2001 Dartmouth College murders

Last updated

2001 Dartmouth College murders
DateJanuary 27, 2001 (2001-01-27)
Location Etna, New Hampshire, US
Coordinates 43°41′51″N72°13′35″W / 43.6975°N 72.2264°W / 43.6975; -72.2264
TypeDouble homicide
Deaths
2
  • Professor Half Zantop
  • Professor Susanne Zantop
Arrests2
ConvictedJames Jennings Parker
Robert Wilbert Tulloch
VerdictGuilty
ConvictionsParker: second-degree murder
Tulloch: first-degree murder

On January 27, 2001, Dartmouth College professors Half and Susanne Zantop, aged 62 and 55 respectively, were stabbed to death at their home in Etna, New Hampshire. Originally from Germany, the couple had been teaching at Dartmouth since the 1970s. High school classmates James J. Parker, age 16, and Robert W. Tulloch, age 17, were charged with first-degree murder. [1] [2]

Contents

Parker pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for testifying against Tulloch, and was sentenced to 25 to life. Tulloch pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole. In 2014 the New Hampshire Supreme Court ordered Tulloch's sentence reviewed.

Half and Susanne Zantop

Half Zantop met Susanne Korsukewitz while they were both studying at Stanford University in the mid-1960s. They were both from Germany. [3] Fascinated with geology, Half had earned a bachelor's degree from Freiburg University. Susanne was working on her master's degree in political science. Half earned a Ph.D. in geology in 1969 at Stanford and worked as a field geologist. He and Susanne were married in 1970. [4] They had two daughters, Veronika and Mariana.

Susanne taught in the German department at Dartmouth College and was chair of that faculty. Half taught geology and earth science, and was popular among many of his students. In 2000, they had begun discussing retirement in the near future.

The murders

Tulloch and Parker went to the Zantop residence on the morning of January 27, 2001. Posing as students doing research for a school survey, they intended to take the occupants by surprise, threaten them into revealing their PINs, and rob and kill them. Half allowed them inside, while Susanne was preparing a dish for a dinner she was hosting that evening at home.

According to his confession, Parker said that Zantop was "an alright guy" and that they did not need to kill him. Tulloch allegedly became angered when Zantop, a professor of earth science, told him that he had to come more prepared, for questions for the purported research. Tulloch resented the comments and attacked Zantop when he turned away to look for a phone number. Tulloch took his SOG Knife and repeatedly stabbed Half in the chest and face, accidentally cutting his own leg in the process.

When Susanne came from the kitchen and tried to stop him, Parker stabbed and injured her, allegedly at Tulloch's orders. Tulloch also stabbed her in the head and body, killing her. Covered in blood, the pair left after taking $340 from Half's wallet. They left their knife sheaths at the scene.

Discovery and capture

The Zantops' bodies were found that evening by family friend Roxana Verona, who had arrived as an invited guest for dinner. She immediately notified police.

Investigators at first speculated that it was a crime of passion by someone having an affair with Half, but that idea was soon disproved. There were several false leads. The Associated Press reported at least three persons of interest were interviewed by police and that "A task force set up after the murders also received hundreds of phone calls, letters and e-mails from people with wild theories about the killings". After finding a bloody footprint and the two distinctive knife sheaths at the scene, the police traced the knives to Parker three weeks after the murders. [5]

According to the 16-year-old Parker, he had not gotten into trouble at school or in the community. He had an alibi for the time of the crime. He said that he bought the knives with Tulloch in order to build a fort. He claimed that they sold them at a surplus store after finding they were too heavy. Parker agreed to undergo fingerprinting.

The investigators paid Tulloch a visit. At that time, they doubted that the pair were the killers and told Tulloch he was not required to speak with them. Tulloch did talk with them without a lawyer present and told them the same story as had Parker. When they asked about the deep cut above his right knee, he told them that he slipped on a rock and cut himself on a metal spigot. When they asked to fingerprint him and borrow boots for matching purposes, he signed a search warrant.

The same request had not been made of Parker, because it was suggested by a detective whom they had phoned to get his version of the story.

The following day, Tulloch and Parker's families found that the boys had left their homes. When Parker's father found a note stating "Don't call the cops", he quickly did. Police found that Tulloch's bootprints matched those found in the Zantops' home. Fingerprints taken from the two youths matched those at the crime scene. A warrant was put out for Tulloch's arrest. Parker, still a minor, was sought for questioning in the murders.

Believing that police would be looking for their car, the pair abandoned Parker's silver Audi at a truck stop in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, intending to hitchhike to California. A truck driver who picked them up in New Jersey announced their intent to travel west via CB radio. A police officer, pretending to be another driver, offered to pick them up. At the Flying J truck stop in Spiceland, Indiana, the pair were captured and taken into custody by authorities.

Prosecution

One of the prosecutors in this case was assistant Attorney General Kelly Ayotte. She later was appointed as the State Attorney General. Later she was elected as a U.S. Senator.

The two youths were indicted on a range of charges. The indictment said that they had made four previous tries over six months, to gain entry to houses in the area in Vermont and New Hampshire, with the intent of robbing their victims, getting their ATM cards and passwords, and then killing them. In the first case, on July 19, 2000, they cut the telephone wires to a house in Vershire, Vermont. Tulloch knocked on the door and tried to gain entry with a story about his car having broken down. He was refused entry, as they were in the other three instances before they attacked the Zantops. [6]

After the two young men were captured and jailed pending trial, the prosecution charged Parker as an adult because of the severity of the crime, making him liable to stand trial. He made a plea bargain with the state in which he would testify against Tulloch as a witness, plead guilty to second-degree murder, and receive a maximum sentence of twenty-five years to life with a possibility of parole after 16 years. The profits from any book deals or movie offers that he might agree to, will go directly to the Zantops' children.

Tulloch's lawyer tried, without success, to have Tulloch certified as suffering from mental illness, in order to use the insanity defense. Tulloch pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Sentencing

During the sentencing hearing, Parker wept and expressed remorse during his apology for his part in the killings. He was sentenced to 25 years with a possibility of parole after 16 years.

After Tulloch's guilty plea, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. He showed no emotion at the sentencing hearing and made no statement. [7]

Aftermath (as of 2015)

Parker is being held in the New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord. He has been classified as a Custody Level 3 prisoner, medium custody, [8] which means that he has freedom to move within the prison, except for head counts and lock downs at night. This classification allows inmates to leave their cells until the mandatory lockdown at 11 P.M. Prison officials have reported that Parker takes part in play productions put on by inmates, works at arts and crafts, plays guitar and practices yoga.

Tulloch is held in the same prison, after beginning his sentence at the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility in Berlin. He is also in Custody Level 3, medium custody. He eats meals in the same chow hall at the same time as Parker. Their contact is reported as minimal. [9]

Tulloch eligible for judicial review for re-sentencing

In 2012, the US Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama , that mandatory sentencing to life imprisonment without parole of persons who committed a crime as juveniles was unconstitutional. It ruled that this decision needed to be applied retroactively, with cases to be reviewed of persons sentenced to LWOP for crimes committed as juveniles. [10] Their ruling was based on scientific studies that have shown conclusively that juvenile brains are still unformed. The high court based their decision on the basis that juvenile offenders have “diminished culpability and greater prospects for reform” and judges should be able to consider the “mitigating qualities of youth” in sentencing. [11]

In August 2014, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that Tulloch's case would be among four to be reviewed by the court for re-sentencing. The initial review had been appealed by the state attorney general. Parker is not affected by this ruling, because he was not charged with first-degree murder, an adult charge that carries a mandatory LWOP sentence. [10] After review of different factors in the case, the court could again re-sentence Tulloch to life imprisonment without parole, [11] or could impose a different sentence. Tulloch's re-sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 2024. [12]

Parker Parole

On April 18, 2024 James Parker was granted parole. He is expected to be released in May 2024, once a housing plan is in place. Parker expressed profound remorse for the murders and had a track record as a good inmate, including earning bachelor's and master's degrees while in prison. [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted criminals are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives. Crimes that warrant life imprisonment are extremely serious and usually violent. Examples of these crimes are murder, torture, terrorism, child abuse resulting in death, rape, espionage, treason, illegal drug trade, human trafficking, severe fraud and financial crimes, aggravated property damage, arson, hate crime, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, piracy, aircraft hijacking, and genocide.

Pamela Ann Smart is an American woman who was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and witness tampering in the death of her husband, Greggory Smart, in 1990. Smart, then aged 22, had conspired with her underaged boyfriend, then 15-year-old William "Billy" Flynn, and three of his friends to have Greggory (24) murdered in Derry, New Hampshire. She is currently serving a life sentence at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, a maximum security prison in Westchester County, New York.

Lee Boyd Malvo, also known as John Lee Malvo, is an American convicted murderer who, along with John Allen Muhammad, committed a series of murders dubbed the D.C. sniper attacks over a three-week period in October 2002. Malvo was aged 17 during the span of the shootings. He was serving multiple life sentences at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia, a supermax prison. Muhammad was executed in 2009.

A thrill killing is premeditated or random murder that is motivated by the sheer excitement of the act. While there have been attempts to categorize multiple murders, such as identifying "thrill killing" as a type of "hedonistic mass killing", actual details of events frequently overlap category definitions making attempts at such distinctions problematic.

Capital punishment was abolished in 2019 in New Hampshire for persons convicted of capital murder. It remains a legal penalty for crimes committed prior to May 30, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Strohmeyer</span> American convicted murderer (born 1978)

Jeremy Strohmeyer is an American convicted murderer, serving four consecutive life terms for the sexual assault and murder of 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson at Primadonna Resort and Casino in Primm, Nevada, on May 25, 1997.

The Bega schoolgirl murders refer to the abduction, rape and murder of two Australian schoolgirls; 14-year-old Lauren Margaret Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Emma Collins of Bega, New South Wales, Australia on 6 October 1997. They were abducted by Leslie Camilleri and Lindsay Beckett, both from the New South Wales town of Yass. The men subjected the girls to repeated rapes and sexual assaults on five or more separate occasions, while driving them to remote locations throughout rural New South Wales and Victoria. Over a twelve-hour period, the girls had been driven several hundred kilometres from Bega to Fiddler's Green Creek in Victoria, where they were stabbed to death by Beckett under the order of Camilleri.

In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence that lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for early release after a minimum term set by the judge. In exceptional cases a judge may impose a "whole life order", meaning that the offender is never considered for parole, although they may still be released on compassionate grounds at the discretion of the Home Secretary. Whole life orders are usually imposed for aggravated murder, and can only be imposed where the offender was at least 21 years old at the time of the offence being committed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Michael Briggs</span> Police officer murdered in New Hampshire, U.S.

The murder of Michael Briggs occurred on October 16, 2006, in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. Briggs, a police officer, was shot while on duty and was transported to the hospital, where he died of his injuries. The suspect, Michael "Stix" Addison, fled New Hampshire, prompting a manhunt by police. Fifteen hours after the shooting, Addison was arrested in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was charged by Boston Police with being a fugitive from justice. He waived domestic extradition and was transported back to New Hampshire.

In the United States, life imprisonment is the most severe punishment provided by law in states with no valid capital punishment statute, and second-most in those with a valid statute. According to a 2013 study, 1 of every 2 000 inhabitants of the U.S. were imprisoned for life as of 2012.

Scott Edgar Dyleski is an American murderer, convicted of murdering his neighbor, Pamela Vitale, the wife of prominent attorney Daniel Horowitz. He received the maximum penalty allowed by the law, life in prison without parole. As a juvenile at the time of the murder, he did not qualify for the death penalty. The murder was committed on October 15, 2005, when Dyleski was 16 years old. He is currently serving his sentence in California State Prison, Corcoran. In 2018, Dyleski's sentence was reduced to 25 years to life in prison, after the state of California passed Senate Bill 394, which gives juveniles tried as adults and sentenced to life without parole a chance for eventual freedom. He will be eligible for parole in 2030.

Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443 (1971), was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with the Fourth Amendment and the automobile exception.

Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that juvenile offenders cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for non-homicide offenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Jason Sweeney</span> 2003 murder in Pennsylvania, United States

Jason Keel Sweeney was a construction worker from Fishtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who at the age of 16 was murdered by four teenagers for his paycheck on May 30, 2003. The perpetrators included a girl he was dating and his best friend since childhood. Due to the manner in which Sweeney was murdered, the ages of the teens involved, and the seeming indifference of the perpetrators, the crime received national media coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 South Valley homicides</span>

A mass shooting on January 19, 2013, in South Valley, New Mexico, resulted in the deaths of five family members of the Griego family: the parents and three younger children. They were shot with two different weapons. The 15-year-old eldest son of the family, Nehemiah Griego, was arrested and charged with the shootings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Skylar Neese</span> 2012 murder in West Virginia, United States

Skylar Annette Neese was an American teenage girl who disappeared from her home in Star City, West Virginia, around midnight on July 6, 2012. Neese's body was found in January 2013, across the nearby state line, in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania.

Sheila LaBarre is an American murderer and possible serial killer. She was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, with no prospect of parole after being convicted of killing two men, Kenneth Countie and Michael Deloge, in Epping, New Hampshire. At the time of the crimes, LaBarre lived in Epping on a farm.

Jarmecca Yvonne "Nikki" Whitehead was a 34-year-old mother of 16-year-old identical twins Jasmiyah Kaneesha and Tasmiyah Janeesha Whitehead. On the afternoon of January 13, 2010, she was found dead in the bathroom of her Conyers, Georgia, home in the Bridle Ridge Walk subdivision. She had been beaten with a vase and stabbed repeatedly. Her daughters were arrested four months after the slaying on May 21, 2010, and charged with murder. Both initially pleaded not guilty. In a plea agreement, each twin pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter in 2014. They were sentenced to serve 30 years in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Tessa Majors</span> Murder of a college student in New York City

The murder of Tessa Majors occurred near Morningside Park in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, on December 11, 2019. Majors, an eighteen-year-old student at Barnard College, was attacked and stabbed by three teenagers as part of a robbery. Majors was discovered collapsed and bleeding on a staircase exiting Morningside Park and transported to a nearby hospital, ultimately succumbing to the injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Antonio Santiago</span> Murder of an infant during an attempted robbery

One-year-old Antonio Santiago was murdered on March 21, 2013, during an attempted robbery in Brunswick, Georgia, United States. As Santiago and his mother, Sherry West, were returning home from the post office, they were confronted by two youths, 15-year-old Dominique Lang and 17-year-old De'Marquise Elkins. Elkins, who had previously shot another victim he tried to rob, pointed a gun at West and demanded money. When she did not comply he fired two .22-caliber bullets, one of which grazed her head, and the other of which went through her leg. He then shot Santiago in the face, killing him. The murder received national as well as international attention due to the victim's young age.

References

  1. ↑ Snow, Robert L. (2005). Murder 101: Homicide and Its Investigation. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. p. 224. ISBN   978-0-275-98432-8. (see pp. 73–77)
  2. ↑ Douglas, John; Ann W. Burgess; Allen G. Burgess; Robert K. Ressler (2006). Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. p. 576. ISBN   978-0-7879-8501-1. (see p. 96)
  3. ↑ Baer, Stella (January 29, 2001). "Susanne Zantop: "Unfailingly Gentle"". The Dartmouth Review. Archived from the original on August 18, 2001. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  4. ↑ Noe, Denise (February 16, 2003). "Etna Atrocity". Crime Library. Court TV. Archived from the original on February 16, 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  5. ↑ Weber, Harry R. (June 28, 2002). "False leads in Dartmouth murder case took investigators elsewhere". Boston Globe. Associated Press. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
  6. ↑ Pam Belluck, "Indictment in Dartmouth Case Outlines Robbery-Killing Plan", New York Times, February 2, 2002; accessed March 13, 2017
  7. ↑ "Hearts of Darkness". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Why Classify?" (PDF). Time in Prison. New Hampshire Department of Corrections: 8. January 2001. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  9. ↑ Noe, Denise. "The Dartmouth Murders". Notorious Murders. truTV. Archived from the original on June 13, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Bruce Wright, "Convicts Who Killed as Juveniles to be Re-sentenced, New Hampshire Court Rules", Boston.com, August 29, 2014; accessed March 13, 2017
  11. 1 2 Peter Schworm and John R. Ellement, "Dartmouth professors’ murderer to get new sentence", Boston Globe, August 29, 2014; accessed March 13, 2017
  12. ↑ https://www.wmur.com/article/resentencing-tulloch-hearing-delayed-3124/60048744
  13. ↑ https://www.wmur.com/article/half-susanne-zantop-james-parker-parole-granted/60536412
  14. ↑ https://www.wmur.com/article/video-james-parker-dartmouth-murders-parole-418/60538588

Further reading


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.