Robert Tulloch and James Parker were two teen killers who were responsible for what is known as the Dartmouth Murders
According to court documents Robert Tulloch (photo right) and James Parker decided that they were tired of America and wanted to raise enough money so they could flee to Australia. The two decided the best way to fulfill their plan was to commit a series of home invasions
The two teen killers would end up at the door of Half and Susanne Zantop. two Dartmouth College professors. Pretending to be students doing a research project they would be invited into the home. When Half Zantop relalized they were ill prepared he began to criticize the two teens. That is when Robert Tulloch would attack him with a knife, stabbing the Dartmouth professor several times causing his death. When Susanne Zantop investigated the noise she would be stabbed to death by James Parker
The two teen killers would flee the scene leaving behind the knife sheafs as well as a bloody footprint
The police would be able to track Robert Tulloch and James Parker down after an investigation. The pair would flee and ultimately be arrested in Indiana and brought back to New Hampshire where they would be charged with the double murder
James Parker quickly struck a plea deal and agreed to testify against Robert Tulloch who he claimed was more responsible for the murders
James Parker would be sentenced to twenty five years to life
Robert Tulloch would be sentenced to life in prison without parole
James Parker would be released on parole in 2024 after serving twenty two years behind bars
Robert Tulloch And James Parker Case
It’s hard to imagine two people less deserving of the cruel fate meted out to them. Dartmouth College professors Half and Susanne Zantop were brilliant, accomplished and deeply loved by many. Yet, they died horribly while trying to do a good deed.
On Jan. 27, 2001, a friend arrived for dinner at the Zantops’ home, in Etna, N.H. — about four miles from Dartmouth. She found the doors open, the house silent, and the blood-drenched corpses of her friends sprawled in the study.
The murders were particularly unsettling because the Zantops were the kind of people who seemed to have no enemies. They had emigrated from Germany 25 years earlier and were pillars of the community, loved by colleagues and students at the Ivy League school. Susanne, 55, was chair of the German department and taught comparative literature. Half, 62, was a professor of earth sciences and geology, a man so steeped in his subject and so knowledgeable that students nicknamed him “The Rock God,” wrote Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff in their book on the case, “Judgment Ridge.”
The couple had two grown daughters, one a doctor and the other an international aid worker. They also had a wide circle of friends. One of their great pleasures was inviting people over for dinner parties. They were generous, caring, happy and always eager to extend a helping hand.
Burglary was quickly ruled out. The home was filled with treasures, from antique temple dogs to laptop computers. All that was missing was Half’s wallet.
In fact, the killers had left something behind — a pair of plastic knife sheaths that had covered the murder weapons. They were designed for a specific kind of 7-inch-long blade, a commando-style knife.
With little more to go on, investigators pored over the sales records of the knife manufacturer. A December 2000 online sale of two knives to someone named Jim in Chelsea, Vt., led to the suspects.
Police picked them up as they were halfway across the country, in Indiana, making their way toward California, hitchhiking with interstate truckers. CB chatter about the riders allowed police to pinpoint them.
They turned out to be a couple of kids — James Parker, 16, and Robert Tulloch, 17. Both were bright students who got good grades. Both had families, friends and normal interests — sports, music and girls.
They also had dangerously inflated egos, the absolute certainty that they were more important, and smarter, than everyone else,
Obviously, they weren’t smart enough to get away with murder. Investigators found plenty to tie them to the killings, including the weapons, which Tulloch left in a box in his room. Investigators also had fingerprints, bloody footprints and DNA from blood on the knives matching that of the victims.
In November 2001, Parker cut a plea deal, in which he agreed to testify against his school chum in exchange for a drastically reduced charge — accessory to second-degree murder for Susanne’s killing. It carried a sentence of 25 to life, making him eligible for parole in 2026.
Parker gave a full confession, describing everything leading up to the killings, especially the most baffling piece of the puzzle — why they chose those victims.
Money turned out to be the motive, even though they made off with nothing. Why the Zantops? Random chance.
Parker explained that the boys, who had been friends since elementary school, found small-town life too confining for their vastly superior brains.
Australia, and a life of crime, was their dream of adventure. They needed $10,000 to get started.
The pair knocked around a lot of ideas — car theft, mail robbery, hitting old people with rocks and stealing their money. Finally, they settled on a scheme. Pretending to be students of environmental studies, they would knock on doors and ask if they could come in to conduct a survey.
Once inside, they would pull out a weapon, tie up their victims and threaten them until they turned over their ATM cards and PIN numbers.
The first time — July 17, 2000, in Vershire, Vt. — the budding criminal masterminds were thwarted by a homeowner who was unwilling to open his door to a couple of strangers, and carried a 9-mm. Glock to make his point.
Six months passed before they tried again. No one was home at the first houses they approached. Then they knocked on a door and Half Zantop opened it.
They asked if he would give them a few minutes to answer some questions about the environment.
At first, Half hesitated. His wife was making lunch and he didn’t have time. But the teacher in him came out, and he led the boys into his study. Tulloch started to bumble through a phony interview.
After listening to a few inept questions, the professor offered some criticism. “You need to be more prepared,” he said, and turned to find the phone number of someone who could help the boys.
In a rage, Tulloch pulled the knife from a backpack and started stabbing. Hearing her husband’s screams, Susanne dashed in from the kitchen. “Slit her throat!” Tulloch yelled. Parker complied.
Tulloch pled guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life without possibility of parole.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such sentences for juveniles were cruel and unusual punishment and he was granted a resentencing hearing.
But it seems unlikely that he will ever again seek adventure, at least not outside the confines of a New Hampshire prison.
Robert Tulloch Now
| NAME | AGE | INMATE ID | TERM ID | BOOKED DATE | MAXED | FACILITY |
| ROBERT WILBERT TULLOCH | 42 | 75385 | 28085 | 04/04/2002 | 3/10/2101 | NH State Prison for Men |
