Teens Arrested in Dartmouth Case

Early yesterday morning, authorities arrested Robert Tulloch, 17, and James Parker, 16, for the murders of Dartmouth College professors Half and Susanne Zantop.

The two teens were arrested in New Castle, Ind., while attempting to escape to California.

"They have been apprehended and are in our custody," said Kim Cronk, sheriff of Indiana's Henry County.

The popular professors were found stabbed to death in their home on Jan. 27. But investigators were largely silent about possible suspects until this past weekend.

On Saturday, the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office announced they had issued arrest warrants for the two teens, natives of Chelsea, Vt., for "acting in concert to cause the deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop by stabbing them multiple times in the head and chest."

A nation-wide manhunt for the young men ensued.

The men fled New Hampshire last Thursday in a silver Audi which belonged to a family member.

On Friday, the two abandoned the car at a Sturbridge, Mass. truck stop and hitchhiked with several truck drivers to Indiana, where they were subsequently apprehended, said Malinda Lawrence, a representative from the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, in a press conference yesterday.

Tulloch and Parker had originally left Chelsea shortly after the murders, but were gone for only two or three days. Upon returning, they told friends they had left to go rock climbing in Colorado but were forced to turn back when a cut on Tulloch's leg became infected.

Orange County, Vt., Sheriff Dennis McClure said the boys became suspects when authorities learned that one had purchased a military-style knife over the Internet.

The young men came in voluntarily last Thursday for fingerprinting before fleeing.

Warrants were issued for their arrests late Friday and early Saturday.

"All I know is that the prints probably matched enough [from the crime scene] for an identification," McClure said.

Authorities have refused to comment on any possible motive or other connection between the alleged killers and the Zantops.

Robert Tulloch's mother expressed support for her son after his arrest yesterday morning.

"We love our son, and we want the press to know that he is innocent until proven guilty," said Diane Tulloch, a registered nurse who works with a firm associated with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Many in the men's hometown, a small blue-collar community about 25 miles from Dartmouth, said they were shocked by the possbility of the teens' connection to the murders. Many described them as positive and having goods senses of humor, incapable of murder.

"[Tulloch] was your run-of-the-mill good student," said Tulloch's neighbor Molly Jackson, a ninth grader in the Chelsea Public Schools.

She said Tulloch played soccer, was president of the student council and a member of the debate team.

Controversy over the suspects' motive and identity began on Friday, when The Boston Globe reported that "investigators believe the killings of Dartmouth College professors Half and Susanne Zantop were crimes of passion, most likely resulting from an adulterous love affair involving Half Zantop."

Later that day, the New Hampshire Attorney General Philip McLaughlin denied the Globe's report, stating, "Investigators do not hold the belief attributed to them in the Globe story... No responsible and knowledgeable law enforcement official would provide the Globe with the information it attributed to official anonymous sources."

Globe Editor Matthew Storin responded on Friday. "We're very comfortable with our story," he said. "We stand by our story."

Globe editors refused to comment further on the story yesterday.

--Wire reports were used in compiling this story.