Officials Keep Quiet in Dartmouth Killings

The news of the murders of two Dartmouth College professors, Susanne and Half Zantop, has shaken the campus ever since a dinner guest found the couple's bodies Saturday evening in their study. Citing the "integrity" of the investigation process, officials have not yet released a cause of death.

Investigators have ruled out numerous leads in the murders, but said an arrest is not imminent, according to Dan Mullen, assistant attorney general of New Hampshire.

In a news conference yesterday, New Hampshire Attorney General Philip McLaughlin announced that investigators decided a bloody handprint found Monday in a college dormitory was not related to the murders.

However, investigators have not yet been able to narrow the field of possibilities much more. Police say they still cannot rule out the possibility the killings were random, that they resulted from a robbery, that a student was the killer, that the killer is still in town or that there are multiple killers.

More than 30 investigators on snowshoes spent Sunday afternoon scouring the snowy woods around the Zantop's house and are still searching for clues.

"We're not ruling in, or out, anything," McLaughlin said.

Although born in Germany, both Half Zantop, 62, and Susanne Zantop, 55, had been naturalized and had taught at the college for over two decades.

The Zantops have two daughters, who both arrived in Hanover yesterday, and other family members are still arriving, according to Dartmouth Public Affairs Officer Tamara Steinert. Dartmouth is planning a memorial service, but has not finalized details.

A counseling hotline set-up by Dartmouth for concerned parents, students, faculty and alumni has received about a hundred calls.

Classes at the College are continuing normally, although Steinert said some professors have individually cancelled or postponed classes. Conselors met yesterday with the students in the Zantops' classes.

"We're trying as much as possible to continue on," Steinert said.

The college has expanded its escort service and increased campus security patrols, but McLaughlin said he would not urge stronger precautions without threats or some other basis for believing the killer planned to strike again.

"We have absolutely no basis to tell the community that, and it would be irresponsible," he said.

He added: "Obviously, our public safety objective is to solve this as soon as humanly possible."

Half Zantop taught earth sciences; Susanne Zantop was head of the German Studies Department and taught courses in comparative literature and women's studies.

Friends and students described both as generous with their time and pillars of the Dartmouth community, both as people and academics. They traveled frequently, including trips with students, and frequently invited students and colleagues to their home.

"I am stunned and totally shocked by it," said Oran Young, an environmental studies professor and friend of both victims. "Most people here have felt that it's a safe community and something like this couldn't happen."

"The feeling is, 'My God, how do you respond to such a thing?'" Young said. "The unthinkable is hard to deal with."

Dartmouth, located in the town of Hanover N.H., population 10,000, has been largely crime free for decades. In 1991, two Dartmouth graduate students were murdered by a spurned lover. Prior to that, police say Hanover had not had a murder in 40 years.

--Associated Press reports were used in the compilation of this article.

--Staff Writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.