It started with a map and a fantasy. Two teenagers from Chelsea, Vermont, sitting in a bedroom, decided they wanted to move to Australia. Not for a vacation. Not for a semester abroad. They wanted to go there to live off the land, maybe become high-end mercenaries. To get there, they needed cash. About $10,000.
That petty, almost childish logic is what led to the deaths of two of the most beloved professors at Dartmouth College.
The names Robert Tulloch and James Parker have been burned into the history of New England since January 2001. If you lived in the Upper Valley back then, you remember the sheer, cold terror. It wasn't just that a crime happened; it was who was targeted and how completely random it felt.
The Myth of the "Perfect" Crime
People often think Tulloch and Parker were criminal masterminds. They weren't. Honestly, they were kind of bumbling, which makes the outcome even more tragic. They spent weeks driving around, knocking on doors with a fake story about a school survey. They just wanted to find someone with an ATM card.
They tried several houses before they landed at 115 Trescott Road in Etna, New Hampshire. This was the home of Half and Susanne Zantop.
Half was an Earth Sciences professor. Susanne chaired the German Studies department. They were the kind of people who left their door unlocked because they trusted the world. When Tulloch and Parker knocked on January 27, 2001, pretending to be students, the Zantops let them in.
It wasn't a sophisticated heist. Within minutes, the teenagers pulled out SOG SEAL 2000 knives—massive, 7-inch blades they’d bought specifically for this "mission."
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The Brutal Reality of January 27
The details are still hard to stomach. Tulloch attacked Half first. When Susanne ran in from the kitchen to help her husband, Parker struck her. It was a bloodbath for a total of $340. That's all they got. They didn't get the PIN numbers. They didn't get the $10,000. They just got a few bills from a wallet and two lives on their hands.
The most amateur mistake? They left the knife sheaths behind.
Those sheaths were the beginning of the end for them. Investigators found them at the scene, and because the knives were a specific military grade, they were able to trace the purchase.
Where Are Robert Tulloch and James Parker Now?
This is where the story gets complicated for the legal system. For two decades, Tulloch was "the one who stayed" and Parker was "the one who talked."
James Parker: The Path to Parole
James Parker was 16 at the time of the murders. He eventually took a plea deal, agreeing to testify against Tulloch in exchange for a sentence of 25 years to life. Because he showed significant remorse and spent his time in prison becoming a model inmate—earning both a bachelor's and a master's degree—he was granted parole.
James Parker was released from prison in June 2024.
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He is now 40 years old. Under the terms of his parole, he’ll be under state supervision until the year 2098. If he so much as breathes wrong or violates a minor check-in rule, he goes back.
Robert Tulloch: The Fight for Resentencing
Tulloch's situation is different. He was 17, just one year older than Parker, but he was the primary aggressor. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was handed a mandatory sentence: Life without the possibility of parole.
For years, that seemed final. But the legal landscape changed.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life sentences for juveniles (under 18) were unconstitutional. They called it "cruel and unusual." Since then, Tulloch’s lawyers have been fighting to get him a new hearing.
As of right now, in January 2026, here is the status:
- A New Hampshire judge, Lawrence MacLeod, recently ruled that Tulloch’s original sentence violated the state constitution.
- The state’s Department of Justice has been fighting this, trying to keep the original sentence in place.
- A formal resentencing hearing is scheduled for April 20, 2026.
This hearing won't necessarily set him free. But for the first time in 25 years, a judge will look at Tulloch—not as a 17-year-old with a knife, but as a 43-year-old man—and decide if he is "permanently incorrigible" or if he deserves a chance at parole like Parker.
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Why the Case Still Stings
The Zantop daughters, Veronika and Mariana, have had to relive this nightmare every time a new court date pops up. When Parker asked for a sentence reduction in 2018, they fought it. When he was up for parole in 2024, the community was divided.
Some people believe in rehabilitation. They see Parker’s degrees and his quiet life in prison as proof people can change. Others see the Zantops—two brilliant people whose contributions to science and literature were cut short for $340—and think "life" should mean exactly that.
Basically, the case has become a lightning rod for how we treat juvenile offenders. Do we judge a person by their worst day when they were a teenager? Or are some acts so depraved that the age doesn't matter?
What You Should Know
If you're following the case, keep an eye on the April 2026 hearing. This is the biggest legal milestone for Robert Tulloch since his conviction in 2002. The court will have to weigh "evolving standards of decency" against the gravity of a double homicide.
If you want to understand the full scope of the investigation, the book The Scent of Evil by Erica Mayer or the coverage from The Boston Globe archives provide the most factual, non-sensationalized accounts of the early 2000s investigation.
Next Steps for Following the Case:
- Monitor the Grafton County Superior Court docket for updates leading into the April 20 resentencing hearing.
- Review the New Hampshire Supreme Court's past rulings on juvenile life sentences to see the precedent that Judge MacLeod is following.
- Read the victim impact statements from the original 2002 sentencing if you want to understand the profound ripple effect this crime had on the Dartmouth community.
The story of Tulloch and Parker isn't just a "true crime" tale; it's a 25-year-long legal battle that is currently reaching its most critical turning point.