Bloody Knives Said to Link Teen to Dartmouth Victim

Knives found in the bedroom of one of the teenagers accused of murdering two Dartmouth College professors were stained with blood matching one of the victims, according to court documents released Monday.

The two knives were found in a box in the bedroom of Robert Tulloch, 17, according to the prosecution documents.

Tulloch and James Parker, 16, both of Chelsea, Vt., are accused of fatally stabbing Half and Susanne Zantop in their Hanover home on Jan. 27.

“On one knife, DNA consistent with Susanne Zantop was detected,” the documents say. “On the second knife, DNA consistent with Susanne Zantop was detected, with a mixture of another source of DNA.” The documents do not identify the source of the additional DNA.

An attorney for Tulloch did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment, but Doug Brown, a San Diego lawyer who represents the Parker family, said people should not make a judgment about the suspects until the evidence can be tested independently.

“It’s incomprehensible and inconceivable that Jimmy Parker could have had anything to do with this crime,” he said. “The nature of these documents does not undermine their confidence in the innocence of their son.”

A judge released search warrants and other arrest information after prosecutors said they no longer would fight to keep the documents secret. Earlier this month, a judge released documents describing what led police to the suspects, who were arrested last month at an Indiana truck stop.

Parker bought the two knives over the Internet several weeks before the killings, the documents say. Investigators have said the boy’s fingerprints were on a knife sheath found at the Zantop home.

Police also concluded that footprints inside and outside the home matched Tulloch’s left boot, the documents said.

The papers released Monday also say that during a search of Tulloch’s home Feb. 16 and 17, investigators saw “several documents including literature, school essays and books, including ‘Der Fuehrer,’ which addressed the topics of Germany, Hitler and the inactivity of America during the Holocaust.”

Police also saw literature “referencing the Ku Klux Klan” and violent computer games. Computers were seized from the homes of both boys.

Prosecutor William Delker said authorities do not consider the materials they found in Tulloch’s home to be neo-Nazi materials, adding that they are more akin to historical documents than racist advocacy.

“There were no neo-Nazi materials or Holocaust revisionist materials found in his bedroom, or anywhere, for that matter,” he said Monday.

Authorities have refused to speculate on any possible motive.

The day the German-born professors were murdered was Holocaust Remembrance Day in Germany. Friends have said the Zantops were politically active and believed strongly that Germany should face up to its past.