1 Suspect to Return to N.H. in Slayings Case

One of the teenage suspects in the stabbing deaths of two Dartmouth College professors will return voluntarily to New Hampshire to face prosecution. The other left open the possibility that he would fight extradition.

Robert Tulloch, 17, is expected back in New Hampshire today for an arraignment on two first-degree murder charges, Assistant Atty. Gen. Ann Rice said Tuesday in Hanover, N.H.

Under New Hampshire law, there is no plea at the arraignment, only a reading of formal charges. A plea will be entered later.

A court hearing for the other suspect, James Parker, has been set for next Tuesday, although his attorney said he has not decided whether to fight extradition.

“Jim is a 16-year-old, and, obviously, he is somewhat shellshocked about the situation, and he and his family are trying to come to grips with things,” attorney Richard Kammen said.

Tulloch and Parker were arrested Monday at a truck stop near New Castle. They are being charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 27 slayings of Half Zantop, 62, who taught Earth sciences at Dartmouth, and his wife, Susanne Zantop, 55, the chairwoman of the German studies department.

Judge Michael Peyton ordered the two held by Henry County authorities pending the extradition proceedings.

Authorities have refused to discuss a motive or any connection between the boys and the victims.

The Boston Herald and WCAX-TV in Burlington, Vt., reported Tuesday that authorities recovered a knife sheath from the victims’ home and that a fingerprint on the sheath led authorities to one of the suspects.

Orange County, Vt., Sheriff Dennis McClure has said the boys voluntarily provided their fingerprints last week after authorities learned one of them had bought a military-style knife on the Internet.

Arrest warrants were issued over the weekend after the boys slipped away from their homes in Chelsea, Vt. The manhunt ended when a sheriff’s deputy listening to CB radio traffic in Indiana asked a trucker to drop off his young hitchhikers at the truck stop.