Dartmouth Slay May Have Roots in Holocaust

Feb. 23, 2001 -- Investigators found neo-Nazi and white supremacist literature in the room of one of the teenagers accused in the stabbing deaths of two popular Dartmouth College professors, sources said.

Sources familiar with the investigation told ABCNEWS' PrimeTime the material was found in the room of Robert Tulloch, 17. Investigators have not said whether they believe they have discovered a motive for the brutal killings, though some acknowledged privately that they had strong theories.

The two victims, Half and Susanne Zantop, were both born in Germany, and they were outspoken in their liberal convictions and their view that Germany should take more responsibility for the Holocaust. They were stabbed to death in their home on Jan. 27, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

A spokesman for the New Hampshire attorney general's office, which is investigating the killings, declined to comment on what was found in the suspects' homes or on a possible motive for the crime.

Tulloch and James Parker, 16, were arrested early Monday at a truckstop in Indiana. They were charged as adults with first-degree murder in the stabbings.

Some of Tulloch's friends suggested the material in his room — which included literature about white supremacists, the Third Reich and theories that the Holocaust never occurred — could have been for a school project, according to PrimeTime.

A friend of the Zantops and a fellow professor at Dartmouth said he didn't see any reason to believe that reading neo-Nazi literature would have led anyone to target the two.

"I doubt that they were targeted because of their political history, because I think there are many other people who could have been so targeted just well," Jim Aronson said. "We also have to entertain the hypothesis that these kids will be just infected by that literature and committed such a violent crime, perhaps even randomly."

People who know the two suspects said neither of them seemed like the type to commit a brutal killing, whatever the motivation.

"They're not drug people," Zach Courts told PrimeTtime. "They're not knife people. They're not murder people."

"There's no history of aggression," Susan Kay said on the program. "They're not playground bullies. They're not the type, you know, hanging cats from a tree. There's no aggression in these boys."

Thoughtful Trucker Aided Arrest

Tulloch, who decided not to fight extradition from Indiana, arrived in Lebanon, N.H., on Wednesday and was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He was handcuffed as state troopers escorted him from an FBI jet into a state police car. He is being held without bail.

Tulloch responded with a simple "yes" when asked by Lebanon District Court Judge Albert Cirone if he understood the charges against him. He shook his head "no" when the judge asked him if he had any questions.

Under New Hampshire law, the plea and a bail request would normally come at a later hearing, rather than at the arraignment. However, Assistant Attorney General Ann Rice said that first-degree murder charges "carry the presumption of no bail."

Parker also waived extradition today, and will be returned to New Hampshire.

Police arrested the boys as they were hitching rides across the country, having abandoned their car at a truck stop in Massachusetts, authorities say. During one ride, the young fugitives told a truck driver in New Jersey they were on their way to California.

As the trucker headed into Indiana, he was unaware the boys were wanted on murder charges, made a CB radio call to find other truckers heading west who could take the boys further on their way.

'Very Surprised to See Us'

Sgt. William Ward of the Henry County Sheriff's Department heard the call. He had started monitoring CB traffic after seeing a television report saying the teens might be hitchhiking their way across the country.

"I realized it was an incredible long shot … and thought it would probably be nothing," Ward told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America on Tuesday. "But then when I learned the truck was from New Jersey I thought it might be more likely.

"So, I just got on and said, 'Hey, why don't you just drop them off at the fuel desk and someone will pick them up in a few minutes.'" He also called central dispatch for a thorough description of the two boys and for backup.

When the boys got off at a truck stop on Interstate 70 in Spiceland, Ind., Ward and two deputies arrested them at 4 a.m.

"They seemed very surprised to see us," Ward said. But the teens, who were not armed, didn't try to flee and went quietly with the officers.

Prosecutors say Tulloch and Parker entered the Zantops' home on Jan. 27 and stabbed them repeatedly in the head and chest. The boys allegedly traveled about an hour from their hometown of Chelsea, Vt., a community of 1,200 where residents describe the two teens as smart, funny and well-liked.

The professors were found dead by a dinner guest arriving at their secluded home near the Dartmouth campus in Hanover, N.H. The slayings shocked the 6,500-student campus and community. Authorities have refused to discuss a possible motive in the slayings, though according to PrimeTime, some investigators believe it was a random robbery or burglary that went wrong.

Orange County, Vt., Sheriff Dennis McClure said the two boys became suspects because one bought a military-style knife on the Internet. Last Thursday, authorities asked the suspects to provide their fingerprints, which they did voluntarily.

But investigators believe Tulloch and Parker left their hometown later that same day, looking to travel to Massachusetts. Police later found a silver 1987 Audi belonging to Parker's mother in the parking lot of a truck stop near the Connecticut border.

ABCNEWS' Dan Harris and ABC Affiliate WRTV in Indianapolis contributed to this report.