yeah. They don't just kick you out for, and of course I don't have the details of exactly what happened mm-hmm.

Stephanie:

To school incident.

Dani:

Yep. but he was kicked out of the university and prohibited from coming onto the campus for at least a year. Yikes. That's not

Stephanie:

good.

Dani:

That means, so he

Stephanie:

was

Dani:

like

Stephanie:

threatening residents. Is that what it was? are you already having problems like Yes.

Dani:

Already problems? the, criminal charges were later dropped, but he was still not allowed, kicked outta the university. Okay. So we had to go back home. But the parents were thrilled. I bet you they were, uh, dripping with sarcasm. Yeah. A few months later on June 4th, 2005. Delling pled guilty to stalking three men in Boise. What are we stalking men for? One of the men was ING's attorney Alan Sweeney. Bro, he's paid to help you. He's paid to help you. Delling had peeled out in front of Sweeney's home, and he'd done this several times. So the third time it happened, Sweeney gave Chase. To him and he He had enough. Yeah. And then Sweeney later found his tire slashed on his vehicle. Why are you fucking with an attorney, bro? He's going to nail your ass to the wall. The other two men were Matt Meyer and Matt's friend who was in the car with him when Dell attacked him in his car. So he was stalking all of these guys. Leave them alone. This was high school

Stephanie:

beef.

Dani:

a no contact order was issued and 80 hours of community service was his sentence. Please go do the community service. Three weeks later, oh my God, Delling has another interaction with the police. Delling began yelling at a 13-year-old boy while in a grocery store parking lot. He loves those beefs in those grocery store parking lots, doesn't he? And beefs with a young, a

Stephanie:

13-year-old.

Dani:

He made threatening gestures towards the boy and ultimately approached him. He spit on the kid and then rammed him with the front tire of his motorcycle. Oh, he did get a motorcycle. Okay. The kid fell over but only scratched his arm Delling was convicted of misdemeanor battery and spent two months in jail and had a year on probation and went through an anger management course. The red flags are flying in. They're flying. Something's wrong here. Something is wrong. Something is wrong with him. Yeah. I don't ever think at 19 or 20, I was giving a 13-year-old a second thought

Stephanie:

to have a beef with. Because you're just, I mean, by design cooler, right? Even like

Dani:

he was on a bike. You were on a motorcycle. Yeah. Stop.

Stephanie:

Let's not do that, bro.

Dani:

In late 2005, Dell's parents moved back to California with him. had nowhere to go. I have no indication that during my research that he was holding a job. I, I don't know what he was doing. And it's just constant, constant issues, no shit. I, I think his parents hope he might not move with them, maybe, you know what I mean? They were just over, they were

Stephanie:

trying. It sounds like, you know, he was given a shot. I mean, you advise. Never been cheap. Of course it was much cheaper back in. The early, but the early os, what do you call'em? The early OTs? S The early OTs. That's weird to me.

Dani:

I know it feels bougie and weird. It's just, can we just say the early two thousands, like that's what I say. Yeah. Early two thousands

Stephanie:

aught au. Maybe I'm just not bougie enough that I don't know the etymology of that fucking word. Like I think odds are double zeroes, but you better like a 30 T six. Yeah. That never clicked for me anyways. The more you know. Wow. Yeah, I feel better now. Okay. Thanks for watching My Brain Cells collide or listening to My Brain. Cells collide live on this podcast. I've just got a few clinking around in there, and they did it today. I'm really proud of them.

Dani:

Like a 30 out six. Yeah,

Stephanie:

I didn't ever put the, okay.

Dani:

Okay. Things were learned today, even though Delling was on probation, he continued to travel back to Idaho. Oh no. He had a suspended license but was still able to rent cars. Okay, I'm gonna show you something and you can't see it and I'm not gonna read it, but look at all of these. No insurance. Following to close. Failure to yield, petty theft, battery speeding. Failure to yield. Aggravated assault motorcycle. and this is within a few months? it's all within like two years. Yeah. I mean, he had, he didn't have his motorcycle license. He didn't have insurance several times. A lot of basic riding. He's just, he's riding dirty in every way. so there's a whole list. There's like 15 items on there. To

Stephanie:

be getting caught that much, you have to be acting a fool. Yeah. Like, because listen, there was a time that I was very poor and I didn't have insurance, and I was riding dirty all the fucking time. I had to get to work. I had gotten one ticket, it put me in the hole. Financially I was gonna have to get the SR 22 insurance. I could not afford it. I was riding dirty everywhere I went, I was riding dirty. Guess who was driving like a 98-year-old grandma on her way to church? Me I was. Mm-hmm. So to get all of these like little traffic infractions and like little batteries, don't give a fuck. You are wild and out. Yeah. You are making a spectacle.

Dani:

Yeah. He's saying, go fuck yourself, everybody. And he was able to still rent cars. The help with a suspend. Hey, enterprise, we know it was you because, he was not 21. The only place you could run a car was enterprise. We know this. Oh, enterprise. We're calling you out. Uh, you not check his valid driver's license. They're like, you're a living, breathing human. Sure.

Stephanie:

Have a

Dani:

car. Yeah. You know, I'm right on that.

Stephanie:

Well, and why are the, I mean, the parents can't control, but are they not wondering why he's continuing to go to Idaho or are they're just like he's out doing this little gallivant thing?

Dani:

I feel, remember the pushing down and the purse throwing. I feel that he was completely out of control. And the parents, and we've seen this before in other cases, we've heard about it before. The child is so out of control. The parents are just, they don't know what to do.

Stephanie:

They're trying to hopefully keep some bumpers on,

Dani:

right. If they can. And it's like, okay, I mean, you're thinking about this like, okay, if I kick'em out. He's gonna be on the streets. Do I want my child on the, like there's a whole lot of contemplating there. He has nowhere to go.'cause our friends know about what he did. Like he can't go even stay with friends like he mm-hmm. Has just been abandoning.

Stephanie:

So then who's he gonna stay with or what's he gonna resort to?

Dani:

Right. And, or will he harm himself? Like there's all of these things as a parent that you, you have to consider in doing this. You know, I don't, it would be very difficult. yeah, but he was, he was jamming back to Idaho to see somebody. He was frolicking around.

Stephanie:

I think I know exactly who he wanted to see. There's been a pattern here. Matt fucking, he couldn't let it go. Could not let Matt go.

Dani:

2006 was pretty quiet for Dell though.

Stephanie:

I wonder why that was.

Dani:

I don't know, maybe he got on some meds.

Stephanie:

Maybe he just found a friend or two that distracted him from the life of crime.

Dani:

Maybe he got

Stephanie:

a a hobby.

Dani:

Maybe he was consuming his time with the internet.

Stephanie:

Oh no. Early days of the inter, I mean, of course it's terrible now, but you could find some crazy shit then too.

Dani:

Well, the only thing I could find in 2006. Was that he posted on the website of the National Association for Christian Recovery in August of 2006. So a lot of people that, are paranoid or have mental illness, they kind of can, they can lean towards religion

Stephanie:

mm-hmm.

Dani:

In their delusion and paranoia.

Stephanie:

Right.

Dani:

So, let me just let you, let me tell you what he wrote. oh gosh. On, on that Christian Recovery website, the note was titled, demon Possession Quote. I have been attacked and abused, discriminated against by many people for no apparent reason. There was a weird even about people putting Jew and Nazi memories in my mind. And then this guy named Sweeney, which is the name of the person who dropped on of the bombs on the second plane. I guess he may be a relative, put a whole lot of the yellow spinning energy into my solar plexus. And then I was sacrificed by possibly a vampire cult as the sun kind or something like that. End quote. Okay.

Stephanie:

Just as you said, feeding into and exacerbating a delusion,

Dani:

for his, he is tying something to do with Judaism mm-hmm. And Nazis. Back to his attorney, attorney, Alan Sweeney. Yeah. And a yellow energy inside of him and

Stephanie:

Oh,

Dani:

yikes. It's, yeah, this is a, it's spiraling terribly On March 2nd, 2007, Delling had another family fight. During the fight, he told his brother, Eric, that David boss, a childhood friend, was stealing his powers. This is not the first time his brother heard claims of people stealing his power or his aura. Delling was out of control and he damaged his parents' bathroom, and that was it. The parents said, you're out. They were done.

Stephanie:

Well, yeah, we haven't heard much from the brother. I didn't even know there was a sibling. I thought he was an only child, which I was almost thinking like, you know, sometimes that can be a little problematic, an only child, but knowing that he had a sibling and still the family was trying to deal with all this. Mm-hmm. Like, ugh, what a chaotic situation. Yeah.

Dani:

Parents said, you're out and, and Delling left. and they were living in California, so he left his parents' home in Antelope, California. I don't know where this is, so I looked it up for your convenience. Thank you. Antelope is about 15 miles from downtown Sacramento, so it's a suburb, right? Delling jumped on a bus heading south. He ended up in Tucson, Arizona on March 18th.

Stephanie:

Interesting choice. Is it?

Dani:

Oh God. Two days later on March 20th. Delling rode a bike to Jacob Thompson's house. He knocked on a window of the house at one 30 in the morning. Jacob's roommate woke up and said that there was a person outside complaining that Jacob's truck was in the way and that it needed to be moved. Hmm. The roommate woke Jacob up and the pair hung out in the living room for a while, listening outside. That would freak me the fuck out. I would be strapping up, uh, I'd be calling fucking the cop. Mm-hmm. Like there's some buddy knocking on my window asking to move a vehicle. Shut the fuck up. Yeah, I'm sleeping. But when the commotion died down, they went outside with flashlights and looked around. No one was there, and Jacob decided to go ahead and move his truck into the garage so it wouldn't be vandalized. He's a college kid. He's like, all right, who's fucking with me? Yeah. A prank or

Stephanie:

something. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm

Dani:

just, I'm gonna go ahead and move the truck so nobody fucks with mm-hmm. My truck, which is your most expensive possession, right? That's your baby. Oh, yeah. but Jacob decided to drive around the block, give it a quick scope out. I like this. Yeah. I would do the fucking same. Dude who is pranking me. Yeah.

Stephanie:

We got some like little junior high schoolers out in the pack doing something or some drunk

Dani:

fucking sorority guys. Yeah. Out fucking with you. Like, no, I'm gonna go find your fucking ass. Like, I'm just gonna take a quick, you already got me outta bed. Yeah. I'm already in the truck. I'm gonna drive around the fucking a little, a little gander. So Jacob drove around the block and he noticed a person riding the bike. Mm. Quote. I drove up to that person. And asked them if they were the person that was in the front of my house, and that's when the rider pulled a gun and fired five shots hitting Jacob. The man took off and Jacob laid on his truck horn until the police arrived. I,

Stephanie:

I did not in any way, shape or form. Picture

Dani:

that happening. It was later discovered that Delling and Jacob attended high school together in Boise. Wasn't Thompson a neighbor? No. Childhood. Daniel. This? Well, the Thompsons were the neighbors. I don't know if it's the same Thompson. Okay.

Stephanie:

Thompson's very. Okay.

Dani:

I don't know.

Stephanie:

Who knows

Dani:

because,

Stephanie:

but they went to, how did you find, I mean, the internet wasn't that helpful at this year. Maybe if you're, it was, it's loosey enough. It was,

Dani:

It was later discovered that Delling and Jacob attended high school together in Boise. Jacob said he didn't even remember who Delling was.

Stephanie:

This is like MySpace times as well, I think.

Dani:

Mm-hmm.

Stephanie:

MySpace was big. Facebook was just barely starting. Right. So that's probably how

Dani:

it was. Probably the

Stephanie:

MySpace. Man. I loved MySpace. We really fucked that up. We lost a good one.

Dani:

I did not hurt the MySpace. I had to code in fucking shit to get my shit to go, to do what I wanted. I loved it. Well, stuff.

Stephanie:

It's okay. Facebook was only for college students at the time, and I was in college, so then they opened it up. Yeah. I like the Facebook. Facebook was cool for a while.

Dani:

I like the book Face for Family and yeah, just keeping in touch with family and setting up a birthday. Sure. Yeah. Also, you know, you snoop on people you went to high school

Stephanie:

with. I would've never do that, Danny. You're a

Dani:

fucking

Stephanie:

fat male. I know. I know. Only with the best intentions. That mouth. Okay. That side eye was really painful. You, you sliced me with that one. Said, bitch, be for real.

Dani:

Don't you fucking dry?

Stephanie:

We all do it. We all do it. It's okay. We

Dani:

do well. At least 80%. Yeah. Okay. So we're in the majority. Okay, cool. It is what it is. Delling them returns back to his parents' home in Antelope on March 22nd for just a few days before he purchased a one-way plane ticket to Boise. Where's he getting this money? I had the same question. I don't know. Maybe he did have a job. I doubt it. He was just missing for like six days going to Arizona. Right. Things were

Stephanie:

very cheap then I remember. But the pay everywhere was very low as well. Maybe his parents gave him a little, maybe he had like a, you know, he, maybe he was on disability even. Could be, or maybe, I don't know how wealthy they were. You know, some families are. They just stock their kids' accounts with money

Dani:

after he arrived in Boise on March 26th. Delling was looking for a gun Because look, you can pack a gun on a bus. But you can't pack one on a plane. No, this is

Stephanie:

fresh after nine 11. Right? Like, I know it's been a like six years, but it was, you got a lip gloss that's too many ounces. Trash. Yeah. Trash. Yeah. You're, you're get, you're getting into the, extra special security line where they might fucking strip or chew.

Dani:

So he, he was looking for a gun and Boise resident, Harvey lighter the third. Met Delling in a Home Depot parking lot. Good old Harv, you know. Well in Idaho you don't have to reg, you can buy from Yeah. Another, yeah. Bought that gun from a neighbor 30 years ago. I don't know. It's like selling a tv. Yep. You don't need to, I mean, it's a good idea if you keep a sales receipt just in case. I sure would. but yeah, you don't have to register your guns here. So it's just a free for all. Yeah. So he called up uh oh, Harv and said, Hey, you wanna meet me in the Home Depot parking lot? Let's go. Hell yeah, brother. I wanna look. oh. Harv showed Delling the 38 caliber revolver that was for sale, not a 38. Delling said he was a student from Oregon and handed over$300 and signed a bill of sale. Good on you, har. With the name of John Dolling. Come on, let's do a little bit more creative here. People. I bet you that was the last minute distinction. I bet he was like, he probably started writing the JO'cause he spelled it different.'cause his name is JOHN and he, he signed A-J-O-N-I bet you he was at the O and goes, oh fuck. Okay. Uh, in panic,

Stephanie:

panic, panic. Act like, act like I don't have time

Dani:

to think of a last name. Smith is too obvious. Fucking okay, darling. Okay, that works. Nobody's gonna know. But all Harv said, Delling appeared calm and reasonable during the transaction. So, okay,

Stephanie:

well,$300. That's a lot of money back then too for a college student. Um, yeah. I

Dani:

just, I bought a 38 a couple years ago and it was that, it was like

Stephanie:

three 50, but 300 and oh 7 0 8. Is that where we're at? I think so. And mine was

Dani:

Pink Bitch.

Stephanie:

Yeah. That's custom. Custom. You can't just

Dani:

get that

Stephanie:

anywhere.

Dani:

No. Maybe it was a really nice 38. I don't know. Maybe the market was hot at that time.'cause you know, that's how the, that came up. Well he was desperate.

Stephanie:

And I think, you know, there's not the ease of shopping around. I mean, you gotta get classified or was Craigslist a thing? I think it was, oh yeah, it was, Craigslist was a thing. Yeah. So, but still not easy to navigate and tons of scams. And

Dani:

maybe I'll harvest that. I'll start at 300 and I'll probably get asked two 50. And good old Delling was like, sold. Done. No negotiating because he needed the gun. Oh, John daring, John Daring. Get outta here on Wednesday, March 28th, 2007. Delling rents a white Chevy Aveo from Enterprise in Boise, I fucking knew was Enterprise. I didn't even remember that. We

Stephanie:

got you. We got your fucking number. Enterprise.

Dani:

That's right's right there. Fuck. He rented that white Chevy from Enterprise in Boise, and he headed north.

Stephanie:

What is a Chevy Aveo.

Dani:

Oh, you want me to Google it like that? Can we just

Stephanie:

see it? I just, I'm like, I don't remember this. It's like

Dani:

a little tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny car.

Stephanie:

Like a compact.

Dani:

It's beyond a, it's like a Hugo to me. No fucking way. I think so. I remember Aveo. Yeah, it's like a hug. Go. It's,

Stephanie:

it's dorky looking. Yeah, it's Google it guys. Well it

Dani:

could have been, it could have been a four door, hey hatchback or four door, you know,

Stephanie:

the four-door definitely looks less fucking weird, but, okay. Alright. Chevy Aveo, shout out to you.

Dani:

So he is headed north. It's to his old stomping grounds.

Stephanie:

Oh, lovely.

Dani:

Delling arrived in Moscow, Idaho, late on March 30th. So he took his, I mean, took him a couple of days to get up there. Yeah. And it is what? What is that? Like an eight hour drive, seven hour drive, you think? I think we've done this math before. I think

Stephanie:

it's more from Boise.

Dani:

Yeah. I think

Stephanie:

it's more'cause it's like past Lewiston.'cause we did that.

Dani:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

Remember it's more than eight I think. Well, it's one of those you could forward. Fuck it. Okay, let's go to

Dani:

Google

Stephanie:

Lele.

Dani:

How many, I know we've done this before from Boise to Moscow, Idaho. Five hours and 30 minutes. Really? Why? I feel like it took us forever when we were 294 miles. Look. You gotta stop. There's so many cool places, right? Maybe there was construction, so five and a half hours to get up there. So he obviously stopped somewhere. You know what I'm betting, this is what I'm betting. Mm. He probably stopped and either like McCall or Riggins for the night, maybe white bird. Yeah. And then finished the trip.

Stephanie:

Because let me just say, I love stopping for a trip if you've got time. There's so many great little

Dani:

towns going up that way. And if you take 55 up from Boise, you are gonna hit Cascade and then McCall, and then you're gonna hit, you know, Riggins and wiper. There's a lot to see, and I hate Lewiston. And

Stephanie:

listen, I know sometimes you have to drive through for the sake of the vacation, right? Because you don't wanna waste too much time driving. But sometimes when you've done like 13 hours or more in a car Yeah. Guy just got ripped off. It's just a, it's such a drain on you. It's nice to get out. Yeah. Be relaxed. Well, and he's, I'm surprised that he took that much time getting up there.'cause I mean, we're going like a few days at a time between events here. Yeah. And so for him to take a few days to do a less than six hour drive, that's,

Dani:

it's like first locate guns, second rent car, have a

Stephanie:

nice scenic drive. He's like, I'm gonna take my time.

Dani:

Or maybe he didn't even start up to, I just thought of this. Maybe he wasn't even intending on driving to Moscow

Stephanie:

and he's just like, my heart's leading me there.

Dani:

He might've been driving in another direction for a little bit. Mm-hmm. And then ended up there.

Stephanie:

Who knows? That's a good, good point.

Dani:

So he arrived in Moscow late on March 30th. Okay. At 12:12 AM on March 31st, Delling called his friend David Boss, who was a student at the University of Idaho. They had about a 15 minute phone conversation. And then Delling headed over to David's off-campus apartment. Very cool. David, age 21 was found shot in the head twice in his kitchen by his roommate at 1 45 in the morning. No, the roommate found him. Yeah. So do you remember back with the bathroom, fight with his brother? Yeah. He said David was stealing his aura.

Stephanie:

Oh my God, this is just wild of professional intervention needed to be had years ago. And clearly I just to take a leisurely drive and then just be like, yo, my friend David, let's chat on the phone for 15 minutes.

Dani:

Go over and papa's ass. I, I think it's pretty clear that there's some mental issues. Yeah. Illness going on with this man. But the elaborate, what I found fascinating about this story, and I don't know if fascinating is the right word, maybe interesting is even though he might have been. He had to have been in a delusional state. He was able to plan out these things and make them happen right efficiently.

Stephanie:

And you mentioned that the good old Harv that sold him the guns, that he seemed cool, calm, collected. Yeah. Didn't seem like a weirdo, which, so he was able to

Dani:

pull himself together when he needed to pull himself together. Yeah. Straighten up that tie. You know, he was probably just straight in his head and he's like, all right, I gotta go do this, this, go pull my part. Like it's very, and this isn't, this isn't a rampage where he is like walking into a mall. And just shooting it up like he is planning this focused, it's meticulously planned.

Stephanie:

This story has taken so many turns drastically that I did not expect. And like I don't even know how far we are in it and I'm just like, what in the literal fuck.

Dani:

authorities believe David was shot around 12:30 AM according to noises heard by the neighbors. And there was no signs of forced entry, of course,'cause someone thought their friend was coming over. David was a history major and was set to graduate in May. Yeah. Oh my God. Two less than two months. Yeah. university of Idaho, president Timothy White stated quote, quite frankly, I'm mad as hell. This sort of thing has not had a foothold in our community and will not have a foothold in our community. David enjoyed camping, backpacking with his father and his dog. Oh, he was a lot. He was awful. Yeah, he,

Stephanie:

I mean, he was doing all the right things and just inviting an old friend back from years before saying, sure, come over

Dani:

right now and lemme tell you. So the year bef, the Christmas before this happened. Delling went and visited David's family and he was awkward and it was not a good visit and he was being delusional and all that stuff, but David was still like, you're my, you're my friend. Yeah. An old bud. You need, you need help. You, you have any,

Stephanie:

yeah, come on over. Let's hang out. Still open and welcome. That's. And how, of course you're not really suspecting'cause he doesn't know all the shit that went down in Arizona and probably doesn't know about like the shit that's went on with his parents. And no,

Dani:

he probably knows a little bit about what happened like high school years. Yeah. But no, he, nobody knows what happened in Arizona. Mm-hmm. That's still, there is nothing going on with that because it's just a big boop.

Stephanie:

Yeah.

Dani:

David was also a lacrosse player in high school and he went to the state championship. He also had a heavy metal radios show on the University of Idaho's campus radio station.

Stephanie:

That's cool.

Dani:

Badass. Yeah. Go David. Go. So after Dylan is in Moscow, he then heads to Baker City, Oregon and then. To Skipio, Utah,

Stephanie:

Skipio, or Skipio, one of the two,

Dani:

about 600 miles away from Baker City. So this goes back to the thing where maybe he drove somewhere else before he drove up. Mm-hmm. north, because he's just randomly driving places now. So he goes in and he shot David. He comes back down. I mean, that's a jaunt over to Baker City.

Stephanie:

Yeah. And then to Utah. Utah. And then he goes

Dani:

to Utah and I don't care, whatever that town is in Utah. Utah is still a hard jaunt from Boise. Yeah. it's not a 45 minute drive. No, it's hours. yeah. He's all, what is

Stephanie:

going on here?

Dani:

No rational thinking. Yeah. Authorities contacted Matt Meyer after David's murder to warn him and two other men that Delling might be coming to town to kill them.

Stephanie:

What a phone call to get. Can you imagine that? And being like, bro, they, that was high school. What are we doing?

Dani:

Matt said he spent three days with a loaded shotgun waiting for Delling. I would too. He pushed his couch against the front door of his house. Matt said he knew the stay had was coming since he was 16.

Stephanie:

It was that serious. Yeah,

Dani:

and I think that the, the authorities talked to the family. I mean, everybody obviously knew that he was, had a mental illness. But I think with all of David stealing his powers mm-hmm. And the stalking charges for Matt, they're like, yo, Matt could be coming around and they don't even know about the Arizona guy yet.

Stephanie:

It's just crazy to think, that this was going on. I cannot imagine being mad and just, I would've done this. I would've been getting out of town or doing what he was doing and, ugh. Yeah.

Dani:

Yeah. On April 2nd, Delling returned to Boise looking for his third victim. Brad Morse. Brad, a student at Boise State University met Delling years earlier on a gaming website. Brad was working at the Idaho Department of Park and Recreation. And after finishing his sh his shift, he set the alarm at 9:31 PM at the park and rec building. And this building is by the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. Oh, okay. Just to kind of give you, little insider pretty out there. Yeah. But still, I mean, it's out there, but it's still, it's close to, yeah, it's close enough. The next morning, a state park employee noticed blood on the sidewalk. The employee followed the blood and it led him to a pond where Brad was found with gunshot wounds to his head, neck, and

Stephanie:

arm. And this is someone that he was on a gaming website with years before, and he stalked him down.

Dani:

Brad was a senior science major at Boise State and was on the dean's list for his grades three times, and he was such a graduate. So

Stephanie:

the terror and the, I feel like this fits the, what you think of when you think of someone going postal like that saying mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Of just imagine even if you knew you had a bad interaction with someone three years ago. And everyone on a certain list is just getting ticked off. This is, this is the stuff that doesn't seem real, like it seems like it's only for a movie, but this actually happened. This is just insane to me.

Dani:

And that he's planning this because And find it. He already had the

Stephanie:

info. Yeah.

Dani:

I find it interesting. Just think he was already in Boise, so why didn't he go find Brad while he was in Boise? Mm-hmm. And then go. Up north? No. I feel like he had a very specific idea of what he was doing, and he had a list and a plan.

Stephanie:

Well, and he hadn't faced much like getting caught for a speeding or doing anything, so there was nothing to really, you know, he's been gallivanting all across the Pacific Northwest now, and nothing's happened to him. So he is like, well, let's keep going.

Dani:

After shooting, Brad Delling returned the rental car back to the Boise Airport around 10:50 PM and then somehow returned back to the park and rec building and took Brad's car.

Stephanie:

What in the fuck?

Dani:

That's not logical. That's ballsy and stupid. That's not logical thinking. The same day that Brad's body was found Delling age 21 was arrested in Sparks, Nevada. At four in the afternoon, he was driving Brad's Mazda and a gun was located in the vehicle. Who was next? Wright. I'm gonna tell you that I did read that he was looking for other people when he was going to Baker in Utah,

Stephanie:

and I don't know who those people were because he could have got some information of who, who knows what the wrong was. A gaming website? Yeah.

Dani:

Oh, but Brad Morris lived in Meridian. It, it wasn't like, you know, you'd think a gaming website. Oh, you're gonna meet somebody all over the country. No, they were like. In high school playing games together, and he was in Meridian and Delling was in Boise, wasn't a far reach. Yeah. On Saturday, April 14th, Delling is finally returned to Boise. It took a hot minute and an open letter to the Idaho statesman. DI's parents said they're searching for answers. They expressed their deep sadness at the loss and injury of those three fine young men. They also state they tried to get their son help, but that his problems overwhelmed. The people who tried to help him. I

bet,

Dani:

quote John was very sick and needed more than this system had to offer.

Stephanie:

Well, and especially back then. It was kind of all or nothing with mental illness. Yeah. Either you were mentally ill enough to be completely incapacitated and not able to hold down a life, or you were fine and being a whiny baby or just you were just a little weird. I feel bad for his parents in the situation. There was not the same resources, that's for sure. Yeah.

Dani:

In a jailhouse interview with the Idaho Statesman, Delling said he drove nearly 6,000 miles around the Western United States. To find the people who had hurt him in the past,

Stephanie:

a complete

Dani:

vendetta quote. I didn't have any intent to kill people, let me put it that way. I'm pretty much possessed. I have no control over my body,

Stephanie:

and he may very thoroughly believe that, and that might be his reality. does not excuse it, but.

Dani:

Delling also claimed that he had been sexually and mentally abused during his childhood. He also told the paper that there is another person involved in the murders. Authorities said ING's claims are part of his delusions. Could be.

Stephanie:

I mean, most It most likely is. Yeah.

Dani:

And then June delling pled not guilty for the murder of Brad, because these are different counties. Yeah. So it's gonna. Yeah. Have to play out. Yeah. in February, 2008, an independent court appointed psychologist said Delling suffers from severe paranoid schizophrenia. The illness would prevent him from testifying on his own behalf. Judge Debra Bell said Delling is not competent to stand trial and ordered him treatment for 90 days, and he has turned over to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for treatment. And after five months of treatment, Delling is still not mentally competent to stand trial. December, judge Bell set a trial date for July of 2009, even though Delling is still not competent. One thing we know

Stephanie:

about Idaho as we learned mm-hmm. The insanity plea is not an option.

Dani:

Nope.

Stephanie:

And the standard practice is to. Continue treatment until someone says that they're competent

Dani:

and they don't have to. Like we said before, they don't have to be competent in all of their thoughts. They have to be competent to understand what they're on trial for and how a trial works. Yeah, you understand what a judge does. You understand what a prosecuting attorney does. You understand what the def your defense attorney is here for. You understand what a jury does. That's it. It's not about any rational thoughts about No. Do you still believe, I mean, do you believe that people are stealing your aura? Yes. Do you know what a judge does? Yes. Okay. You're going to trial. Mm-hmm.

Stephanie:

Yep. And that's how it goes here. So it doesn't surprise me that judge, that the judge is like, well, I'm gonna estimate by the time July comes around next year,

Dani:

in 2009, Late January two experts testified that Dill is finally ready for trial as they would. Where is the insanity defense? Well, in the state of Idaho, that is not a defense. Nope. The law states a mental condition shall not be a defense to any charge of criminal conduct. Although Idaho was the first state to enact this law. Three other states, Utah, Montana, and Kansas. Also bar the use of the insanity defense. The usual suspects

Stephanie:

are our stepsister. Kansas is always like, you know what, Idaho, that's a random one. I like how, I like how you roll over there. What is up Kansas? Why are you so obsessed with us?

Dani:

So this wasn't always banned

Stephanie:

No.

Dani:

For the state of Idaho, it was barred through legislation in 1982. Why In 1981, we're gonna bring some Jody Foster into this. Okay. Oh, shit. In 1981, John Hinkley Jr. Attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. And when Hinkley was found not guilty by reason of insanity, it had upset a lot of people.

Stephanie:

They was not happy about this,

Dani:

and I said, no, insanity can be used as a mitigating circumstance during this sensing phase, but not as a defense.

Stephanie:

So you might get some years off or a different sentence, but you can't just say whoopsie when you know I was not mentally capable of. And even some people are not. It doesn't matter in Idaho though. No, it does matter. It does not matter. Does not matter.

Dani:

So, and for you that don't know about Hinkley, he was obsessed with Jodi Foster. I was trying to impress her by killing the President of the United States. Because, you know, as a young gentleman,

Stephanie:

what are you supposed to do in these times? It's so hard to stand

Dani:

out. Hey Jody, look what I just did. No, Jody's like. No, leave me alone, by the way. I don't even like guys. Right. Fuck has no one got that hint.

Stephanie:

There's a, there's a, there's a hint there. God.

Dani:

So that's why, and Idaho was like, it was like immediately like, oh, he got off in 81. They said, we ain't

Stephanie:

doing none of that shit. Nope.

Dani:

We're gonna change that law'cause we don't fuck around here.

Stephanie:

They're

Dani:

like,

Stephanie:

we're gonna put a stop to that before it even starts. Yep. Yeah.

Dani:

And they did.

Stephanie:

Love it. Love it or hate it guys. I, there are people that

Dani:

are truly insane and I think that this is a very good, I mean, I think de absolutely was a paranoid schizophrenic to pull this off. Like, stealing your, or like, no. And for

Stephanie:

years ago to steal

Dani:

your aura

Stephanie:

and you have to go hurt somebody else, he was definitely

Dani:

mentally ill. Yeah. But it was not an option for him. but I still find it amazing. the complexity of pulling that off and not getting caught. He

Stephanie:

learned at some point,'cause we had all those infractions and then something in him was like two, 2006.

Dani:

He's like,

Stephanie:

exactly. He's like, I got, I gotta stop freaking out on children. I gotta cut that back a little bit. I gotta stop flailing out in traffic and being a psycho and getting an infraction for everything. Something made him be like, I need to focus.

Dani:

He found his focus because he's like, and

Stephanie:

like you said, the internet. I think he found either a community, I can't

Dani:

take the gun on the plane

Stephanie:

or resources where he was like, I gotta be smart about this. Yeah. I'm growing up. I feel like. It was all still part of it. Even though he was clearly a, a incredibly broken individual mentally. Yeah,

Dani:

absolutely. But still had, and this is the thing, is that he still had the ability to put all of these things.

Stephanie:

It's a lot it, especially, you didn't have Google Maps back then. You didn't have a GPS, you had MapQuest. Yes. There. You printed out your MapQuest. Sure. That was a lot harder. I don't

Dani:

think he brought a printer with him

Stephanie:

on the trip though. Right. Did. Was he able to print out the MapQuest? I don't know. But like getting to all these places, like if you find an address of someone, imagine not having any GPS apps and you're like, I need to go see my friend in a state I've never been to and trying to find it. I mean, yeah, people did it, but. I'm not that girl. I am not that girl.

Dani:

and yeah, I'm, I was just like, wow. And obviously he's al that, he's obviously ill, but to still pull that off.'cause you would think that people that are to this degree of illness that they like, I feel like it's debilitating, like a non-functional. disability at this point with your thought process. Right. But still able to make rational choices?

Stephanie:

I feel like the religion made him, like the dipping and dabbling into religion gave him a little bit more structure, because some people do need that at a very basic form. Mm-hmm. And this isn't talking shit about anything. It's just saying, for some folks they need, that is their only form of structure that they can. Recognize and appreciate and respect. So I feel like something about that Didly dabbling 2006, it was very quiet. Mm-hmm. And it was after he was on that forum mm-hmm. Talking about, I feel like that's it. I feel like, you know what, this is all speculation, but Yes, it is. It's a educated guess, I feel.

Dani:

Um, yes. on May 27th, 2009. Delling pled guilty to second degree murder of Brad, and in August he pled guilty to second degree murder of David. At his sentencing hearing, judge Debra Bell said There is no question that Delling was in the grips of delusional thinking when he shot David Boss and Bradley Morris. But the illness still allowed him to totally premeditate murder and cause enormous destruction aimed at innocent people. Very dangerous. His illness is at such an extraordinary level. It is unfair to play society at any risk. The prospect of any rehabilitation is at best, speculative penalty is a useless concept. When you are talking about someone this gravely ill. I don't believe Delling can appreciate the impact of his conduct at the time of the shootings or even at the time of the trial. I doubt no Delling told the court, I want to say a sincere apology to the families, especially to Dave's family for what I did. Dave was a good friend of mine. If it hadn't been for what some people decided to do to me, none of this would've ever happened. I'll never do this again. I am not dangerous, in my opinion. It's just unfortunate. It's very sad. Complete blame shift though. No.'cause he's still saying he's still rationalizing in his brain that they were still, he's not a, somebody

Stephanie:

else made me do like this is all because of all the actions of other people.

Dani:

it's his mental illness. He's like, I'm sorry for what I did, but if they hadn't been stealing my power and my aura, I wouldn't have had to murder people. Yeah. Don't be stealing auras. judge Bail sentenced dealing to two life sentences without the possibility of parole. The life sentences will be concurrent. I think that was necessary. I, well, it is'cause in 2016, Delling attempted to escape from the Idaho State Correctional Institution. He climbed over two six foot management fences, but not, did not get past the two more 12 foot fences topped with razor wire. And then he was moved to the Idaho Maximum Security Institution and given an additional five years. Because he is still mentally ill, they cannot manage it. Mm-hmm. And look, I imagine the management that you get on the outside of prison is probably extraordinarily better than a management you get inside of prison. Oh, for sure. So he's, he's still ill. he might have his better days, but how sad that, for that. Era, you know, 20 plus years ago that there wasn't more help for his family,

Stephanie:

beginning in high school. Yeah.

Dani:

It should have been diagnosed. Because I wonder

Stephanie:

how much of it is like, oh, boys will be boys, it's a high school beef. Mm-hmm. You know, every high school teenage boy has their little vengeance and mm-hmm. Their little enemy or whatever, and it's like, no, this dude had to get Restraining order and I think we know as women how hard it is to get a restraining order. I wonder how hard it was for that for Matt if being a boy, if it was harder or easier.

Dani:

I think with the attorney it was probably pretty ease. I think it was probably on the easier side because it was not only the attorney, but it was Matt and his friend. It was all came up in the same thing. Mm-hmm. This guy is stalking us. And I kind of feel like that was the time when like stalking laws really came into effect. Started to pick up. It was a big deal. but yeah. and, was Sweeney's Sweeney's neighbors testified that they saw all this? This is a

Stephanie:

lawyer that's on your side, bro.

Dani:

Yeah. You know, is a nice neighborhood. Yeah. Right? Oh yeah. So like, oh, he's like, I got, can you imagine

Stephanie:

being the lawyer, being like. Bro, your parents just paid me. Yeah. This many thousand dollars like I am here. Why are you here trying to, I You're throwing your own self under the bus. Like not me. Why are you doing fucking burnouts? In my yard, bro.

Dani:

Yeah. in 2025, Delling is currently 39. God, he's still young. That is wild. And in the Idaho State Correctional Institution.

Stephanie:

What in the fuck there was? At no point in this story, Danny, did I have any idea what was gonna happen next because it is just

Dani:

off the charts. And I will tell you, I really thought about how structuring like this story, I'm like, I'm just gonna have to start from the beginning. I just have to start from the beginning because it just is a shit show and, poor, Jacob. I didn't even remember the dude he lived. Can you imagine, can you imagine getting shot six times in

Stephanie:

living? You're like, this dude I came across at one point, apparently I stole his aura and he fucking tried to murder me and shoot me five times. What the fuck, dude? Oh, it's like, dude, the, the only thing that I could think of if,'cause this sounds untrue. If, if someone was to tell me this story in like a 10 minute synopsis and be like, this happened, this happened, this happened, I'd be like, no, you took a bunch of psycho shit. You put it on a dartboard, you put a blindfold on, and then you just took a bunch of crazy shit and put it into a story. this is the type of thing. If you were a writer and were writing a fiction story about this, nobody's buying it. Yeah.

Dani:

and I just. You know, I'm not, I'm, I'm not here to dog anybody on a mental illness is a very serious thing. I just, as I was doing my initial research, was amazed at somebody with that kind of delusion, uh, you know, in the depths of their mental illness would not make any mistakes before he shot three people.

Stephanie:

I think his mistakes just weren't as big. And then he learned to kind of fly under the radar a little bit. Yeah. Maybe

Dani:

he learned his mistakes from all the little stupid shit. Yeah. And then, yeah, I was just amazed like that he was able to For

Stephanie:

sure. And I feel like once again, the religion gave him a little bit of purpose. Mm-hmm. You, you feel righteous in it. Yeah. And then also, you can have some rules that you can make for yourself that aren't even necessarily with the religion, but you can now make. Well, if I do this because of this, then it's not bad.

Dani:

And to be so calm when buying the gun from Harv, he's just like, yeah, just, I can't imagine. I just moved here from, I'm a student, I just moved here from Oregon. Just, you know, I give myself a gun. I wanna give myself a gun shooting. Yeah. Target practice. Like totally playing it cool when in his mind.

Stephanie:

He's going, John Dolans or whatever. Yeah.

Dani:

And in his mind he is like, I'm gonna go get Brad and I'm gonna get David and I'm gonna get, you know, and the other people on his list that I was unable to locate Who those, he didn't drive to Baker City for no reason. Mm-hmm. And he didn't drive to Utah for no reason. So anyway, that's where John Dilling story lands. Two life sentences without the possibility of parole plus five years and an extra five years for trying to climb his way outta prison. Just a little, little cherry on top for that. That's wild to me. Idaho doesn't mess around with the insanity defense. Not since the early eighties. So no matter how delusional dilling was, the law sought as cold, premeditated murder, and it really

Stephanie:

was'cause he planned it and he executed it. According to like the call with the guy, the, and then him just inviting him in. You know, that's, that's cunning and that's manipulation. So, crazy story. Danny, this is one of the wilder ones I think that you've ever brought.

Dani:

it was hard for me because I know I'm not, like I said, the mental illness thing is a, is definitely a thing, but I was just, again,

Stephanie:

it's flabbergasting. Yeah.

Dani:

My bbs were gassed at the planning and, the metic to go back to his parents after the Arizona shooting. Just pop in, be like, yo, hey, I'm here and I know you

Stephanie:

don't want me here. I'm just here for a few days until I get on my plane. I'm gonna go back to Boise.

Dani:

So anyways,

Stephanie:

thanks for listening guys. Yes, thank you so much. we'll have more stuff for you TikTok. coming soon. We might do another little giveaway here in a few weeks, so keep your eyes and ears peeled. If you don't follow us on TikTok, follow us'cause we like to do little giveaways here and there when we can. And we'd love to get you some stickers. We don't have anything. We're not giving away trip trips to, you know, Maui or anything, but we do have stickers and that's almost the same thing. Almost the same.

Dani:

What is it?

Stephanie:

Your Jet two? Holiday, nothing. Pizza. Jet two. Holiday to the Lethal Library. Stickers mailed to you by US.

Dani:

Alrighty guys, thank you so much for your support. We appreciate our listeners and again. Tell your friends if they're into the murder mysteries. Yes, please. Word of mouth is the best thing, so that's the

Stephanie:

best. Alright, well ten four rubber ducky. Fuck yeah.

People on this episode

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Dani

Host
Head Shot

Stephanie

Host