The Dartmouth College Murders

Summary

Morbid Podcast – "The Dartmouth College Murders"

Hosts: Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart
Date: October 9, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of Morbid examines the chilling case of the Dartmouth College murders, in which two beloved professors, Susanne and Half Zantop, were brutally killed in their home in 2001. Ash and Alaina deliver a heavily researched retelling, balancing true crime intensity with their trademark humor and personality, while unpacking the details, investigation, and aftermath of this tragedy involving unexpectedly young perpetrators.

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Main Topics and Discussion Points

Host Catch-up, Tone Setting, and October Hype

Timestamps: 01:14–13:10

• Ash and Alaina open with their usual banter—joking about Ash’s sick voice, COVID woes, and life updates.
• They discuss October programming: “This October, I think we're gonna spooky, we're gonna true crime, we're gonna alien abduct. We're just gonna try to hit everything for you guys.” (Ash, 03:36)
• Reflections on how the podcast has grown: “We used to have a countdown in this room of how many days it had been since I cried.” (Ash, 04:17)
• Tease the intensity of the coming case: “This case is not fun. No, the fun ends here. Okay.” (Elena, 05:10)

---

Case Overview: The Dartmouth College Murders

Discovery of the Crime

Timestamps: 14:13–22:35

• In January 2001, in Aetna, New Hampshire, friend Roxanna arrives for dinner at the Zantops. She finds the door oddly unlocked and the house silent.
• The unsettling discovery in the study: both Susanne and Half murdered, with the house in disarray but nothing obvious missing.
• Important detail: “On the floor by Hoff's left foot was a hard plastic knife sheath. Like the one used as, like, a hunting knife... she spotted a second sheath on the floor a few feet away near Susanna's sandal.” (Elena, 20:21)
• Roxanna flees, brings in neighbors, and the police are called—small-town safety is shattered.

---

Initial Investigation

Timestamps: 22:35–34:39

• Police and forensic team collect a large array of evidence, including 105 items and multiple fingerprints, though many are easily explained. “A total of 19 different finger and palm prints were collected from the scene... which left a small number unidentified and potentially belonging to a killer.” (Elena, 26:57)
• Notable evidence: New, unfamiliar knife sheaths designed for SOG Seal 2000 knives, “which could only be considered a hunting knife if the intended prey were human.” (Analyst, as read by Elena, 33:33)
• Community panic rises as rumors swirl and warnings go out: “The prospect of a killer just walking around made everyone in and around Dartmouth pretty fucking uneasy, I imagine.” (Elena, 38:29)

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The Victims: Susanne and Half Zantop

Timestamps: 42:45–48:22

• Backgrounds sketched: German expatriates, each well-educated (PhDs from Stanford and Harvard) and beloved at Dartmouth for their warmth, integrity, and mentorship.
• “More than just mentors, the Zantops became known around campus as some of the most supportive faculty at the school... They would offer shelter for troubled people...” (Elena, 45:49)
• The couple’s kindness, generosity, and partnership emphasized throughout.

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False Theories and Media Coverage

Timestamps: 49:44–54:51

• Police begin to consider personal motives, including a possible “crime of passion.”
• The press runs with rumors: “Last Friday, the Globe published a front page story that said investigators were focusing on an extramarital affair involving Hoff Zantop as a likely motive... we express regret for the pain our story undoubtedly caused them.” (Boston Globe Editor, as quoted by Elena, 52:56)
• Ultimately, this theory proves to be unfounded and damaging for the victims’ family and reputation.

---

Turning Point: Evidence Leads to Suspects

Timestamps: 57:16–66:10

• Investigators trace the rare SOG knife to a seller in Vermont, linking it to 16-year-old Jim Parker and his friend Robert Tullock.
• The pair are questioned; their stories are inconsistent and suspicious. Parker and Tullock are described as local class clowns with no prior history of trouble.
• “Despite the evidence pointing towards Jim and Robert as the most likely suspects, investigators still could not get themselves to believe that two fucking teenagers had savagely murdered the Zantops... At most, they thought the boys could lead them to the real killer.” (Elena, 65:32)

---

The Shock of the Killers' Identities

Timestamps: 66:10–76:31

• Both boys go on the run after police interest intensifies.
• Evidence (including matching fingerprints and bloody boots) ties them irrefutably to the crime.
• Arrested at an Indiana truck stop after just a few days, “so weary and rattled that one one gave his birth date as May 40th.” (Elena, 69:01)
• Shock and disbelief pervade both Chelsea and Hanover communities.

---

Motive and the Boys' (Lack of) Logic

Timestamps: 70:42–76:46

• Jim Parker describes the pair as "explorers" who decided on a "life of crime" because “every place had been explored.” (Elena, 70:42)
• Their plan: robbing and killing people to fund a move to Australia—“juvenile thought process, but also... absolutely diabolical.” (Ash, 71:43)
• The Zantops’ kindness led to their own fate: "It was only because Hoff and Susanna Zantop were so fucking generous and so kind... that they were willing to allow the two into the house in the first place.” (Elena, 73:50)

---

Court Outcomes & Aftermath

Timestamps: 77:52–80:46

• Jim Parker plea bargains, testifies against Tullock, and receives 25 years to life (eligible for parole after 16 years); Tullock receives life without parole.
• Parker is granted parole after 22 years (2024), due to a Supreme Court ruling on juvenile life sentences; efforts to resentence Tullock fail, and his life sentence stands.
• Hosts express deep anger and empathy for the victims and their family:
  • “I feel so hard for Susanna and for Hoff and for their kids... can't imagine... come to terms with your parents ever being murdered. But to be murdered by two 16 year olds who preyed on their kindness...” (Ash, 81:49)

---

Key Quotes and Memorable Moments

• "On the floor by Hoff's left foot was a hard plastic knife sheath... there was a second sheath on the floor a few feet away near Susanna's sandal."
  – Elena (20:21)

• “Although it might have resembled a hunting knife to an untrained eye, the Seal 2000 'could only be considered a hunting knife if the intended prey were human.' Which is the most chilling statement I've ever...”
  – Quoting the Analyst; Elena (33:38)

• "The prospect of a killer just walking around made everyone in and around Dartmouth pretty fucking uneasy, I imagine."
  – Ash (38:29)

• "We assumed it would be a couple and somebody might have to go somewhere else and grab the other person and bring them into the same room. And if there were any kids, we would have to do the same thing."
  – Quoting Parker's confession, Elena (72:34)

• “The anger that I--I can't--I'm angry right now and these aren't my parents or my friends.”
  – Ash (77:26)

• "I feel so hard for Susanna and for Hoff and for their kids... But to be murdered by two 16 year olds who preyed on their kindness..."
  – Ash (81:49)

---

Episode Tone & Analysis

• The episode is deeply emotional, especially as Ash and Alaina express outrage and sadness at the senselessness of the crime.
• The hosts' banter and asides provide comic relief in the early minutes but fall away as the case details emerge.
• Particular ire is directed at the injustice of the victims’ fate and the shallow, selfish motives of the killers.
• Empathy is evident: “You just hope... he figured out his [stuff] in prison and plans to do better... You hope he got it together with the frontal lobe development.” (Ash, 81:11)

---

Timeline of Crucial Moments

| Timestamp | Segment/Event Description | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------| | 14:13 | Case introduction; friend discovers the Zantops | | 20:21 | Discovery of knife sheaths at scene | | 33:33 | Sheaths identified as human-hunting tools | | 38:29 | Community panic sets in | | 52:56 | Globe apologizes over affair rumor | | 58:23 | SOG knife traced to Jim Parker | | 66:10 | Both suspects flee; police issue alert | | 69:01 | Arrest at Indiana truck stop | | 72:34 | Motive: planning murder to fund escape to Oz | | 77:52 | Sentencing of Parker and Tullock | | 79:18 | Parker released on parole (2024) | | 80:15 | Tullock’s life sentence upheld |

---

Conclusion

This episode of Morbid is a thorough, vividly researched, and emotionally charged exploration into the Dartmouth College murders—a case that shattered the illusions of small-town safety, left a campus in mourning, and stunned the nation with its young assailants and senseless violence. Ash and Alaina weave together victimology, forensic intrigue, and heartfelt commentary, leaving listeners incensed at the loss while reflecting on the enduring impact of such tragedies.

---

Final Words:
“We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, you know, not... to keep it this weird.”
– Elena (84:11)

Transcript

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[Elena]

Clorox Toilet Wand.

[Ash]

It's all in one.

[Elena]

Clorox Toilet Wand.

[Ash]

It's all in one. Hey, what does all in one mean?

[Elena]

The Caddy, the wand, the Preloaded Pad.

[Ash]

There's a cleaner in there inside the. So Clorox Toilet Wand is all I.

[Elena]

Need to clean a toilet. You don't need a bottle of solution to get into this toilet revolution. Clorox Clean feels good.

[Ash]

Use as directed.

[Elena]

Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena.

[Ash]

I'm Ash.

[Elena]

And this is morbid Foreign.

[Ash]

In the afternoon.

[Elena]

It's like the middle of the day. Smack dab. And if you listen to the last episode, I mentioned that I have Covid. So that's why I sound like this. In case you're like, why do you sound so annoying?

[Ash]

Why do you sound like Lindsay Lohan?

[Elena]

I don't think it's annoying. I'm like a little stuffed up.

[Ash]

I always prefer my sick voice.

[Elena]

I. I don't mind it, but I always feel like it must sound annoying to other people. Nah. Like, I don't like to hear someone sick. I don't care because it makes me feel sick a little bit. So I feel that's why I'm apologizing ahead of time.

[Ash]

I think that's your tism.

[Elena]

Sorry if it makes you feel sick. You're funny. But yeah, I got coveted from the. The shows this weekend. Worth it.

[Ash]

Worth it. We had so much fun.

[Elena]

And to be honest, it's. I'm okay. Like, it's just been a kind of yucky cold. I know that's really it. But. So that's a good thing. Yeah. Because sometimes Covid Will kick my ass.

[Ash]

I know. I was very. When you first tested positive, I was like, oh, one. I was like, oh, I probably have. And then I tested negative, and I was like, my immune system is a baddie.

[Elena]

That's right. And Mikey, too. I know.

[Ash]

It's so weird.

[Elena]

Everybody's fine.

[Ash]

My immune system is focused on other things in my body.

[Elena]

It's like, I gotta pay attention to this. But, yeah, I've managed to keep everyone in the house. Not like, Covid free. So I've been wearing my mask. I've been staying my distance.

[Ash]

Yeah, she's staying the distance.

[Elena]

I'm going for speed. Because I, like.

[Ash]

Not negative in her time of need. Because I made her Pastina. I think we talked about that last episode.

[Elena]

It's true. And I ate so much of it last night. I'll make you more. Oh, so good.

[Ash]

Pastina's the cure.

[Elena]

But yeah, I apologize if I sound annoying to you, but this is a. We have a crazy case. I. We'll talk about business if we. If we have some. But usually we. We only focus on, like, spooky episodes during October.

[Ash]

You said. That's so valid for us.

[Elena]

We. We really sit in the darkness during October. But we got a true crime case for you.

[Ash]

Yeah, we're gonna. This October, I think we're gonna spooky. We're gonna true crime. We're gonna alien abduct. We're just gonna try to hit everything for you guys.

[Elena]

We. I.

[Ash]

We're in such a new place of, like, revitalization that we just want to provide.

[Elena]

We just want to do all the cool things for you.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

We just.

[Ash]

We feel good. We want you to feel good. Everything is good.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

G E W D. I am not.

[Elena]

Running off of spite anymore. No, that's. That's great.

[Ash]

You know how many days it's been since I cried in this office?

[Elena]

A lot. Yeah.

[Ash]

If it wasn't for. Well, never mind. But.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

You know. Yeah, I. I didn't. The last time I cried. It wasn't work related.

[Elena]

No. And that's great.

[Ash]

We used to have a countdown in this room of how many days it had been since I cried.

[Elena]

That's not even a joke.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

We literally made a sign that said, it has been this many days since Ash cried in the office because work.

[Ash]

Was so horrible for about three years. And everybody was always mad at us. Yeah.

[Elena]

So. Yeah. So we're not there anymore. And I'm glad. It seems like you guys are feeling it along with us, which is like, just giving us even More happiness and more, like, just motivation to give you what we can give you. Yeah.

[Ash]

Life just feels good.

[Elena]

Yeah. I'm actually going to post. I want to start posting. I've been saying I wanted to, like, post some, like, recipes. Recipes and some recommendations for, like, books and movies and stuff. And that's going to start now, too. So, like, get ready for that on, like, the Instagram and stuff. And it'll be fun. We're gonna have a lot of fun, guys. And I'm excited.

[Ash]

I like it.

[Elena]

This case is not fun. No. The fun ends here. Okay. Just so everybody knows, I don't think.

[Ash]

I know this case.

[Elena]

This one I remember very vividly happening.

[Ash]

Obviously very recent or moderately recent.

[Elena]

Then it's from 2001, which still feels like it was 10 years ago.

[Ash]

25.

[Elena]

But, you know, it still feels very. It feels like it was literally 10 years ago. Like, 2001 does not feel that long ago.

[Ash]

2001 feels like a very long time ago in my life.

[Elena]

Not for me. I remember so vividly, 2001. I was 16.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Six. I was very. Jesus. I was very sentient and very, like, aware of everything. So I think it just hits a little harder.

[Ash]

2001 is the first date that I remember writing on a paper, like, in school.

[Elena]

Wow.

[Ash]

Whenever I hear 2001, I literally have a vivid memory of being in my first grade classroom and writing the year in, like, the little date space.

[Elena]

Look at that. Yeah.

[Ash]

Isn't it weird?

[Elena]

That is weird. I have a weird.

[Ash]

I have, like, a weird mind. Like, I can see, like, pictures in my mind sometimes of times and of numbers.

[Elena]

Yeah, I know. That's fun. Yeah. You have a weird brain. You do, too. I love that. For us.

[Ash]

Cheers.

[Elena]

Cheers.

[Ash]

To wearing brains.

[Elena]

So, yeah, before we get into. That was our ice machine.

[Ash]

You really said, before we get into it.

[Elena]

It said, hold on, we're shutting off the ice machine. I feel like we should just leave this in. I think this is what the people want. I think you want the behind the scenes like we used to, where I just wouldn't edit out all the.

[Ash]

Mikey, Leave it in.

[Elena]

Mikey's, like, way better editor than I was. So, like, I would just leave everything in.

[Ash]

Don't say that.

[Elena]

But, yeah, leave it in. You know, some more vintage morbid of, like, ice machines turning on and.

[Ash]

Yeah, maybe I'll fall off the couch later just for old time's sake. If you weren't an early listener. I once fell off a recliner mid recording and went.

[Elena]

According.

[Ash]

According to Elena.

[Elena]

I'll never forget that sound. That ho ho sound. I survived.

[Ash]

I don't know. We were just sitting too. Like, I don't know how I fell.

[Elena]

It was mid story. You were leaning back too far in the whole recliner.

[Ash]

That recliner was awesome. You still have that?

[Elena]

Yeah. Yeah, we do. Let's go. Bring it back in. Bring it back.

[Ash]

No, that. That's when you banned me from sitting on the recliner. And that's when we sat back on the floor.

[Elena]

Because you would either fall off of.

[Ash]

It or make too much noise.

[Elena]

Too much and hit things. And people would be like. So I did hear this.

[Ash]

Early days of morbid, I was always with something, whether it be a recliner, a bobby pin, a battery.

[Elena]

She would start playing with something, and I would just hold my hand out like a parent, like, putting it in my hand.

[Ash]

Literally.

[Elena]

I was like, that's gonna make noise throughout the entire episode.

[Ash]

I'll always be me.

[Elena]

I.

[Ash]

At the live show the other night, I almost went out with my. In my mouth. Like, I was like, oh, I have gum in my mouth.

[Elena]

He also immediately spilled broth.

[Ash]

I forgot about that. Okay, Wilbert, time to be real with you guys. We cleaned it up, but I was so worried about my tummy. I couldn't really eat that much. So I was like, oh, I'll get ramen.

[Elena]

Like that.

[Ash]

Like. Like, good genuine ramen that will, like, soothe my belly.

[Elena]

Genuine ramen? Yeah.

[Ash]

Not like. I was.

[Elena]

Like.

[Ash]

I just said I was going to soothe my tummy. And then people heard ramen, and they were like, are you okay? But, like, I mean, like, from, like, a yummy, like, like, place.

[Elena]

Authentic.

[Ash]

And I went to pour in the broth, and I literally just knocked it all over the table in the green room of the Wilbur. And I said, I'm here. It was immediate, and it was on impact.

[Elena]

She spilled broth all over, and it.

[Ash]

Was, like, not a little bit of broth. It was so much broth.

[Elena]

And we said, yep.

[Ash]

I said, sorry. I mean, the room smelled really good.

[Elena]

It smelled like broth.

[Ash]

But then we, like, needed to move the posters to something somewhere else. It was a big thing.

[Elena]

It was pretty great. I am who I am.

[Ash]

That's all that I am.

[Elena]

Popeye, you know? All right. But yeah, so lots of. We'll share some fun, like, seasonal stuff when we can on the socials, like, some recipes and some recommendations. Yeah, I'm excited to start doing that. Yeah, I am, too, actually, because I just watched Clown in a Cornfield and.

[Ash]

It'S based, as one does, it's based.

[Elena]

Off of a book called Clown in the Cornfield by Adam Caesar. I believe his name is Cesar. And I have the book. I watched the movie now and now I can't wait to read the book.

[Ash]

Did you finish it?

[Elena]

The movie? Shout out to him. I did. I finally f. I finished it. Cuz. Cuz I have Covid. So while the girls were at after school activities, I had like 45 minutes of just like, quiet.

[Ash]

And you didn't do what I suggested?

[Elena]

Well, I. I have to choose because Ash suggested I watch Halloween wars bacon championship, which I will. But I can watch. I watch that with the girls.

[Ash]

Yeah. So you want to watch?

[Elena]

They're not here. I gotta watch a horror movie.

[Ash]

I get that.

[Elena]

I gotta watch something I can't have on when they are in the neighborh neighborhood. Even like, I can't. I never throw on a horror movie.

[Ash]

When they're in town.

[Elena]

Yeah. Even if they're at a friend's house, like near us. I'm like, they could come back at any time.

[Ash]

It's true.

[Elena]

I can't traumatize them like this.

[Ash]

They just walk in and you're like.

[Elena]

I'm like, oh, God. So I immediately put on Clown in a cornfield. It was like, finish him. It's a fun movie.

[Ash]

Should we cover it on screen?

[Elena]

We should, because it is fun as hell. I feel like it's.

[Ash]

Oh, scream listeners.

[Elena]

We're back. We are. We're back. We didn't die.

[Ash]

We did not die. We took some time off.

[Elena]

We're so back.

[Ash]

It's like the one show that we like can take time off.

[Elena]

So we took advantage.

[Ash]

So we took advantage. And Caleb is like the most understanding human on the planet of earth.

[Elena]

And I think everybody.

[Ash]

Everybody needed a little.

[Elena]

We all had stuff going on.

[Ash]

It was impromptu, but. But we're back.

[Elena]

But. But yeah, I. I highly recommend Clown in a cornfield. That'll be part of my recommendations probably that I post. It's really fun.

[Ash]

I feel like your recommendations are going to be like horror and like books and stuff. And mine are going to be like.

[Elena]

Cute boots for wide calf girlies. Which these are all things people need. Valid, well rounded individuals.

[Ash]

I just got so many cute boots for wide calf girlies.

[Elena]

I love that. I was gonna.

[Ash]

Here's the. I got called out by the lady.

[Elena]

Michaela is a wide calf girl. I know.

[Ash]

I actually took some of her recommendations.

[Elena]

She got so many boots. She did.

[Ash]

I was getting a pedicure the other day and the woman said, oh, your calves are so strong.

[Elena]

And I said, What a lovely way of saying that.

[Ash]

I said, did you just say that I have the thickest calves in the United Nations?

[Elena]

She said, no. So strong.

[Ash]

She said, so strong.

[Elena]

So strong.

[Ash]

And I was like, I love that.

[Elena]

Personally, I didn't know how to feel about it. And they're so strong. She's saying, like, you can kick some ass with these. With these.

[Ash]

With these thighs.

[Elena]

These thighs. I mean, sure, why not?

[Ash]

Save lives.

[Elena]

Exactly.

[Ash]

And apparently strong calves kick ass. I like it.

[Elena]

There you go.

[Ash]

Yeah. But I was like, you're like, well, look at that.

[Elena]

Okay.

[Ash]

So then I was like, maybe I'm a wide calf girly. Because whenever I got boots in the past, I was like, why aren't these working? All of a sudden, See, my calves got too strong.

[Elena]

I mean, everybody's got something. I have, like, my feet are super wide, so I can't fit. Like, narrow shoes. Like, I have to get wide shoes.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

So it's all. We all got something that's like, we just have to be a little more mindful of when we buy things.

[Ash]

Exactly. Well, I have recommendations for my strong calf gals.

[Elena]

Hell, yeah.

[Ash]

I don't like wide calf. How about strong calf, strong calf.

[Elena]

That's what we need to call it.

[Ash]

I'm reclaiming it.

[Elena]

Mikayla, you hear that? Strong calf, strong calf. Yeah.

[Ash]

Mikayla, do you hear us?

[Elena]

I know. I love you. I think she's so funny.

[Ash]

I love her a lot. I do, too, fellow Boston gal.

[Elena]

I just wish good luck things for her. I do, too.

[Ash]

I think she has good things.

[Elena]

I send. I send good vibes.

[Ash]

I do too.

[Elena]

And I. I.

[Ash]

By the power of Christ, I compel those who don't send her good vibes to go away. So.

[Elena]

Yeah, that's not cool.

[Ash]

Oh, compelling. Somebody means you want them to, right?

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Christ, I compel you.

[Elena]

Yeah. Because the whole thing is the power of Christ compels you to, like, get out of that person. Yeah.

[Ash]

I compel you to. To get.

[Elena]

To get. To exercise out of the power of.

[Ash]

Cross by the power of cross.

[Elena]

All right.

[Ash]

We should get into it because I could talk for hours about nothing.

[Elena]

It's true.

[Ash]

And we bonus episode soon.

[Elena]

So that's where we should do that. So we need to remember that we have that bonus episode where we can. We can just shoot the shit, you know, just like. And I mean it in a good way.

[Ash]

Like maybe we could just do like a life. Catch up. Would you guys like that?

[Elena]

Just let us know if you guys have any, like, any kind of ideas.

[Ash]

We'Ve had to Be so structured for so many years.

[Elena]

That's the thing. So we don't, now that we have one episode, don't know what to do every month, that we can be, like, loosey goosey and, like, make it whatever we want. We almost don't know how to be unstructured, you know? So, please, if you guys have idea. Like, we have some ideas, but we also want to make it something that you guys, like, really dig and have fun with. So if there are ideas that you have that you're like, I really wish you would do this for your bonus episode.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Throw them our way. We'll at least consider all of them, for sure. Like, you're the people who are listening. So we want to make you happy.

[Ash]

Depo. All right, so let's go back 24 years ago, I think almost 25, to 2001.

[Elena]

Let's go. So this is. We're gonna be doing the Dartmouth College murders. Okay.

[Ash]

I don't know.

[Elena]

This is a really. It's a sad one. Yeah, it really is. It's a rough one. It's a sad one. It's. I remember this happening on. I remember watching the news reports. I remember thinking, this couple. That the two victims were just, like, the most adorable people, and I was just, like, so sad for them. So it's a very crazy case. Okay, so it was already dark when Roxanna Verona arrived at Hoff and Susanna Zantop's house in Aetna, New Hampshire, at 6:30pm on January 27, 2001. The trio had been friends forever. They'd been friends for a lot of years. They met as co workers at Dartmouth College, which was pretty nearby, and they got together pretty regularly for, like, dinners, dinner parties. Like, they were just, like, fun friends.

[Ash]

Yeah, they were what Amy Poehler would call a good hang.

[Elena]

Exactly.

[Ash]

Great show, by the way.

[Elena]

There you go. So when Roxanna got to the door, she rang the bell and she waited. She was just, like, so excited to see her friends. They always answered all enthusiastically. It was just, like, you know, excited to see each other.

[Ash]

Good together.

[Elena]

Yeah. But a few moments passed, and no one came to the door. So she was, like, a little. She was like, we have plans. You know, what are we doing here?

[Ash]

And I'm sure that was unusual.

[Elena]

So she rang the bell a second time and waited. And when a few more moments passed with no sign of Susanna and Hoff, Verona tried the door handle, and it turned, like, opened, and she was like, wait a second. Now to the residents of Aetna, which has A population of like about 900.

[Ash]

Oh, shit.

[Elena]

Locking your doors was kind of like foreign and unnecessary at this point. Like, it really was.

[Ash]

It was a point of town, 2001, 2. It was still a nicer time to be alive.

[Elena]

It still was like, you know, and this is like, this is the beginning of the year. It's January. We're still in that, like, innocent time of.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

You know, before everything exploded. Yeah. In life, you know, so it's of course, like there were things happening, but you know what I mean?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Little more of an innocent time. But after being in Aetna for more than three decades at this point, Hoff and Susanna definitely were vigilant and they did lock their doors. And they would like, they would keep the door locked. They would unlock it to let people in and they would lock it again. Like they just were like, that's just who they were. As soon as a guest arrived, locked the door. Same smart. They were just, you know, they were just vigilant. So Roxana remembered all the time she'd arrived at the house before, and Susanna was always ready to meet her guests. Like, she was never somebody that you had to sit outside and like, wait for her to come. She was a good host. Yeah. And so she thought, okay, like. Cause she's trying to. Obviously the last thing wants to think if something bad happened here. So her thought was, okay, it's cold outside. Maybe she just like was really busy cooking or something. And she knew she wouldn't be able to like, run to the door. So she didn't want her friend to wait in the cold because that's who Susanna is.

[Ash]

Wow.

[Elena]

So she's like, maybe that's what it is. Like, she just wanted me to walk in. So she was like, okay, she just left the door unlocked for me. That's what it is. So she also remembered too, something about Hoff going to visit a friend that afternoon with plans for him to join a little later in the evening. So she was like, so there you go. Hoff can't answer the door. Cause he's not here and Susanna's busy and doesn't want me to be cold. Bingo.

[Ash]

That's what it is.

[Elena]

So she goes in, she drapes her coat and purse over the chair just inside the doorway. And she makes her way to the dining room. And she sees that set down, you know, there's like a dinner plates ready. And she sets down the salad that she had brought. And Hoff and Susanna were definitely not like neat freaks. Like, they weren't like they didn't have, like, a museum house kind of thing, but they always definitely kept their house in order. Yeah, like, tidy. So Roxanna was very surprised to find that there was, like, clearly, like, they had started to, like, get things ready for the evening. But the actual dining room table was still covered in papers as well. And, like, other evidence that someone had been working there earlier in the day. Yeah, which, like, they would have cleaned that up before setting the table. So she pokes her head in the kitchen, and she's expecting to see Susanna there, but the kitchen's empty. And she was like, okay. And she looks, though, and she's like, clearly she started prepping dinner. Like there was evidence of that. So Roxanna calls out Susanna's name a few times, expecting her to reply or just hearing some kind of movement at anything. But the house is completely still in silence.

[Ash]

Oh, that's so chilling.

[Elena]

So she was, like, trying to think of other things. Maybe she ran out to get something because she forgot it. Like, but she wouldn't have left the door unlocked when she did that. Like, all these things are going through her head. So she's confused. She's getting very panicky, very uncomfortable. And Roxanna makes her way down the hall to Hoff's study. And it's there that things really shifted into terror instead of just uncomfort discomfort. Excuse me. So instead of just the orderly rows of books and neat stacks of paper on the desk that, you know, she was always used to seeing in there, the study was in a total state of disarray. Like it had been ransacked. The first thing her eyes settled on to was Susanna's body lying just a few feet from the door.

[Ash]

Oh, no.

[Elena]

She was face down with a pool of blood surrounding her head like a halo. Roxanna said, oh, but that wasn't all. Blood had also soaked through the sweatshirt that she was wearing and through her pants. She was covered. Oh, wow. Now, a few feet away, Hoff was there as well, lying on his side, his head resting on the bottom shelf of the bookcase. He landed so hard that it knocked aside several heavy textbooks. Like, clearly he had been. Like he had, like, throat there. Yeah, like Susanna. He was covered in blood. It had soaked through his wool sweater and down the legs of his pants. One leg of his pants had a huge tear in the fabric. And Roxanna looked at Hoff's face and she said it was just waxen and lifeless, like, like completely drained of blood. Oh, that's awful. It was a very brutal scene.

[Ash]

Just like the detail of his wool sweater.

[Elena]

I don't know what that.

[Ash]

That just, like, did something to me.

[Elena]

When you look them up, they're just like the cutest couple.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

They just seems like. Aw.

[Ash]

Like good people.

[Elena]

Yeah. The room had been completely ransacked. A card table had flipped on its side. A chair was turned over. Books and papers were everywhere, all splattered with blood, and they were scattered everywhere. Then Roxanna saw something that at first was so unexpected in the Zantop house that it was almost unrecognizable to her. On the floor by Hoff's left foot was a hard plastic knife sheath. Like the one used as, like, a hunting knife. Okay. And she was like, yeah, that would not be in their house. Right. And she spotted a second sheath on the floor a few feet away near Susanna's sandal.

[Ash]

Strange.

[Elena]

Each was about a 4 foot long and 3 inches wide, suggesting that whatever type of knife they were designed to hold was gigantic. Like a big hunting knife.

[Ash]

Yeah, that's massive.

[Elena]

A foot long. Yeah. Like, and 3 inches wide was how big the sheath was. Yeah. No. So once she was finally able to kind of get some clarity on what she was looking at, she started to panic. Obviously she needed to call someone. So it occurred to her that. Oh, shit. The killer or killers might still be in this house.

[Ash]

I was just going to say that, like, that terror washing over you, that somebody could still be in there.

[Elena]

You're seeing your two dead friends brutally murdered in front of you. You're having to comprehend that. And then also having that added, fuck.

[Ash]

Like, I gotta get out of here.

[Elena]

I don't even know how to get out of here. Right. So she did remember, even through the terror, that Hoff and Susanna's neighbor, Bob McCollum, who she met several times at previous parties, she was like, okay, I remember him. I have to get to the neighbor. So she ran out of the study and down the hall, grabbing her purse and coat before ripping the door open and frantically hunting for her car keys.

[Ash]

Oh, God.

[Elena]

So at the McCollum house, Bob, his wife Audrey, their daughter Cindy, and Cindy's husband John were just sitting down to dinner to celebrate Bob's 76th birthday. Oh, no. When they heard a frantic knocking at the front door. And then they heard a woman just screaming. Oh. So Bob opens the door, finds Roxanna, and he's like, okay, I vaguely remember this woman from Hoff and Susannah's party.

[Ash]

You're like, I know who this is.

[Elena]

But she's in this panicked state, and so they usher her inside, and they're trying, like, okay, what happened? And she's, like, crying. She's trying to explain it. And she tells them what she discovered at the Zantop house. So Audrey calls 911, and Bob and Cindy, both doctors, drove over to their neighbor's house to see if there was anything they could do until the paramedics arrived. They ran right into there. Wow. Like, so no thought for their own safety. Just like, let's go try to help our friends. So as soon as they entered the study, Bob and Cindy knew they'd arrived far too late to be of any help to their friends. Yeah. Audrey later told a reporter it was obvious that they had been dead for some time. After she hung up with the 911 dispatcher, Audrey called her friend Steve Gordon, who was the editor of the local newspaper, the Valley News, and asked him to please monitor the police scanner for any news or updates. Officer Brad Sargent of the Handover Police Department was the first to arrive on the scene. And Cindy met him in the driveway and brought him into the house. And then Bob walked the officer down the hall to the study. So they briefly took in the chaos of the room and the state of the victims. And then the officer radioed the dispatcher and canceled the ambulance and then asked for the coroner to be sent. Now, within 10 minutes, Brad Sargent was joined by Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaconi, who quickly followed, but was followed by a string of investigators from Hanover and several detectives from New Hampshire State Police and the Grafton County Sheriff's Department. So aside from a pretty brutal axe murder of two students a decade earlier, there hadn't been a murder in the area in nearly half a century. And everyone seemed at loss for what they were supposed to do here.

[Ash]

Did you say axe murder?

[Elena]

Yes. Oh, okay. So they didn't have a lot of it, but when they did, they were big. Yeah. So Giaconi cleared the scene of any non essential members of law enforcement just to preserve the maximum amount of evidence they could. And the McCollums and Roxanna Verona returned to the McCollum house to answer some questions. Now, while the neighbors attempted to provide law enforcement with any information that they could to help aid the investigation, investigators started processing the scene in the kitchen. There was food out on the counters, and as Roxanna had said, it looked like someone had been preparing dinner when they were interrupted. There was also an opened bottle of Merlot wine on the counter with only one glass. Like she was like having a glass of wine while cooking. Yeah, the weirdest Thing about the scene was that while the study had been ransacked as though the killers were looking for valuables, the rest of the house was in pretty normal order.

[Ash]

So they were looking for something in that study.

[Elena]

Yeah. In fact, it was as though someone had hit the pause button on a remote control and left their evening. Like what? The Zantops evening was just frozen in that moment before the murders. It was very chilling. Yeah. Because nothing else seemed to be missing from the house. Robbery seemed like an unlikely motive for the murder. But if it was a robbery, what the fuck else was the motive for killing these two people so brutally too? Yeah. Over the course of three days, investigators from multiple state and local agencies were in and out of that house. They were processing the scene, collecting whatever they could. Unfortunately, after days scouring the house, there was very little evidence that pointed them in the direction of a killer. Like who it was. In total, state crime scene technicians removed 105 items from the entire house, including doorknobs, keyrings, a calendar, Hoff's laptop, blood stained books from the office where the bodies were found. And on top of that, a team of five forensic officers spent nearly a day combing the rugs in the house for any hair or fiber evidence that could identify the killer. Wow. I think they just took whatever they could because there was so little evidence that I think they just were like, take everything. Yeah, whatever we can. A total of 19 different finger and palm prints were collected from the scene. At least two belonged to the victims and three more were quickly identified as Bob and Cindy McCollum and Roxanna. Several others were soon identified as those of various investigators, which left a small number unidentified and potentially belonging to a killer. Outside the study, investigators discovered five drops of blood as well as five, quote, partial or near complete bloody boot prints that didn't match any footwear in the house. Okay, so that was something.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Foreign.

[Ash]

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[Elena]

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[Ash]

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[Elena]

The day after Hoff and Susanna's bodies were discovered, an autopsy was conducted but but it also didn't prove a whole lot. At least from an investigative standpoint, I would say. According to the M.E. Dr. Thomas Gilson Hoff had suffered multiple stab wounds with injuries of the airway, heart and lung, while Susanna's death resulted from multiple stab wounds with injuries of the skull, brain, major vessel, thyroid, cartridge, airway, intestine and spleen. Wow. Yeah. I mean, not knife.

[Ash]

They had some damage.

[Elena]

They had been brutally stabbed to death, Both of them. Hoff in the chest and Susanna in the head, chest, and stomach. Oh, God. The time of death was estimated to be a few hours before Roxanna Verona discovered their bodies. And Gibson noted that given the extent and severity of the wounds, their deaths would have occurred within seconds to minutes.

[Ash]

Which is at least there's that.

[Elena]

You just hope.

[Ash]

Closer to seconds. Yeah.

[Elena]

Aside from the boot prints and the five droplets of blood, the most promising lead was the plastic knife sheaths left at the scene. Like, that's a big deal. We saw that in the Idaho murders. Yep. That knife sheath can really prove a lot.

[Ash]

Yeah. Right. To fucking Amazon in that case.

[Elena]

Yeah. For real. The fact that there were two sheaths suggested to investigators that there were likely two killers.

[Ash]

I mean, two knives.

[Elena]

Yeah. I mean, unless he uses one and then just takes out another. But that's very unlikely. In fact, that belief was supported by the fact that each sheath had a different set of fingerprints on it. Ah. Which detectives assumed belonged to the killers. Right. Unfortunately, when the prints were run through various databases, state and federal level, they.

[Ash]

Never got a match.

[Elena]

Which is even scarier because I'm like, oh, so this is, like, one of your first crimes?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

At least. Like, what the fuck, right? So the sheaths were also significant in that they didn't appear to belong to an ordinary hunting knife. In almost every rural state like New Hampshire, it wouldn't have been unusual for a person to own one or more hunting knives. It's just part of the culture. Right. But these sheaths weren't familiar to any of the investigators. And upon further investigation, detectives learned that the sheaths were likely designed to contain what's colloquially known as this SOG knife, a particular style of blade that's designed for and issued to members of the Studies and Observations Group. Among other things. Members of the SOG were typically assigned to special covert missions during the Vietnam War era. What? And the blade was designed to be untraceable in the event that the carrier was captured. What? Yeah.

[Ash]

So was it almost left? It almost feels like that was left, like, to mock in that scenario. Do you know what I'm saying?

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Like.

[Elena]

Like, here's the sheaths. But it's untraceable, right?

[Ash]

Yeah, that Is.

[Elena]

Isn't that fucked up?

[Ash]

Really fucked up.

[Elena]

And Vietnam War era.

[Ash]

It's like, who did the thing?

[Elena]

Now, according to the analysts, the sheaths were relatively new and designed to hold an SOG knife known as a SOG Seal 2000, which was a 12 inch knife with a 7 inch blade and a 5 inch handle.

[Ash]

Wow.

[Elena]

The knives themselves had only been on the market for roughly five years. Okay. But the sheaths were new this year and had only been on the market for about 10 months. So it was that.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Unfortunately for investigators, the SOG Seal 2000 was a very popular knife with weapons collectors. So tracking down the seller of that particular knife would not be easy. Yeah. But it was at least a start.

[Ash]

Something. Yeah, you gotta go on something.

[Elena]

And before closing out the report, the analysts did note one other thing. Although it might have resembled a hunting knife to, like, an untrained eye, the Seal 2000 quote could only be considered a hunting knife if the intended prey were human. Which is the most chilling statement I've ever.

[Ash]

I'm sorry, say that again.

[Elena]

It could only be considered a hunting knife if the intended prey were human.

[Ash]

Says who?

[Elena]

The analyst. What? Yeah.

[Ash]

So what is it used for otherwise?

[Elena]

That's what he said. It looks like a hunting knife. Like you would hunt deer and whatever the fuck else people hunt. Yeah.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Not used for that. No. He was like, the only way that this is a hunting knife is if you're trying to hunt humans. What the. Yeah. Which is the most chilling statement.

[Ash]

I hate that so much.

[Elena]

Yeah. So while one set of investigators began the slow and very tedious work of tracking the knife to some kind of origin point, another group started looking into the backgrounds of the victims. Since it didn't look like this was a robbery as a motive, and the murders had been so up close and so fucking brutal.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

It was fair to assume the Zantops had been killed for some personal reason. Right. Like it didn't make sense otherwise. In fact, on the night of the murders, Audrey McCollum remembered a recent conversation with Hoff in which he had mentioned something about a bad interaction with a student. And she wondered if that might be related to their deaths.

[Ash]

Okay, now, good for her to remember.

[Elena]

That in all her to think clearly, you know. Now, according to McCollum, the Zantops had a reputation for teaching, for reaching out to their students if they thought they were struggling academically or emotionally. Which is kind. Which is so kind. A few weeks later, Hoff had described a student in one of his classes that Audrey, who's a Former mental health professional. To her, it sounded like the young man was struggling with bipolar or some other, you know, psychiatric disorder. Okay. And he needed help.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

She said, I think there may have been a troubled student. And Hoff may have underestimated how troubled he was.

[Ash]

Oh.

[Elena]

McCollum's suspicion took an additional significance when later that evening, Hanover police learned that Dartmouth campus police had received reports from residents of one of the dorms regarding a strange young man who'd showed up at their door asking to use the phone just a few hours after the Zantops estimated time of death.

[Ash]

Oh, that feels connected.

[Elena]

Yeah. During one interaction, the man reportedly asked residents if they had heard any police sirens before wandering off into the dark woods behind the Dorma territory.

[Ash]

I'm sorry, what?

[Elena]

Yeah, the. Now, aside from the vague reports of, like, this strange fuck on campus.

[Ash]

Sorry. Imagine having that experience in college. Somebody knocks on your door and is like, hey, can I hear your phone? Did you hear any police sirens?

[Elena]

And then it's just like, peace.

[Ash]

And you go to the woods, like, the.

[Elena]

Like, what the. I would. I'd cry.

[Ash]

I'd huddle in the corner and cry and not stop.

[Elena]

I'd be like, police, you need to surround the building.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

FBI. Everybody would sleep that night. Defend us. Everybody. Now, aside from these, like, crazy, vague reports of, like, this weirdo on campus, there were no other unusual reports made that day or night. And no one close to the couple, including their two adult children. Oh. Could think of any reason why someone would want to hurt them, let alone kill them. Oh, that breaks your heart that you.

[Ash]

Yeah. You get to have your parents, like, for that long.

[Elena]

And that's how they. This is how it happens. Leave.

[Ash]

Like, that's terrible.

[Elena]

In their own home. Yeah. That's so fucked. As far as their colleagues at Dartmouth were concerned, Hoff and Susanna Zantop were among the most respected and beloved faculty on the entire campus.

[Ash]

That makes sense because again, you look at pictures of them and you're like. Like, they have such a welcoming energy, even via photo.

[Elena]

Yeah. Their vibes are correct.

[Ash]

So I can't imagine, like, I feel like walking into classroom, you'd be like, oh, this is going to be a really good class.

[Elena]

Yeah. Coworker Susanna Hetchel told reporters, the first reason I wouldn't want to leave Dartmouth is that I wouldn't want to leave Susanna Zantop. Oh.

[Ash]

Like, wow.

[Elena]

Come on. Yeah. That's huge. Now, the murder of two well loved professors wasn't the only thing on everyone's mind. There was also the matter of their killer. But, like, this is a horrible situation, but who the fuck did this? Yeah.

[Ash]

And is this random? Is this pointed? What is this?

[Elena]

Now, situated along, like, the border of Vermont in an area of New Hampshire known as the Upper Valley, Hanover is a small town populated mostly by Dartmouth faculty, staff, and students.

[Ash]

And like you said, it's like a small town. You said like 900 people.

[Elena]

Yeah. Now, this is so, like, Hanover is the. So that was Aetna. That was. Oh. Oh, I see. Hanover. Okay. Where, like, Dartmouth faculty, staff, and students.

[Ash]

You said, honey, I have another small town.

[Elena]

I said, I have another small town. It has a little over. It's. It's not like, small by definition. I would say it has a small town feel vibe because it has a little over, like, 10,000 residents. Okay. It's one of the biggest towns in the region, in fact. But it does have that, like, homey, all encompassing Dartmouth people kind of live here. Yeah.

[Ash]

Like college town vibes.

[Elena]

Yeah. And because of the small town nature of the area, it seemed like the Zantops knew their killers. And if that were the case, it seemed equally likely the killers were still in the area. One student told the press, the fact that it's two professors suggests it's someone closer to home. Yeah. So the prospect of a killer just walking around made everyone in and around Dartmouth pretty fucking uneasy, I imagine. Yeah. So Dartmouth president James Wright told reporters at the Bottom Line, we've lost two people whom we love and respect. A community such as ours has a task to find a way to grieve. And I think it's hard for us to do this under the circumstances because they can't. They can't properly grieve because they're also fucking terrified. Terrified.

[Ash]

That's such a mix of emotions.

[Elena]

Yeah. And the fears and frustrations of this whole thing weren't just felt by people who worked with Hoff and Susanna. They also extended to the thousands of students who lived in or around the campus. Yeah. One Dartmouth junior said, people are just scared. There's a lot of confusion about who, why, what. The confusion and frustration felt by everyone in Hanover and Aetna were due at least in part, to the silence and very slow flow of information coming from the state and local police working the case as well. From the moment the news of the murders broke, officials on the case seemed pretty fucking hesitant to share much of anything with the local and regional press, and especially not residents of the town.

[Ash]

Which is frustrating, but also likely a good thing.

[Elena]

Yeah. Yeah. State Attorney General Philip McLaughlin told reporters in the early days of the investigation. What you're going to find from me is a real reticence to discuss the details of this case.

[Ash]

And I mean, sometimes you have to respect. I remember thinking like, just like you were touched on it earlier, the Idaho murders.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

I remember thinking like they're not saying anything. Like why are they not giving any information? I remember being frustrated. But it does have a way of working out and you have. It's hard, but you just have to.

[Elena]

Kind of believe in the.

[Ash]

The local law enforcement that they're going to do what they need to do.

[Elena]

Sometimes it's for the best and sometimes it gets them where they need to go.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

Because especially in the age of like the Internet and social media, it can up an investigation like stat so easy. I mean, look at how it all shaked out, you know, with like the Idaho investigation. Those poor roommates.

[Ash]

Oh, they got villainized immediately and re.

[Elena]

Traumatized in a hundred different ways by people on social media saying that they were the killers.

[Ash]

Right, exactly. Or that they knew something.

[Elena]

Social media has really. It can do great things, but it's.

[Ash]

A detriment at the same time.

[Elena]

More of a detriment at this point. Like. So they especially now, like investigators have to be careful what they share because it will get up on the interwebs and it's like, like it's just the way it is. And back here in the early days of everything, they were still doing that just to make sure that town gossip didn't every. Because it's like a real life social media, you know?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

No. According to McLaughlin, the silence from investigators in the AG's office was exclusively for the purpose of maintaining the integrity of the investigation.

[Ash]

Like we were just saying.

[Elena]

But obviously that didn't make it reporters or anyone else feel any safer. No.

[Ash]

And I mean, you're a reporter. You want to report on the goings.

[Elena]

Now. While the state Attorney General's office did its best to dodge questions about the investigation and Trooper Chuck west worked to track down the seller of the murder weapons, the remaining detectives started digging deeper into Hoff and Susanna's backgrounds. As far as they could tell, both were teachers of the utmost integrity. And it seemed that whatever had motivated someone to kill them, it didn't have anything to do with their work at Dartmouth. Okay. With professional problems ruled out, that left only their personal lives. Yeah. After all, when it comes to murder, there really aren't that many reasons that someone's going to go so far to kill someone, especially that brutally. Right. And detectives had already ruled out the biggest. Now, Hoff and Susanna Zantopp were born in Germany at the end of World War II. And their early lives were pretty ordinary, actually. Hoff's brother Wolf recalled his brother as, quote, a normal young man. Not the fastest, not the smartest, but he would work harder.

[Ash]

Oh.

[Elena]

In 1960, Hoff earned a degree in geology in Germany, then traveled to the U. S. Where he earned a PhD in geology.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

From Stanford University.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Hoff, in 1965. Work harder, he said.

[Ash]

Yeah, I got that. Seriously.

[Elena]

It was during that period of his life that he met. Met Susanna, who was also studying at Stanford. Susanna graduated with her master's degree in political science in 1965, and that's when Hoff took a job with a mining company and the couple relocated to South America, actually. Oh, wow. Five years later, they were married. Very much to the delight of their respective families, who thought they, quote, made a beautiful couple.

[Ash]

Oh, they did.

[Elena]

They did.

[Ash]

Can confirm.

[Elena]

They really did. A few years after their marriage, they had their first child, a daughter they named Veronica. And it's Veronica with a K. Oh, I love that.

[Ash]

I think Veronica is such a cool girl name.

[Elena]

Yeah. And a second daughter, Mariana, followed two days. Two years later. Oh.

[Ash]

Two days later.

[Elena]

It was crazy.

[Ash]

Whoa.

[Elena]

By the mid-1970s, Hoff had grown tired of working in the corporate world and hoped that a career in academia would not only allow him to pursue his. His passion for research. He loved research. But also he wanted to spend more time with his wife and daughters. Oh. And he was hoping that that would allow him to do that.

[Ash]

We love a girl dad. We love a girl, girl dad. Like, all dads are special, for sure, most of them. But girl dads.

[Elena]

I'm married to a girl dad, so I just have a special place for girls.

[Ash]

I hope Drew becomes a girl dad, but I'll take any.

[Elena]

Any kid. Yeah. A good dad.

[Ash]

Yeah. Just a good dad.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Now.

[Elena]

In 1976, Hoff accepted a position in the Earth Sciences department at Dartmouth College, where he would spend the next 25 years. Throughout this period, Susanna focused most of her attention on raising her two daughters. Yeah. Eventually, once the girls required a little less of her time, they got a little older. Susana began taking graduate courses in comparative literature at Harvard.

[Ash]

Oh, okay.

[Elena]

Earnings. Her Ph.D. in 1984.

[Ash]

So she has her masters from Stanford University and she has her PhD from.

[Elena]

Harvard University, all while being a mama.

[Ash]

Wow.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Women. Yeah, women.

[Elena]

Susanna.

[Ash]

Susanna.

[Elena]

Like, it kills me how awesome these people were. Like, it kills me.

[Ash]

It's usually the case.

[Elena]

Yeah, it's just like.

[Ash]

And some. Why wad takes them out? Yeah, I just have a feeling.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So.

[Elena]

The degree opened a lot of new professional doors for Susanna, and a short time later, she joined the faculty at Dartmouth as a professor of German and comparative literature. Cool. She quickly became one of the most invaluable members of Dartmouth's faculty. And like her husband, she was among the most popular professors on campus by students.

[Ash]

That's so cool.

[Elena]

Fellow lit professor Bruce Duncan said she was an important mentor to many students, particularly women.

[Ash]

Yeah, she just has that.

[Elena]

That vibe. More than just mentors, the Zantops became known around campus as some of the most supportive faculty at the school as well. Audrey McCollum recalled later, they would offer shelter for troubled people for various different kinds of reasons on a temporary basis. Wow. Welcome them into their home. Home.

[Ash]

Oh, this makes me so nervous.

[Elena]

But their kindness and compassion wasn't just limited to students. Hoff and Susanna seemed to collect friends literally everywhere they went. Yeah, everyone wanted to be a part of them. They were just those kind of people. And within a few years, their home became a regular gathering place for dinner parties, celebrations, social gatherings. That house was fucking lively, happy, and, like, full of love. You can.

[Ash]

It translates through the story.

[Elena]

Like, you can feel it, and it kills me. That's. That, like, these demons turned it into something so different. It's like, how fucking dare you infiltrate these people in their lives?

[Ash]

Jealousy.

[Elena]

So to nearly everyone who knew them, Hoff and Susanna were an ideal couple. A genuine partnership that literally operated on mutual respect and shared responsibility and love. Yeah, that's it. But of course, they. They were just like a natural fit, it seemed to everybody. But there were some times when people were like. They didn't seem like a natural fit just because they could be a little different. Yeah. But I think that makes them more of a natural fit, to be honest.

[Ash]

I think, like we've said it before, opposites kind of attract.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Even if they're not fully opposite, they have their differences.

[Elena]

There's things that, like, complement each other. Like, Hoff was methodical, detail oriented, a little rigid in his personality sometimes. Susanna, on the other hand, was more energetic, outgoing, very passionate in her work and her home life. One friend said what they had in common was their endless generosity, the openness of their home, their commitment to social justice, and the high standards they set for themselves.

[Ash]

Hell, yeah.

[Elena]

The couple's close friend, Marianne Hirsch, viewed their differences as, like we just said, more complimentary than anything else. She said their mutual devotion was based on the respect they held for each other's way of being nice. That part I love. The respect they had for each other's way of being right. They didn't try to change each other. They just respected who the other person was, and it worked. That's a.

[Ash]

That's a.

[Elena]

That's love.

[Ash]

Yeah. That's top tier relationship shit.

[Elena]

That's real love. So despite the seemingly endless string of absolutely glowing reviews and character profiles of the couple, detectives on the case couldn't help but notice that everyone seemed to point out, like we just said, how different they were from each other. Okay. And I think that's the only thing anybody could point out. After two weeks of very little progress and no new leads, they began to wonder, were those differences a strength in the relationship like so many were suggesting? Or maybe were they a source of tension? Like they just had to consider all these things. Okay. Captain Nick Giaconi said they had so many contacts here in Hanover and literally around the world. And he said, in. In a thorough investigation, we have to look basically at their entire lives.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

With all their contacts and new friends being made all the time, investigators had to wonder, had one of those new friends managed to penetrate the unbreakable bond between them? Perhaps.

[Ash]

I see where they're heading.

[Elena]

They're trying to go down some path. Yeah.

[Ash]

I mean, when there's no path, you gotta go down some. You gotta forge one, you know?

[Elena]

Now, given the brutality of the crimes and the fact that little, if anything had been taken from the house, investigators started to think, okay, so we're thinking this might be personal. Maybe it's a crime of passion. Right. Also, they further theorized that because, quote, the weapon that was used was heavy, and they didn't think a woman would have used it. The killer was likely a man. Okay. So they.

[Ash]

So they're starting to think like she's having some kind of affair, basically, which.

[Elena]

Also, I'm like, a woman can carry heavy things. But like, okay, yeah, like, sure.

[Ash]

Very 2000, one of you, like, I.

[Elena]

Guess we have to go somewhere here. Now, whether or not investigators intended to imply anything about the way the case was taking shape, their comments to the press about looking into the Zantops personal lives. Yeah. And about the murders being a crime of passion.

[Ash]

People are gonna run with that.

[Elena]

They were interpreted by at least some journalists exactly how you did. Meaning related to immortality. Pretty heavy handed. Yeah, it definitely is. A reporter for the Boston Globe wrote, hey, detectives decline to describe or identify in any way the woman they believe had an affair with Hoff Zantop or The relationship between the woman and the presumed killer. So it's. I think they're basically saying, like. Yeah.

[Ash]

So they think at this point at least, they thought Hoff was having an affair and that some woman, like hired somebody to do this kind of thing.

[Elena]

Yeah. I think maybe they're. I don't think they know what they're doing here. To be honest, it sounds very messy and it sounds very like. Like counterintuitive. Yeah. To be quite honest. Yeah. Vague language. Non. With the non withstanding here, it's clear that certain members of the press were under the impression that the working theory, like you said, was that Hoff was having an affair with a woman and the murders were retribution for that affair.

[Ash]

Okay. That's really shitty, that.

[Elena]

Yeah. To put that out there. To put that out there.

[Ash]

And remember, like, there's two grieving daughters. There's tons and tons of grieving fathers making shit up. And it's like you don't know them.

[Elena]

And that's the thing. And these people do. I understand that they need to work with some theories and see how they pan out.

[Ash]

Keep that close to the church.

[Elena]

I was gonna say you're keeping everything else quiet. Shut the fuck up about that. What are you doing putting that out there? Because once it's out there, it's out there.

[Ash]

You can't take that back.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And it's like you're not gonna change certain people's minds either.

[Elena]

Yeah. And you have these two daughters and they're sitting there having to probably defend against this. And it's like that's the last thing they need to do.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

With everything else they have going going on now. In the months and years that followed, the question of an extramarital affair would become a subject of considerable controversy with regard to the murder of the Zantops. Yeah. The day the article was published, the editors of the paper received multiple calls from investigators and the New Hampshire Attorney general all questioning the source of the information and the reliability of the anonymous source quoted in the paper. In fact, just one week later, the Globe would publish a follow up editorial justifying the original evidence article. Oh, yeah. Editor Matthew Storen wrote, last Friday, the Globe published a front page story that said investigators were focusing on an extramarital affair involving Hoff Santop as a likely motive. And it continued. It was and still is our intent to provide readers with the most complete and accurate account possible of the ongoing Zantop murder investigation. To do so, we put our trust in three law enforcement officials who we have had. We have every Reason to believe had intimate up to date knowledge of the investigation. It was certainly never our intent to increase the suffering of the Zantop family. You did, though. Yeah. They're friends or the Dartmouth College community. And we express regret for the pain our story undoubtedly caused them. I'm glad they did that.

[Ash]

I'm glad and surprised.

[Elena]

But I'm also like, I don't know, maybe think. Yeah, maybe think we've all made mistakes.

[Ash]

Takes.

[Elena]

We've all done like that. And I have. I'm very glad that they did that because a lot of them said, I, we should not have said that.

[Ash]

A lot of papers wouldn't.

[Elena]

No, they wouldn't.

[Ash]

Wouldn't do that. They'd be like, well, it's our journalistic integrity, so we're not going to go against it.

[Elena]

Exactly. Now, setting aside the fact that Storen's note never explicitly apologizes for publishing what was ultimately determined to be false and potentially slanderous information, I had a feeling it was false. Every course it was. Which I know you knew that whole time because I made it pretty clear. Yeah. But it's pretty problematic because just one day after the article was published, law enforcement officials announced the identity of their primary suspect. Oh. And he was far from the enraged, jealous husband the press had described.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

So it's like, not only did you publish something without verifying that information, because it's like. Yeah, I know. You said that you feel like you could trust this person and that they had intimate knowledge. That's a pretty big thing to throw out there. Yeah. You gotta be sure.

[Ash]

And especially when obviously they had a completely different stuff.

[Elena]

That's the thing. It's like. And now closing it on your face. Yeah. It's like, now it looks really bad.

[Ash]

Now you don't look great.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Maybe don't use that source again.

[Elena]

Yeah. Like don't be using that source. And it's not good. So a lot of people thought that maybe the confusion over the investigation on the part of the press came from the silence from the investigators. But in defense of that silence, Attorney General Philip McLaughlin told a reporter. We've chosen to take this route in response to mistakes other agencies have made that became a detriment. Yeah. So they were seeing what was happening in other cases and they were trying to make adjustments to make sure they did not make the same mistakes. Yeah. Which is good. Ironically, the silence they had hoped would protect the integrity of the case led to more confusion.

[Ash]

But that wasn't on them.

[Elena]

In the generation of countless false leads and useless tips from the public. All of which were just wasting a significant amount of time, right?

[Ash]

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[Elena]

Well, a certain amount of transparency would have gone a long way with the public at this point, just a little bit. But the thing is, there really wasn't a lot to tell at this point. Within a week or two of the murders, the hunt for the owner of the SOG knives had produced a suspect. So they were again, a week or two since the murders have happened. They already have a suspect. So those two weeks, they couldn't give anything because it's like they're in the thick of it. Clearly they were gathering a lot and really working. And if they had released any of that, it could have shot that right off track. And it's like they worked quick and they worked hard. They were doing the damn handout. So investigators clearly did spend considerable time digging into the victim's backgrounds, hoping to find the killer's name there. But in the end, it was the evidence that led them to solve this case. It wasn't the background.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

On the afternoon of February 15th, roughly two weeks into the search for the seller of SOG knives, detectives Chuck west finally got the break. He was looking. He found a seller in Vermont who identified the knives as coming from his store.

[Ash]

I had a feeling that was where it was going to come from, just because there were so few sold at this point. Like they were very recently starting to sell.

[Elena]

Yeah. A few hours after Wes got confirmation, he received a call from the sheriff's office in Chelsea, Vermont, a small town just across the border from Hanover. And the information he had was a fucking BombShell. According to Captain Arnold Covey, the suspect New Hampshire investigators had been hunting for nearly a month wasn't an irate husband or a murderous home invader, but a teenage boy.

[Ash]

A teenager?

[Elena]

A teenage boy. So a student, A teenage boy. Covey added that as far as he knew. 16 year old. What, Jim Parker?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

16. Aren't they?

[Ash]

They're college professors, aren't they?

[Elena]

Yeah. So what? Yep. Hello. He wasn't one of the local troublemakers and in fact had never been in trouble with the law or at school. He was never in trouble. So he seemed an unlikely suspect at first.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

But the knife belonged to Parker. Okay. So Chuck west got in his car and headed out to Chelsea to speak with the boy and his parents. Because he's a fucking child. When sheriffs, State Troopers Robert Bruno and Russ Hubbard showed up at the Parker's house that afternoon, John Parker was surprised, to say the least. He said Jim had never been in any trouble before. So it came as a shock to his parents when they heard the troopers were there to talk about a double.

[Ash]

Homicide in New Hampshire that Would be shocking.

[Elena]

Parker invited them into his kitchen. John, who is obviously his father, and Jim was sitting at the table, but he hadn't yet been introduced. And Rober Bruno immediately suspected the boy at the table was their suspect without even being misused.

[Ash]

Just like with the body language or something like the vibe in the room.

[Elena]

Well, he said not only did he seem particularly interested in their presence, but he also could barely contain his anxiety as soon as he saw the trooper. Huh. Later, Bruno would remember the way the veins in Jim's neck pulsed violently. What? Reminding him of the movie Alien. He said it was that pronounced wow. According to Jim, he and his best friend, Robert Tullock, had purchased the knives online and had intended to use them for camping and to build the fort. But they were too large and too uncomfortable to carry. Jim claimed that one day in early January, the two drove out to Burlington, where they planned to sell the knives at the Army Navy store. But a customer outside the store offered them more money than the store would, so they sold them to an anonymous buyer. Doubt it. As for the Zantop murder in Aetna, Jim told the troopers he hadn't heard about it. Which I'm like. Which it's also like, I was there for that man. Yeah.

[Ash]

You're like, I live in Massachusetts, and I knew about it.

[Elena]

So the more Bruno and Hubbard went over the story with Jim and his father, they began to notice small inconsistencies and changes in the details. Still, both men found it nearly impossible to believe that a teenager could have caused the amount of absolute fucking chaos and havoc in the sand top house. At most, they thought Jim could have been responsible for supplying the murder weapons. Yeah. But that was about where it began and ended. Before leaving, the troopers asked if Jim would consent to being fingerprinted to compare his prints with the ones found at the scene. And he agreed. He would go to the station, and they all drove to the sheriff department. Okay. At the sheriff's department, Jim made his formal statement in writing, adding more details about the supposed buyer than he'd given the troop statement papers earlier. Now, so all of a sudden, that anonymous buyer is becoming more and more detailed.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

He also appeared to minimize his relationship with Robert Tullock, implying he was more of a casual acquaintance. Oh, okay. In the interview room, Casual acquaintance that.

[Ash]

You'Re gonna go fucking making fort making with.

[Elena]

Yeah, no big deal for sure. In the interview room, Chuck west didn't waste any time confronting him about what he felt was a false statement about the knives. Yeah. The thing was, like, Bruno And Hubbard. Wes couldn't imagine that a 16 year old was the killer. So he focused in on the supposed buyer of the knives, thinking that maybe Jim was covering for someone else. Yeah. Yeah. Eventually, Wes got around to asking Jim if he had an alibi for the day of the murder. And he claimed that he worked until the afternoon. Then he and Robert Tullock went to the movies. That was his alibi. You got your.

[Ash]

You got your ticket stubs.

[Elena]

While Wes questioned Jim Parker at the sheriff's office, Bruno and Hubbard went to the Tullock house, where they were invited inside by Robert's mother and father, Diane and Mike. Like John Parker, Diane and Mike Tullock were very surprised to find their son was somehow connected to a murder investigation. But the story about the knives sounded to Diane like, quote, another one of Jim and Robert's stupid things.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

A few months earlier, Robert had asked his mother to use her credit card to buy a pair of shoes. And she was furious to find that instead of shoes, he'd purchased two stun master stun guns from an online store.

[Ash]

What?

[Elena]

I'm sorry, why's your child buying weapons?

[Ash]

What, in like stun guns?

[Elena]

And that's not concerning.

[Ash]

She wasn't concerned.

[Elena]

Like, I'd be pretty concerned. Yeah. When the troopers sat down with Robert, they were surprised by how different he was from his friend, counterpart, or casual acquaintance. As Jim was saying. Sure. Only one year older than Jim Parker, Robert Tullock was far more articulate, considerate, and showed none of the signs of anxiety that Bruno had noticed in Jim Parker. Okay, so Robert recounted the story about buying the knives online, finding them cumbersome, but he was much hazier when it came to the details. Uh huh. According to Robert, Jim was the one who handled that knife sale to the guy outside of the army neighbors Navy store. So he couldn't really remember anything about him because he was like, I didn't really handle that part. Convenient. He was also uncertain about the dates and times of the sale.

[Ash]

Also convenient.

[Elena]

While they were talking, Bruno noticed that Robert had a bandage on his leg and asked the boy about it.

[Ash]

My jaw just opened, by the way.

[Elena]

Robert told the troopers he and Jim were rock climbers and he cut his leg a few weeks earlier on a maple tree.

[Ash]

Rock climbing acquaintances, that is.

[Elena]

Yeah, just casual. Yeah. This was the story he'd told just about anyone else who'd asked about it, so he figured it would be easily corroborated. And if the troopers wanted to check his story, obviously, Robert's story more or less matched what they had been told by Jim Parker, so the troopers saw no reason to disbelieve him. Okay. Before leaving, they asked if he would be willing to go to the sheriff's office to have his fingerprints taken. And he said sure. Okay. They also wanted to take a look at Robert's footwear he had in the house. Cuz. Remember?

[Ash]

Boots?

[Elena]

Yeah, boots. The boy went upstairs to his bedroom and came back with a pair of Nike sneakers and a pair of Vasque hiking boots. Boots the same style, brand and size as the bloody boot print discovered at the crime scene.

[Ash]

I'm like, meanwhile, why aren't you yourself right now?

[Elena]

Yeah. The troopers asked whether they could take the boots with them, and Robert agreed with the stipulation that he would eventually get them back. Maybe the confidence here.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Despite the evidence pointing towards Jim and Robert as the most likely suspects, investigators still could not get themselves to believe that two fucking teenagers had savagely murdered the Zantops. Not only that, and for why?

[Ash]

Well, that's the biggest question in my mind. And the other question is how the fuck are they even connected?

[Elena]

Yeah. So at most, they thought the boys could lead them to the real killer. Like maybe they were covering for someone. So after getting their fingerprints and taking their formal statements, they were both allowed to leave with their parents. That night. After their parents went to bed, Robert and Jim each grabbed a backpack and began filling it with whatever they thought would be useful.

[Ash]

Stop.

[Elena]

Fishing gear, pens and pencils, a compass, and clothing. They had already talked about what they would do if the police started focusing in on them and the time had come for them to go on the run.

[Ash]

Stop.

[Elena]

Yep.

[Ash]

What?

[Elena]

Yep. Before leaving the house to meet Robert, Jim tore a piece of paper from a notebook and scrawled a note to his parents that said, I just had to talk to Robert alone. I will be back in the morning. Don't. Don't call cops. Cops. If the evidence had already pointed towards Robert Tullock and Jim Parker before the running, that they had gone on the run, they'd gone on the yam, would certainly make investigators think twice about their innocence now. Uhhuh.

[Ash]

And their parents do.

[Elena]

But that wasn't the only problem. In his haste to pack a bag and get out of the house, Robert had forgotten to get the knives from their hiding place in the house. If detectives found those.

[Ash]

So they have the knives.

[Elena]

Yeah. If detectives found those, it would completely destroy their alibi and conclusively link them to the murders of Hoff and Susanna Hantoff. Now, when John Parker. Jim Parker's Father.

[Ash]

Father. Yeah.

[Elena]

Woke to find his son gone. He immediately went to the phone and called the police.

[Ash]

Good.

[Elena]

And by 11am A manhunt was underway. In their initial statement to the press, investigators were very careful about how they framed the story, conscious of how things. Things had been misinterpreted in the past. Yet they were clear that Robert Tullock was being sought on two counts of first degree murder in connection with the killings. By the next day, investigators had matched the both of their fingerprints to those found in the Santop house and had also matched Robert Tullock's hiking boots to the boot print left behind at the scene.

[Ash]

Yup.

[Elena]

As far as the detectives were concerned, there was no question about it. Hoff and Susannah Zantop were murdered by two teenagers. What the hell? To everyone who knew them, the news was shocking, if not impossible to believe. One friend told a reporter, dartmouth to Chelsea doesn't seem like a long ways. Jimmy Parker was the class clown of the school. And another person said everyone loved him. Wow. Like investigators just days earlier said everyone in Chelsea found it impossible to believe that these two smart, likable young men would have been capable of a brutal murder, much less two brutal meters and a savage home invasion. And when it came to public belief and acceptance, investigators didn't do themselves any favors because they were silent on criminal, on critical elements of the case. And it kind of hindered the ability, the public's ability to help locate the suspects because they weren't really giving anything. Yeah. Regardless of the silence, Robert and Jim's attempt to avoid responsibility for what they did finally came to an end three days later.

[Ash]

I'm surprised they made it that far.

[Elena]

Yeah. At an Indiana truck stop. Wow. Yeah. They got far.

[Ash]

They did.

[Elena]

When a call from the pair was intercepted on a CB radio channel looking for a ride.

[Ash]

Shut the.

[Elena]

According to the press, when they were picked up by police in Indiana, the boys were, quote, so weary and rattled that one one gave his birth date as May 40th. What? He was so tired. What? To Robert Tullock, the game seemed to have reached its end. After being arrested, he waived his extradition rights and was immediately transported back to New Hampshire, where he was arraigned on two counts of first degree murder. Jim Parker, though, attempted to stall his extradition. John Parker said of his son, he's scared to death of the legal system. He's scared to death of things most 16 year olds in their wildest imaginations can't even fathom. But despite his efforts to stall, he was extradited back To New Hampshire a few days later.

[Ash]

It doesn't sound like he was scared to stab the life out of somebody.

[Elena]

No, I really don't care.

[Ash]

Boat scared.

[Elena]

And he was arraigned on first degree murder charges as well. Although it might be difficult to imagine it now in 2001, again, like I was saying, it was a different time.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

The American public still struggled with accepting the belief that teenagers could be capable of something so cruel and brutal like this murder. Yeah. However, after a thorough search of the Tullock home turned up a wealth of new information, A clearer picture of Robert Tullock was emerging. And what it suggested was that he had a personality that was a lot darker than anyone knew. Okay. In an interview with the prosecutor's office, Jim Parker described he and his friend as, quote, explorers. But they decided on a life of crime after concluding that every place had been explored. I want you to really let that marinate.

[Ash]

What?

[Elena]

Really let that one sit.

[Ash]

You're not an explorer if you think every place explores.

[Elena]

Everything's been explored. So I think we should just murder people. That's the thought process. There is nothing more to that thought process than that. To that a straight line from we should explore places to we should brutally murder people.

[Ash]

The frontal lobe is so important.

[Elena]

So important.

[Ash]

The frontal lobe is so important.

[Elena]

Vital, one might say.

[Ash]

It's got. We gotta figure out how to make it.

[Elena]

We gotta figure faster. Or we gotta keep people in boxes until it develops.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Because, like, what the is that?

[Ash]

I mean, I think that's the whole idea.

[Elena]

What's that?

[Ash]

Living with your parents for as long as you do.

[Elena]

Yeah. Stay in that box. Figure it out. In his statement, Parker explained how Robert had developed a hatred for the United States, among other things, and the pair concocted a convoluted and very childish plan to rob a nun. Enough people to get however much money they needed to leave the country and travel to Australia.

[Ash]

This is so juvenile.

[Elena]

It also reminds me of, like, what's his name's Terrible.

[Ash]

Horrible.

[Elena]

No good, very bad day. I'm moving to Australia.

[Ash]

Alexander.

[Elena]

Alexander's no good, very bad day. It's like, I'm mad at everything. So I'm going to Australia. What? Yeah, it's. That's the thing.

[Ash]

It's such a juvenile thought process, but also, like, absolutely diabolical because it's like.

[Elena]

Australia'S gonna eat your ass alive. Are you kidding me? Yeah.

[Ash]

That's where they send convicts because they couldn't send them anywhere else.

[Elena]

Have you met Australia? Yeah. Have you met Australians? They're gonna put up with your nay. No way.

[Ash]

Nor.

[Elena]

I know my. I know my Australian listeners. You said that they would have given you. Don't watch your dumb asses right out of there. Idiots.

[Ash]

I can't believe, like, I don't like it here anymore, so we're gonna rob my way to Australia.

[Elena]

Yeah. And.

[Ash]

And the fact that two people were like, yep, sounds good. Yeah, let's shake on it.

[Elena]

Yep. So Parker said, we assumed it would be a couple and somebody might have to go somewhere else and grab the other person and bring them into the same room. And if there were any kids, we would have to do the same thing.

[Ash]

That's nice.

[Elena]

So they were just gonna, like, terrorize the whole family. Terrorize an entire family. Cool.

[Ash]

Awesome.

[Elena]

That's what they figured, you know, that's what they were figuring. Good. According to the indictment, Robert and Jim had spent nearly six months talking about killing. And on at least four occasions prior to January 2001, they stopped at random houses, quote, intending to steal bank cards and leave the occupants dead. So they were planning this for a long time. Wow. According to the indictment as well, one of those houses was that of Bob and Audrey McCollum. Oh, wow. The next one. It was the last of those attempts, on January 27, 2001, that they found the Zantop house where they murdered the two beloved professors. In the previous attempts, the boys were always denied entry when they knocked on the door. It was only because Hoff and Susanna Zantop were so fucking generous and so kind and compassionate that they were willing to allow the two into the house in the first place. They allowed them into their home just.

[Ash]

Because of who they were and who their hearts are.

[Elena]

Were. Wow. Yeah. When Jim Parker was informed that the Attorney General intended to try him as a motherfucking adult for what he had done. Because that's some adult shit that you did.

[Ash]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[Elena]

Which also would make him eligible for the death penalty, which. Oh, your dad said you were so scared of the legal system. Are you scared of being murdered by the legal system?

[Ash]

Like I said, you're not scared to take the life of two people. So play stupid games. Yeah.

[Elena]

Win stupid prizes, my friend. Yep. So, of course, he made a deal in which he pled guilty to second degree murder in exchange for his testifying against his friend Robert Tullock.

[Ash]

Wow. It always happens in the end, tough guy.

[Elena]

Always happens again. According to Parker, the murders and thefts were Robert's idea. On the day of the Zantop murders, the boys knocked on Their door pretending to be student researchers working on a project. Oh, wow. So they even played on there. Yeah. Up on what they would help. Yep. As a professor, the ruse definitely appeal appealed to Hoff Santop and he invited them into his home. However, when Zantop criticized the two, according to them, quote, unquote. Yeah. For being unprepared for research, Tullock. He became irrationally angry. So I'm like, wait a second. So did you knock on their door to murder them and rob them or did you knock on their door to be actual researchers? Because why would you get irrationally angry.

[Ash]

Make that makes sense at that.

[Elena]

When you intended to murder them anyway?

[Ash]

Because he clearly has some kind of problem.

[Elena]

When Hoff turned his back to retrieve something from his desk, Tullock pulled out his sog knife and began brutally stabbing Hoff in the chest, stomach and face. Wow. During the attack, the knife slipped and Robert ended up cutting his own leg as well.

[Ash]

I hope it hurts so badly.

[Elena]

Leaving blood on the carpet outside the study. And when she heard the commotion, Susanna ran to see what was happening, which was when Tullock shouted to Parker to quote, quote, slit her throat. Oh my God. After killing the Zantops, Robert and Jim ransacked the office, ultimately stealing a few hundred dollars from Hoff's wallet before leaving.

[Ash]

And then they just went home.

[Elena]

It was only later, when they were miles away from the scene, that Robert realized that they had left the knife sheaths behind at the house. You idiot. They're so stupid. They then drove back to retrieve them, but by the time they arrived at the house, the police were already at the scene. Are you kidding me? So they showed back up. Are you fucking kidding me? So they just went home? Yeah. Along the way they stopped by a river to wash the blood off their bodies and burn some of their clothes.

[Ash]

It is maddening how just like trivial that their entire plan is.

[Elena]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It really is. It's infuriating.

[Ash]

Yeah. I'm so angry right now that these two beloved professors who gave their hearts to their students, sheltered people in their home, traveled the world together, had two beautiful. These fucking incredible people were taken off of this earth by two nimwits.

[Elena]

Two bumbling road bums. Road bums.

[Ash]

Because that actually, genuinely, that makes me.

[Elena]

And I can't imagine. Knocked on their door.

[Ash]

I can't imagine how their daughters and their friends felt when they found out that it was no matter who it was. But these two 16 year old peons.

[Elena]

The anger that I. I can't. I'm angry Right now I'm angry. And these aren't my parents or my, like, friends.

[Ash]

Because you want to go to Australia. Because this world, this nation is not enough.

[Elena]

Because you had a no good, very bad day, you loser.

[Ash]

You've seen nothing yet.

[Elena]

You're 16.

[Ash]

16. You don't even pay bills.

[Elena]

What an like, true.

[Ash]

I need to know what happens to them. I'm so pissed right now.

[Elena]

Now. Along with irrefutable evidence, Parker's confession all but ruled out the possibility of an acquittal for Robert Tullock. Good. So in March 2002, he pled guilty to first degree murder. The next month, both of them appeared in Grafton County Superior Court for sentencing, where Tullock was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. Good. And Parker was sentenced to 25 years to life with a minimum of 16 years before becoming eligible for parole. Stupid. Robert Tullock sat completely emotionless when the sentences were read by the judge. But Parker cried. Openly wept.

[Ash]

You literally murdered a woman. I don't want to hear it.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

If I was the judge, I'd be like, bang, bang, get it together. Yeah, get it together.

[Elena]

No one wants to see this choice.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

When he was asked if there was anything he wanted to say on his on his behalf, Parker said, there's not much I can say. I'm just really sorry.

[Ash]

There's not much you can say.

[Elena]

Good.

[Ash]

Spend the next 25 years to life figuring out what to say.

[Elena]

And when they asked Robert Tullock the same thing, he said nothing. What a piece of shit. Now, despite being held in the same prison, Jim and Robert rarely interacted with one another. On April 18, 2024, after serving 22 years of his sentence in the New Hampshire State Prison for Men, Jim Parker was granted parole and was released in June of that year.

[Ash]

Wow.

[Elena]

But he is required to have regular meetings with a representative from the parole office until 2098. Good. In 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Miller versus Alabama that mandatory life sentences for crimes committed by juvenile offenders were unconstitutional, requiring states to review all rulings of juveniles sentenced to life in prison. A few Years later, in 2014, the New Hampshire Attorney General's office announced that Tullock's case would be among those under review for potential resentencing.

[Ash]

I don't think this one applies.

[Elena]

This did not necessarily require all offenders to be re sentenced. Right. It just required states to consider the evidence and make a convincing argument if they wanted to uphold the life sentence without parole. Tullock's case was argued Back and forth for several years until April of 2025 this year when the state supreme court unanimously declined to hear the case.

[Ash]

Chin chin.

[Elena]

Effectively upholding the sentence of life without parole. Yeah.

[Ash]

This murder was fully planned out. Vote fully like executed. These two people lost their lives because this had a very good, terrible no good day and wanted to go to Australia.

[Elena]

Good.

[Ash]

I hope you're having a very terrible, no good day. And you long for Australia every day that you open your eyes in prison.

[Elena]

Truly.

[Ash]

You piece of.

[Elena]

Because as of now, there's little to no chance Robert Tullock will ever be released. He doesn't deserve to be. No, he doesn't.

[Ash]

And honestly I don't think the other kid did either.

[Elena]

No know that's. It is such a brutal case.

[Ash]

The only thing I can say is that I hope where. What's his name? Jim Parker. Where he wasn't like the ringleader and obviously he's a follower.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

You hope that he figured out his in prison and plans to do better.

[Elena]

Now that he's there for 22 years. I think so.

[Ash]

It's like you hope.

[Elena]

I hope he got it together with.

[Ash]

The frontal lobe development. He learned how to lead and lead to do something good in life.

[Elena]

Yeah. But, but wow. I can't.

[Ash]

But I had no idea how that was going to end. And like no matter what, it would have been absolutely horrible.

[Elena]

But the fact that it's two 16.

[Ash]

Year olds who were just whiny, grumpy little.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And couldn't handle life here. Cuz it's so terrible. I'm like, it wasn't terrible then.

[Elena]

It's. It's pretty shitty. Like what, what do you think now?

[Ash]

But it's also like you're pretty privileged. You both live at home with your parents.

[Elena]

Yeah. It, I.

[Ash]

That's infuriating.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

I feel so hard for. For Susanna and for Hoff and for their kids. Yeah. I can't imagine having to come to terms with your parents ever being murdered. But to be murdered by two 16 year olds who preyed on their kindness like and their love of, of knowledge.

[Elena]

And academia and like just willingly like welcoming these two into their home.

[Ash]

I am genuinely like actually so pissed off right now. So that's the way that ended.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

I never expected.

[Elena]

I was too. I was really pissed. Wow. Yeah. And there's like, you know, there's like videos from like the trial where like one of them is describing the whole series of events and it's just like you can't believe that this is a fucking teenager and they're just so disconnected from like it's wild. And like Jim Parker clearly was just immature.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And not just immature, but you know what I mean.

[Ash]

I know what you're saying.

[Elena]

He has a very immature vibe about him and he at least has emotions about it which like shows some kind of remorse, makes any of it okay. And Robert Tullock, I think just is clearly disturbed. Needs to be in jail forever. Wow. It's. Oh, it's just so. It's so upsetting. I remember watching it unfold and being horrified by it.

[Ash]

You also feel for like their parents too because it's like they were shocked.

[Elena]

Totally side.

[Ash]

Like talk about the rug being ripped out from underneath you.

[Elena]

Totally side swiped by it. I mean they never got. They didn't get in trouble with in school. They were in trouble with the law. It's not like they. That's why their fingerprints didn't come up.

[Ash]

And they were so beloved like in the community. It sounds like he was a clown.

[Elena]

Class clown. Yeah.

[Ash]

Jim Parker.

[Elena]

Jim Parker was a class clown. The. That's crazy. It shows you though. It's like anybody. It's so easy for someone to become a very dangerous follower of a very dangerous person.

[Ash]

You just can't trust people.

[Elena]

You gotta really keep hold of your own convictions and not let other people sway it. Wow. Because it's so sad.

[Ash]

It really is. That is a moving cave. All cases are so moving. But that is a particularly moving case.

[Elena]

Yeah. Wow.

[Ash]

That was. I'm so angry right now.

[Elena]

Yeah, same.

[Ash]

But with all that being said, we.

[Elena]

Hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, you know, not.

[Ash]

To keep it this weird.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And if you don't, then just go away.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Truly not to Australia. They don't want you.

[Elena]

They don't want you.

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[Elena]

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[Ash]

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[Elena]

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[Ash]

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[Elena]

And you know what, if you want to keep hearing new episodes of Morbid Ad free, subscribe to Sirius XM podcast plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com podcastsplus to listen with Spotify or another app of your choice. Let's go.