CONCORD, NH – A man who spent more than two decades in prison for the 2001 murders of two married Dartmouth College professors has been released on parole.
James Parker was 16 when he was part of a conspiracy with his best friend that resulted in the deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop in Hanover, New Hampshire. Now barely in his 40s, he appears before the state parole board, years after pleading guilty to accessory to second-degree murder and nearly serving the minimum term of his 25-year-to-life sentence.
Lawyer says he has been rehabilitated himself
His attorney and Department of Corrections officials said he has taken many steps over the years to rehabilitate himself and improve the lives of fellow inmates. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in prison and created paintings that are displayed in the building. He has participated in theater, music and sports activities and helped develop educational guides for prisoners.
Parker requested a reduced sentence in 2018. By law, he was eligible because he had served two-thirds of his term, but he withdrew the petition in 2019 after the Zantops’ two daughters objected.
Parker and then 17-year-old Robert Tulloch, bored with their lives in nearby Chelsea, Vermont, wanted to move to Australia and estimated they would need $10,000 for the trip. Ultimately, they decided that they would knock on homeowners’ doors under the pretense of conducting an investigation into environmental issues, then tie up their victims and steal their credit card and ATM information. They planned to have their prisoners provide the PIN numbers before killing them.
Parker, who cooperated with prosecutors and agreed to testify against Tulloch, said they chose the Zantop house because it looked expensive and was surrounded by trees. Half Zantop let them in on January 27, 2001. Parker told police the interview lasted at least 10 minutes before Tulloch stabbed Zantop and then ordered him to attack Susanne Zantop. Tulloch also stabbed her.
CBS Boston
They fled with Half Zantop’s wallet, which contained approximately $340 and a list of numbers, but then realized they had left sheaths for their knives at the house. They tried to go back, but saw that there was a police officer in the driveway. Fingerprints on a knife sheath and a bloody boot print linked them to the crime, but after being questioned by police they fled and hitchhiked west. They were arrested weeks later at a truck stop in Indiana.
Co-conspirator scheduled for sentencing hearing
Tulloch, now 40, had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He received the mandatory life sentence without parole. He will be heard again in June. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 2012 that it is unconstitutional to sentence juvenile offenders to mandatory life in prison without parole, and the state Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that Tulloch and four other men who received such sentences for murders they committed as teenagers committed should be sentenced again. -convicted.
Susanne Zantop, 55, and Half Zantop, 62, were born in Germany. She was head of Dartmouth’s German studies department. He taught earth sciences. The professors were respected in their fields and loved by colleagues and students, many of whom had been extended an open invitation to their home, a few miles from Dartmouth’s campus.
