Man already in prison for kidnapping, sexual abusing minor now charged with 1982 cold-case murder of Idaho girl

Authorities have formally charged a suspect in the nearly 40-year-old cold case murder of a 9-year-old girl in Idaho.

David Allen Dalrymple, 64, is accused of the first-degree murder and rape of Daralyn Johnson. If convicted of the charges against him, he could receive the death penalty, KTVB reported.

On Feb. 24, 1982, Johnson was walking to her elementary school in Nampa when she vanished. Three days later, a fisherman found the child’s body near the Snake River.

According to autopsy results, Johnson was raped and suffered blunt force trauma to her head and body. Her cause of death was determined to be drowning.

In 2020, investigators linked Dalrymple to the murder using genetic genealogy and DNA evidence extracted from pubic hairs found in the victim’s underwear.

According to KTVB, the suspect was already in prison serving a 20-year-to-life sentence in connection to a separate case, the kidnapping and sexual abuse of a minor under 16 in 2004.

Police now believe Dalrymple may also be linked to the sexual abuse of two other young girls between the ages of 9 and 11.

“During our investigation, the Canyon County Sheriff's Office have located two other victims of similar age to Daralyn, who never reported to law enforcement to being sexually abused by David Dalrymple," Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue said shortly after DNA allegedly linked him to Johnson’s death.

One of the girls claimed that “Dalrymple took her down to the river near Eagle, Idaho, and threatened to ‘make her disappear’ if she disclosed the abuse,” KTVB reported, citing a probable cause affidavit.

In 2001, a man who was wrongly convicted and spent 18 years on death row for killing Johnson was exonerated and released after DNA tests conducted on hair collected at the crime scene excluded him as a suspect in her murder.