U.S.

Teen Killers Targeted Other Families

February 19, 2002 / 10:36 AM EST / AP

The teen-age killers of two Dartmouth College professors in their home a year ago had unsuccessfully targeted four other families, an indictment unsealed Tuesday charges.

In the six months before the murders in Hanover on Jan. 27, 2001, Robert Tulloch and James Parker went to four other randomly chosen homes planning to talk their way in, get the residents' ATM cards and PIN numbers and then murder them, the indictment says.

It says they finally succeeded on Jan. 27 by telling Half and Susanne Zantop they were students conducting an environmental survey.

Their four alleged previous attempts, two near their homes in Chelsea, Vermont, and two in Hanover, failed because no one was home or the people who answered the door would not let them in, the indictment says.

The last of those failed attempts was the same day the Zantops were murdered, at a home nearby, the indictment alleged.

Tulloch, 18, is charged with first-degree murder. He has indicated he will use an insanity defense at his trial, which is scheduled to start in April.

Parker, 17, has pleaded guilty to reduced charges and has agreed to testify against Tulloch. The Grafton County Superior Court indictment dated Friday and unsealed Tuesday does not say whether the details came from Parker.

It marks the first time authorities have clearly stated a theory for the killings, which rocked Hanover. Previously, authorities had said only that the motive was robbery.