Ex-resident charged with murder

Only a few hours after Boise City Police issued a warrant Friday for the arrest of Brent Torolano on second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Penny Moore, the 19-year-old former Mountain Home resident turned himself into police.

Boise police announced they were seeking Tortolano at about the same time Friday that Moore, 20, also a former resident of Mountain Home, was being buried in the cemetery here.

She died four days after being shot in the head with a .25 caliber weapon, apparently outside a Taco Bell restaurant on Broadway Avenue in Boise on Oct. 4.

Tortolano had originally told police he had gone into the restaurant to buy food, and when he returned to the car, found Moore shot through the passenger-side window.

He then said he had panicked and began driving down Broadway to the hospital before stopping at the Mister Carwash on Broadway and calling police. Police said he sounded hysterial when he made the 911 call.

Boise police called the shooting a "domestic violence homicide" conducted "in the heat of passion." They believe the couple had been arguing before the shooting. They said blood on Tortolano's clothing helped link him to the crime. They believe the gun used was Moore's, but it has not been found. His presence with the victim, the short period of time he was away from her, and the fact that he had lied about having access to her gun, along with the "volatile relationship" he had with the victim, all led police to make him their prime suspect in the case.

Tortolano had been in trouble with local authorities in the past and had moved from the area this year after a series of burglary charges against him had been dropped. He and his girlfriend had been living in Caldwell at the time of the shooting.

Tortolano was to be arraigned this week and a preliminary hearing will be held to determine if he should be bound over for trial on second-degree murder charges.