Professors’ Killer Gets Added Term

A teenager already serving life in prison for killing two Dartmouth College professors received an additional 15 to 30 years on Wednesday for conspiracy.

The sentence came in a plea bargain that also forbids Robert Tulloch from profiting from the stabbing deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop in January 2001.

Tulloch, 19, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, but sentencing on that charge was delayed while prosecutors worked out the plea agreement.

James Parker, Tulloch’s partner in the crime, agreed to similar restrictions. Parker, 18, is serving at least 25 years in prison for helping kill the couple

“The agreement doesn’t prohibit him from speaking about the crimes. It prohibits him from gaining any financial profit from having murdered the Zantops,” prosecutor Kelly Ayotte said. The maximum sentence for murder conspiracy is 30 years. Prosecutors brought the charge based on information provided by Parker.

Parker told prosecutors that he and Tulloch were bored with their hometown of Chelsea, Vt., and decided to come up with $10,000 to move to Australia. After spending months devising a plan, they decided to kill people and steal their ATM cards and personal identification numbers. They tried four homes at random before gaining admission to the Zantops’ house in Hanover by posing as students conducting a survey.

The teens stabbed the couple, and fingerprints on a knife sheath left behind linked them to the crime. After being interviewed and fingerprinted, they fled Chelsea and hitchhiked west. They were arrested at an Indiana truck stop several weeks later.