Going West: True Crime - The Dartmouth Murders // 470

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

In January of 2001, two wonderful and married German-born Dartmouth College professors were stabbed to death inside the study of their New Hampshire home. An investigation into their brutal homicides began, with police initially believing it was a crime of passion. But after sifting through numerous false leads, a bloody footprint and two distinctive knife sheaths led them to their unassuming culprits. These are the murders of Doctors Susanne and Half Zantop, also known as The Dartmouth Murders.

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in today going west. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Today's case takes place in New England and it was recommended by Christine, Robin and Alice. So thank you guys so much. I want to make one little note here. We're going to be talking about two victims today who are married. One of them is Susanna. Now I want to say she was born in Germany, so a lot of people say Susanna or Susanna. But the detectives on the case say Susanna. Some people read it in Americans and they say Susanne. Yeah, because it is spelled like Susanne.

It's S-U-S-A-N-N-E. Well, at least for us here in America. But because the detectives say Susanna, we're going to say Susanne. I just wanted to mention that. Gotta clarify beforehand sometimes. Gotta always clarify. So thank you guys so much for tuning in. This is such a wild story.

It's so disturbing and devastating. And such a senseless crime as well. Almost couldn't be more senseless. So without further ado, let's dive into this one. All right guys, this is episode 470 of Going West, so let's get into it. In January of 2001, two wonderful and married German-born Dartmouth College professors were stabbed to death inside the study of their New Hampshire home. An investigation into their brutal homicides began, with police initially believing it was a crime of passion.

But after sifting through numerous false leads, a bloody footprint and two distinctive knife sheets led them to their unassuming culprits. of Dr. Susanna and Hoff Zantop, otherwise known as the Dartmouth Murders. Susanna Korzukiewicz was born on August 12th, 1945 in Bad Kissingen, Germany. And as the oldest of three children, Susanna's mother described her as a role model for her siblings, an eternally happy and well-behaved child. She was at the top of her class for her entire tenure in school and even skipped multiple grades because of how intelligent and ahead she was. And she was multifaceted. She was a voracious reader and was also a talented pianist.

After completing her undergraduate studies in political science at the Free University of Berlin, she was accepted as a scholarship student all the way across the pond and Stanford University over in California where she pursued her first master's degree. And it was there that she met fellow German native, Hoff Zantop. Hoff was born in Eckenfurter, Germany on January 24th, 1938, so about seven and a half years before Susanna's birth. One of six children, Hoff was raised between Germany and Spain,

while his family moved back and forth multiple times, just in an effort to escape both World War II and the Spanish Civil War. For example, the Zantops settled in Spain when Germany invaded Poland, when Hoff was just a year old. His brother Wolf recalled fondly that while Hoff wasn't the strongest student as a child or a teen, his determination in academics was what really set him apart from the rest of his class. Hoff earned his geology degree in 1960 from the University of Freiburg, and then decided to continue his studies in the field

at Washington State University, located in Pullman, Washington, which is all the way in eastern Washington, almost to Idaho. And this was a really great spot for him to be, because Hoff was an avid outdoorsman and rock climber. He frequently set out on climbing expeditions, until sadly, an accident in Yosemite shattered his ankle and totally sidelined his level of activity. He was also diagnosed with an atrial fibrillation or arrhythmia which slowed him down as well but it definitely didn't deter him. I think in general he was a highly motivated man. When Hoff met his future wife Susanna, he was pursuing his PhD at Stanford and went on to receive his

doctorate in 1969. After they both completed their studies at Stanford, they left California and moved to Argentina, with Hoff accepting a job as a geologist for a mining company there. They were married at the foot of the Andes Mountains, and after about a year they relocated to Colombia, where Susana became pregnant with their first child. Hoff and Susana then relocated back to their home continent of Europe, where she gave birth to their daughter Veronica in Germany before settling in Spain. And shortly after this, they were joined by their second daughter, Mariana.

In March of 1976, the family headed to the States, after both Suzanne and Hoff were offered teaching positions at Dartmouth College in beautiful Hanover, New Hampshire. And what a perfect situation that they could do what they love, teaching at the very same prestigious Ivy League college. Like, it seemed like a great plan, and it was. I mean, it seemed like a great plan and it was. I mean it seemed like a great life You know they they got all of this education. They traveled a lot They settled down into a beautiful area. I mean what a perfect life Yeah, and they could be somewhere safe that had great outdoorsy experiences as well Yeah, and I mean the girls were still pretty young at this point as well So they'd get to grow up in the states in this quaint little town.

So with the girls aged four and two years old at the time, they settled near the center of Hanover, just minutes from the Dartmouth campus. But after over a decade in the area, they longed for more seclusion and proximity to the lush nature that this region had to offer. So in 1992, they settled into a home that was actually custom-built by another Dartmouth professor, nestled on three acres of land, and secluded at the end of a winding gravel driveway. Yeah, and by the way, Aetna is only ten minutes east of downtown

Hanover, so it was very close by. They could achieve exactly what they wanted just east of where they were already living exactly they had access to the city and to the college But they also had this you know very lush Landscape that that they were living on and they absolutely loved this sense of privacy and the safety of the area I mean they were very very happy here and actually Hoff particular, who was known to be, you know, a total outdoors enthusiast, was thrilled at the opportunities that this new home brought him, because of the proximity to snowshoeing, hiking, and also cross-country skiing. Now, at Dartmouth, Hoff taught earth sciences, and Susanna was the head of the university's

German Studies department. But despite taking a few years off to raise their daughters as well as her devotion to teaching and also her students, Susanna still continued her academic pursuits. Back in 1979 she had obtained a second master's degree in comparative literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst despite the lengthy daily commute that she had. It's just under a two-hour each way, or about a two and a half hour train ride, so a lot of commuting here. Well, a few years later in 1984, Susanna went on to obtain her PhD, also in comparative

literature from Harvard University. And somehow with all of these other achievements that she had, she also found time to volunteer for Amnesty International and was known to regularly reach out to politicians and world leaders to bring attention to human rights violations. Incredible woman! I mean she just did a lot. Well a friend of hers named Alan Fair described Susanna as a quote, rare creature and intellectual with warmth and humanity. Not for her, the aloofness of the Brahmin, but rather the friendliness of the comrade who seeks to make the world a better place through the virtues of

friendliness and compassion. Yeah, so basically he's saying that she is intellectually accomplished, but she's also very down-to-earth, she's approachable, she's compassionate. Yeah, she doesn't feel like superior to other people Yeah, she's not driven by superiority. She just wants to help people and To make the world a better place and as you guys are gonna see this is exactly who Hoff and Susanna really were Yeah, they were extremely just lovely memorable people, so it really is no surprise that they

were total pillars of the Dartmouth community. They even frequently welcomed children and people into their home for different family dinners and family Christmases. Even local students who had nowhere to go. One of these students, Salida Salahadeen, said of the Xantops, quote, "...people would look at them and think "'that love like that didn't exist, but it did.'" Another professor, Eric Posmonteer, recalled, quote,

"'They were very dedicated to each other. "'They were very deeply attached, "'but at the same time, "'they respected each other's individuality.'" Friends even remember that Susanna would cry after sending her husband Hoff away on business trips because she hated being apart from him so much. But their home was always full of life and people because the Xantops also kind of adopted older couples as like their pseudo parents. parents? So fellow Dartmouth professor Marianne Hirsch remembered, quote, they had several elderly couples who they kind of adopted as surrogate parents they could take care of going to fix things at their houses,

inviting them to dinner, doing all the things children should do for their parents. So it seems like they were there for anybody and everybody in their community. Absolutely. They were in 2000. They were beginning to kind of mull over their retirement plans, just wanting to maximize their time together, knowing that Hoff was facing a potentially debilitating heart condition. As January of 2001 was drawing to a close, the couple kept their social calendar full and also maintained their commitments to their efforts in activism.

They spent the morning of their murders emailing friends and urging them to oppose the appointment of the recently elected attorney general. Then that night they were looking forward to having a friend over to their house for dinner and then the following day they had plans to go skiing. the following day they had plans to go skiing. On the evening of Saturday, January 27th, 2001, so three days after Hoff's 63rd birthday, a friend of theirs named Roxanna Verona arrived at the Xantops house for dinner, salad in hand, but she was met with no answer.

She opened the door and entered the home, calling for Susanna, but the house was eerily static. Now, as she's passing through the rooms of the house, she's looking for Hoff and Susanna, she can't find them, but eventually she comes upon the study, and that's where she finds Hoff and Susanna's lifeless bodies, covered in blood, collapsed on the floor. So police were summoned just before 7pm that night to assess the shocking and extremely confounding scene that was the Xantop's sudden deaths. But the really strange thing here was that there was no sign of this being a robbery,

because all of the couple's prized collectibles and paintings, some worth tens of thousands of dollars, still adorn their walls and shelves. The police also took note that the chairs in the study were arranged almost as if there had been a meeting prior to the murders. As the shocking news made its way around their small neighborhood and onto Dartmouth's campus, disbelief really set in, because remember, they were a massive fixture in this community. So locals were just beyond upset and in complete shock. I mean, especially just knowing how much everybody else liked them and how generally safe this area was. Now, in a twist of fate, one day after the murders, just after their friends Audrey and Bob McCollum learned of

the couple's tragic fate, they came upon an email that Susanna had sent them the morning prior about the Attorney General, a fitting tribute to how she lived her life. Audrey reflected, quote, This, in a way, was the most incredibly fitting epitaph, because part of the essence of their lives as a couple and as individuals was to act as catalysts, to try to mobilize, to energize, to inform people to take seriously the issues of the times. And as you can imagine, their loved ones were indescribably gutted at this loss. A friend of theirs named Alexis Jetter told the press quote, "...it's like ripping fabric with a knife.

That's what it feels like. They were more than exceptional. They were magical people The news made its way to the couple's daughters who at that point were just 27 and 29 Veronica was living across the country in Seattle doing her residency as she prepared to be a Psychiatrist and Mariana was working in New York City doing international relief work. And as we mentioned, you know, Aetna is very safe. It's like a sleepy alcove. There's only there's under a thousand people that live there at the time, around 8,000 people living in Hanover. So this entire area is quite small. So as you can imagine, Aetna and Hanover as well were absolutely rocked by the brutal

violence of this crime and naturally its citizens were starting to panic that more murders could follow with a killer or killers on the loose, especially because of the fact that they were so well liked. It seemed like it had to be a random act and it wasn't done by somebody that they knew, which made people even more afraid because it was just so senseless. So much to the dismay of the Zantops community and especially their tight-knit circle of family, friends, colleagues, and students, police announced few details or leads aside from the fact that the manner of the deaths was

homicide. New Hampshire Attorney General Philip McLaughlin addressed the public saying quote, what you're gonna find from me is a real reticence to discuss the details of this case. That's done exclusively for the purpose of maintaining the integrity of the investigation. So basically he's saying that he wasn't gonna release any of their findings so that they could be stealth and catch the perp without community interference, even though of course everybody just wanted to help. And the really interesting thing here is that Philip, this attorney general that's speaking

and making these comments, was the guy that Susanna was telling people not to appoint as attorney general a few weeks earlier. Yeah, he was appointed on January 4th, so that is a little weird and he was the state's attorney general until 2009. So he was there for eight years. But yeah, we do mention him a couple times in this episode, so it is weird, you know, obviously that he had some involvement in her investigation in her case when she had these feelings. It's odd. And I definitely know where your guys's brains are going, because this is where my brain was leading me as well. But I just want to say the Attorney General was not involved in what happened to Susanna and Hoff. Yeah, turn it around. It is just like a weird piece of this.

It is. Now, back to the crime scene. So in this study where the murders took place, there were signs of a struggle, including toppled chairs and books. Also left behind were large boot prints believed to be a men's size 11 or 11 and 1 half in the blood leading away from the scene of the crime. There were also two knife sheaths from SOG brand specialty knives, which were suspected to be the murder weapon.

There was two sheaths, one boot print. Now based on the brutal nature of the murders, police did initially lean toward a crime of revenge or passion. I mean, it makes sense. But they were hard pressed to find any enemies of the Xantops, which made the whole thing that much more perplexing. As journalist Bill Delaney said, quote, it would be impossible to say a bad word about them. But then the idea came about that maybe a scorned student had something to do with this.

And actually, one student who reportedly had bad blood with Hoff was brought in for questioning. And it was noted that he had what looked like an abrasion and perhaps a defensive wound on his head. Now, after this student was questioned, who for whatever reason had issues with Hoff, but I guess even the best teachers have some students that don't agree with them, police confirmed that his alibi was airtight for the evening of 55-year-old Susanna and 63-year-old Hoffs' murders, and it was clear that he could not have been involved, despite the potential motive and the strange wound on his head. But shortly after questioning him, another person of interest came into view in the shape of a somewhat rival professor of Hoff's.

A professor who seemed to be vying for his teaching position at Dartmouth. Now, this professor happened to be in town from Arizona at the time of the murders, so he was also brought in for questioning as well, and his rental car was searched for any evidence. When authorities found what they thought was blood inside of his vehicle, they had their first tangible lead. But it turns out that the stain was actually just spilled soup. That feels like it would be in an old, an old cozy mystery novel. It does. Oh it was just some soup. It was just tomato soup. Like kind of silly. And you know obviously after this, this professor was also cleared of any involvement.

And of course, in any small town, there's always a rumor mill when something as shocking as this happens, people start to talk. This is when rumors come about. And there was one rumor that grew in intensity very quickly, which pissed off those who knew and loved the Xanthops most because it posthumously tarnished Hoff's reputation and called into question his devotion to his beloved wife. Based on the notion of investigators that lean towards the murders being a crime of passion, the Bossing Globe ran a story that seemed to confirm

Hoff's alleged infidelity. The Zantops friends and family were appalled at this claim, as were law enforcement, whose investigation was now being compromised by baseless rumors. Because that's all it was, running with an idea based on another idea. Like the Boston Globe basically said,

oh, it was a crime of passion, so there must have been a love triangle, which just wasn't a thing. I mean, obviously that sometimes does happen in true crime cases, but in this case, that there was no evidence for any of that. Yeah, it was based on absolutely nothing. A friend of Susanna and Hoff said with disdain,

quote, there is not a shred of truth to that claim. After this minor media scandal, their daughters, Veronica and Mariana requested that their loved ones stop speaking with the media to keep it more of a private and quiet matter where nothing could be twisted. And New Hampshire attorney general General Philip McLaughlin agreed, announcing in multiple publications, quote, no responsible and knowledgeable law enforcement official would provide the globe with the information it attributed to official anonymous sources.

In fact, investigators do not hold the belief attributed to them in the globe story. The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office and the Hanover Homicide Task Force have received many requests to confirm this story and have replied that we will not and cannot confirm one word of it. So because of this whole uproar, the papers eventually printed a retraction and apology for perpetrating this unfounded rumor. And I just know that whoever put that out, that motherfucker got fired. Yeah. He was fired the next day.

I mean, it just, it was, it was not only harmful to the investigation, but also, again, like I said, to Hoff's reputation and Susanna's reputation. And these are victims of a horrible murder and you're kind of trying to sensationalize it into something that it is not. Yeah, it's just a sick and irresponsible thing to do. So authorities focused on the two leads that they did have, the knife sheaths and the boot print. The knives were the seal model from Sogbrand, of which 5,000 were sold so they're gonna have to go through and sift through all of these purchases but because they knew

that these were sold as a pair investigators had an instant advantage thus nearly three weeks after the murders police managed to find a transaction of two matching SOG knives at a store in Massachusetts made by a man from Chelsea Vermont Vermont, which is only about a 45-minute drive from Etna, New Hampshire. Of course, again, where the Xantops lived. Now when they found out who had purchased these knives, investigators were just puzzled, because the two knives had been purchased by a 16-year-old boy named James Parker.

Although it seemed strange that a young Vermont teenager would be responsible, they of course headed to question James Parker at his parents' home. And actually, he named his best friend's 17-year-old Robert Tolick as the owner of the other knife, and also claimed that they bought them for hunting purposes. But according to James Parker, they didn't wind up liking the knives after all, so they sold them off to someone that they met in a local army surplus store. But the identity of this person was apparently not known.

Now obviously this made things more difficult for the police, now having to figure out who they had sold them to. But the boys were very helpful and apparently very cooperative. They even offered up their fingerprints to be cross-referenced with the crime scene, and Robert willingly shared his collection of boots for investigators to peruse, just to prove that his boots did not match the large boot print that was left at the scene. So at the end of this, the boys were released from police custody as police continued to dig and locate the person with the knives.

And remember, these knives are such a big clue because the sheaths were found at the crime scene, so they have a lot of motivation to find someone who owned both of them. However, to the investigator's surprise, one of the prints from the boot that Robert offered up for testing actually matched the bloody boot print left behind at the home of the professors. Which is odd because they were so helpful and Robert had completely offered that boot up on his own and now suddenly it's a match? I don't think anybody had this on their true crime bingo card to be honest with you because I really don't think, you know, just the fact that these are two teenage boys, they're from

a different town, and as we're going to get into, they don't seem like the type to do something like this. It just didn't seem real that this boot was actually matching. Well obviously this ultimately tied Robert to the scene, but that wasn't all. James was also tied to the scene when a fingerprint of his was found to be left behind in blood on one of the knife sheets that was found at the crime scene.

So now with official evidentiary reason to believe them to be responsible for the murders of Susanna and Hoff, warrants were issued for the boys' arrests. But when investigators arrived to their homes, the boys were nowhere to be found. Now again, police, you know, initially didn't believe that these two teenage boys were responsible, but they did have to do their due diligence. So they tested and now they have a match and these boys are just MIA. Where are these teenage boys? And luckily they did do that,

knowing that they were helpful and cooperative, as you said, they still were like, oh, well they're giving this up. They do own the knives. They are close enough to the vicinity of the crime scene, only 45 minutes away. It could be them. So luckily, they didn't just say, oh, it's not these boys.

We got to find the owner of the knives, you know, the new owner, the person they sold it to. Luckily, they did say, well, let's just double check here because now we have a slam dunk. Yeah, and that could have been a massive fumble. Well, let's talk about the boys for a minute because both James and Robert were described as well-mannered and even timid by their high school peers. According to classmates, they were believed to be incapable of such violence. Like the idea of them at 16 and 17 years old murdering two innocent people was just something that people that knew them couldn't wrap their heads around.

I mean, as a child, James was described as precocious and creative and dreamed of doing theater. And Robert was his high school student council president. Like Hoff, they were outdoorsmen, they were avid rock climbers and rafters, and as they self-proclaimed, hunters as well. So when the suspicions of their involvement in a gruesome double homicide reached their school, shock waves followed. Then in the early morning hours of February 16, 2001, which by the way was a Friday, so this is a school day, James' father, John, heard his son drive off and away from the house at around three o'clock

in the morning. When John got up to investigate, he found a note written by James to his parents that read, quote, "'I just had to talk to Robert alone. "'I will be back by the morning. "'Don't call cops!' "'Exclamation, exclamation.'"

So his parents waited until 10.45am to finally contact the authorities, because now they're worried. They don't know what the hell is going on. So they, along with the police, headed over to Robert's parents' house just to try to put the puzzle pieces together. The small community of Chelsea, Vermont was so rocked by the murderers and just the idea that James and Robert could be involved that a town meeting was even called to discuss it. But things were about to get crazy because while the boys were still on the loose,

the homes of both boys, James and Robert were searched. And in James' bedroom, remember James is the younger one, he's 16, concealed inside a box of comic books were the SogSeal knives that had been used to kill Susanna and Hoff Zantop, you know, the ones that the boys claimed that they had sold off. Then, shockingly, inside Robert Tullock's room was neo-Nazi literature, as well as texts on Holocaust revisionism and white supremacy. Okay, that's very strange. Disturbing.

Yeah, very disturbing. Well, James's attorney, remember James is the one whose bedroom hosted the two knives, the attorney's name is Douglas Brown, later maintained, quote, I can tell you that Jimmy Parker has nothing to do with any of that stuff, and I've known him all his life. So it kind of seems like Robert is maybe like

the ringleader of the two of them, and James is just kind of the follower here. Yeah, that feels like the consensus, obviously, James very much still involved, he's got the knives in his bedroom. You know, this isn't looking good for either of them. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he's just as responsible as Roberts. Yeah.

So it's very clear that these boys are definitely involved, there's a lot of damning evidence against them, and so because of this, a massive national manhunt ensued. And they knew that the boys had taken off in a silver 1987 Audi, and they knew that the boys had taken off in a silver 1987 Audi, which police attempted to track, until it was located in a parking lot in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, which is about three hours south of Chelsea, Vermont. Now, on the evening of Friday, February 16th, still a few hours ahead of the police, the boys ditched the car in Sturbridge, approached a local truck stop, and they started asking around for rides.

It was there that they came upon Alabama couple Nancy and Rowdy Tucker. Now Rowdy was a professional truck driver, and Nancy was joining him on his current route. Introducing themselves as Tyler and Sam, James and Robert told the couple that they were bound for California, and planning to join the Navy once they arrived there. Now, Rowdy and Nancy both said that they were headed for New York City, but they did agree that they could take them as far as they could. As they were stopped at JFK Airport in Queens making a delivery, Nancy remembers 17-year-old Robert climbing into the front of their Peterbilt truck with her and asking how many gears the truck had.

And she actually remembered feeling like this was a little bit creepy because she said that she felt like Robert was only asking her this so that he could possibly like overtake their truck and ditch them on the side of the road apparently. At their next stop which was Columbia, New Jersey, they decided to let the boys out because there wasn't enough space in the truck for all four of them to sleep comfortably, and again, they were just kind of feeling a little suspicious of these boys at this point. The Tuckers allowed the boys to use their radio to call out to other truckers willing to give them a place to stay, And a man named James Hicks responded, offering to take them in for the night. So the following day, which was Sunday, February 18th, 2001,

they left New Jersey with James, who was bound for Chicago. Well, as they approached Indiana, James Parker asked if there were any other volunteers that could help him and Robert on their mission to get to California. And a man in Spiceland, Indiana, which is a tiny town about 45 minutes east of Indianapolis, agreed to take them in. So James Hicks rolled into a Spiceland truck stop around 3 45 a.m. on Monday, February

19th. And he left James and Robert with $10 to make sure that they were able to get something for breakfast, which was a very nice gesture. But the boys awaited their next ride at the front of the truck stop near the fuel pumps went to their surprise. They were swarmed by police cars. And this is wild because Henry County Police Sergeant Bill Ward just happened to catch wind of the manhunt the day prior to hearing James Hicks' requests on the radio. So when he heard the description of the teen boys looking for a ride to California, he requested that they be dropped off at a truck stop in Spiceland and instead descended on the boys with police backup, which is so

badass. Yeah, he just is listening to the radio. He knows about the crimes that happened back in New Hampshire. And then he's like, well, I'm just going to come up with this plan and say that I'm going to be a truck driver. I'm going to help James and Robert get to California but instead he's actually a police officer that just trapped their asses. But also the fact that he happened to hear this on the radio is nuts like this worked out so

perfectly because obviously you know they were able to track down all the people that had given the boys a ride thus far anyway like we know that today but this could have gone on so much further if they were able to get to that had given the boys a ride thus far anyway, like we know that today, but this could have gone on so much further if they were able to get to California. There could have been so many other people that would have given them a ride across the country, and then maybe they never would have been able to be tracked.

So this is just amazing that it worked out like this. And just to give a little bit more background of this search before they found the boys, Sergeant Bill Ward, the guy we're talking about, he had met up with a few other officers, specifically highway patrolmen, at a Flying J truck stop for breakfast on Sunday morning and just briefed them on the whole situation

and told them to keep their eyes out for James and Robert. And then a short while later, miraculously, Bill heard James's request, James Hicks, over the CB radio and the rest is basically history. So that's how that whole thing came to fruition. Now when Bill casually questioned the boys, 16-year-old James Parker told him that they were from Encino, California, which is located in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, and that they were just trying to make their way back home. So he's, he's pretending like they're California boys. He's got to come up with a story very quickly. Yeah. And I wonder where he got Encino from. Like my mind goes to Encino

man, but yeah, maybe he watched Encino man and he was like, oh yeah, that's a place I know in California. I feel like that even though this happened in 2001 I feel like the the 80s and 90s had a lot of Encino Valley LA movies sure yeah But you know on top of this it actually kind of was smart of James for a hot second because it's not like he just said Los Angeles because then someone could say well where in Los Angeles. Yeah, it was it was a good specific answer however When Bill asked him to spell Encino Where in Los Angeles? Yeah, it was a good specific answer, however, when Bill asked him to spell Encino, James said that he couldn't.

So obviously he's not from there. An idiot, dude. Encino, E-N-C-I-N-O, but he probably did it with an S instead of a C. Yeah. And that was a clear indication that he was lying. When he asked Robert his name, Robert gave him the moniker Sam W.

Remember Sam is who he was introducing himself as to the truckers that were picking him up along the way. And this was an assumed name that he was known to use. So when authorities ran this name, Sam W obviously very vague, it came up as a potential match to James and Robert. With that, 17-year-old Robert Tulloch quickly broke down and conceded that they had been caught. Investigators had also tracked down Nancy and Rowdy after spotting James and Robert climbing

into their truck on surveillance footage back in Massachusetts. So they already knew that these kids were trying to, you know, catch a ride somewhere because they caught them on fucking security footage. Yeah, they had all this proof against them, the evidence in their homes, and now they're just being caught in lie after lie. Well in the interrogation room, Robert broke down saying, quote, Jim, I'm so sorry. Also remarking that he had thrown his whole life away. Totally agreed. So within days, James and Robert were extradited back to New Hampshire. And it didn't take long for James to turn on Robert and confess to the murders to District Attorney Kelly Ayotte, implicating

Robert in exchange for a lighter sentence. And when asked why they had done what they did and why such a desperate and horrifying crime had to happen to two wonderful and innocent people like Susanna and Hoff, who had a lot of plans ahead of them, they didn't have really any answer. James explained simply, quote, We were attempting to get money to go overseas and live some sort of life of adventure Which is such a bullshit answer and everything that you're about to explain is such bullshit like you don't kill somebody because you want

To go on an adventure you you work towards it like it's just so lazy. It's so dumb So this is apparently their excuse They said that they dreamed of going to Australia and decided that they needed about $10,000 to do so. There, they had lofty aspirations of stealing boats and living a life of luxury in exile on the beach, so they essentially just wanted to be like pseudo-pirates. But and with no consequences, they're, oh yeah, we're gonna kill people and steal people's boats and their money and we're just gonna live the good life, as if that works. Yeah, so I guess bored with their small northeastern town, they came to the conclusion that in

order to escape, they would need to steal their getaway fund instead of just saving up and working towards their goal as Daphne just mentioned. Now at first they did discuss robbery and car theft, but concluded that they were fed up with the meager dividends from running small-time scams. So they hatched the idea that they would deceive people by lulling them into a false sense of security, gaining entry into their house, robbing them, and then killing them before pilfering their bank account information and cleaning out their accounts. And the really stupid thing here is that these boys didn't even know the Zantops.

Like, they just targeted them because they saw their nice house and, you know, the secluded area in which they lived and just thought, hey, this is an opportunity. Yeah, and when they arrived to the Zantops' door, James and Robert just posed as high school students, which obviously they were, but they said that they were conducting a survey about environmental issues, which happened to be the perfect bait for Hoff Zantop because we know he was very passionate about environmental causes. Hoff generously welcomed them into his study, you know, especially because he's a teacher. He sees these young boys and wow, look at this interest they're taking in the environment this is so inspiring I can help them I'm gonna let them in and have a chat with them about it. But the crazy thing is that these boys didn't even

know anything about Hoff so like this just happened to be by coincidence the perfect plan that they didn't know was so perfect. Yeah it works really well because here Hoff is letting them into a study and arranging the chairs so that the boys could sit and they could chat about this, which of course explains how the police found the chairs positioned in that like meeting style way the night that they were murdered.

That's why the chairs were positioned like that. And James and Robert even went as far as to bring along notebooks to act as if they were gonna take notes about the conversation like they were really Really pulling it off and and if you look at pictures of them, they're very unassuming They look like sweet teenage boys. They do yeah, they they don't like there's no like, you know Sometimes we talk about killers and you think about like a big scar across their face or they just, they look evil or they have dead eyes. These boys just look like little, like-

Skinny little boys. Skinny little teenage boys, meek and just harmless. Yeah, and so they probably did a really good job at portraying that, especially because, as we talked about as well, Robert is the student council vice president. We know that James was interested in theater. They were both just very unassuming young men.

So the three of them talked for about only ten minutes until at some point when Hoff moved to pull his card from his wallet, the boys sprung on him. Robert then pulled the knife from his backpack and stabbed 63 year old Hoff in the chest. So hearing the commotion because Susanna was not in the room at this time, she came into the study and then James pounced on her and killed her. So each of the boys killed one of them. 16 year old James Parker claimed that he was given direction by Robert as to how and when to do so and that 17 year old Robert then joined in his

efforts and stabbed her as well. When they were sure that the couple was dead they made off with Hoff's wallet which contained three hundred and forty dollars. I mean three hundred and forty dollars you idiots. And you know they would have just given them that money if it came to it You know yeah They probably would have just done that but the the really stupid thing on top of this is the fact that the Xantops had all of these valuable possessions all over their house and Because they were in such a panic they just go into the wallet and steal three hundred forty dollars like that's not gonna get you to Australia bud if only they had just taken a painting off the wall

and booked it, you know? Like this, I mean, obviously this wasn't the answer, but it just makes you so mad, because you're like, seriously? Like- It's just so dumb. Well, after this, you know, they left the house, and then they crossed back into the state of Vermont and cleaned themselves up

before heading to a Barnes and Noble to pick up a few books on murder. When they realized that they had left the sheaths of the knives behind, which obviously was a big reason that they were found in the first place, they actually went back to the scene of the crime. They went back to the Xanthops house, but by that point it was swarmed with police cars. And actually, the Zantops weren't even the first victims that the boys had selected because the previous summer, they had descended upon the family summer home

of Diane and Andrew Patty in Versher, Vermont, which is only about 10 minutes east of their town of Chelsea. On July 17th, 2000, just six months earlier, Robert knocked on the door of the Patty's home and told Andrew that his car battery had died nearby and he needed some help. Recognizing what seemed like it was going to culminate in like a push in crime as soon as Andrew opened the door, like Andrew is noticing that something's really off about this. Andrew firmly informed Robert that he was unable to help and that he needed to leave

right away, which, honestly, likely saved the lives of himself and his son inside. But it wasn't until he flashed his gun in the window that really freaked Robert out, and that is what got him to leave, but unbeknownst to Andrew, James Parker was crouching in the bushes outside and both of the teens were armed with knives. They were just totally ready to jump as soon as Andrew let them into the house, just like, you know, they had done obviously with the Xanthop. So they had this whole plan in play. They showed up, they were ready to go and because Andrew flashed his gun and said,

you got to get out of here, they left and it didn't happen. Well, thankfully, it didn't happen because if it did, we would be talking about a few more victims here. Yeah. Or we'd be talking about the patties instead of the Xanthop. So it's just it's crazy how this all unfolded. And also on top of this, when Andrew went to call his wife, who was away for the evening, she was not in the house, he realized that the phone lines had been cut by the boys and they had even gone so far as to proactively dig graves for the patties, which James was later able

to show investigators, so. So it goes to show you that all of this was completely premeditated. Yeah, both of these, the patties and the Xanthops, these are two premeditated plans of murder and robbery, both of which they acted on. Well 16-year-old James admitted that their actions were, quote, unimaginably horrible, and said despondently that he didn't know what had come over them. Now following the announcement of James' plea deal,

Robert pleaded guilty to first degree murder as well. The boys, then 17 and 18, were sentenced on April 5th, 2002. At the hearing, Veronica read a compelling and impactful statement on behalf of herself and her sister that said, quote, "'My father's name was Hoff which in German means to help my father lived up to his name and many ways both he and my mother exemplified the spirit of service of community of giving that their desire to

help to teach and to open their home to perfect strangers was abused in such a horrific way makes their death seem like the greatest violation. Through her speech, Robert was just stone-faced and declined to make a statement. But James, on the other hand, sobbed so uncontrollably through Veronica's words, that he was unable to read his own prepared statement and just simply said, quote, "'I'm sorry. There's not much more I can say than that. I'm just really sorry. Ultimately, James, due to his cooperation in the investigation and willingness to testify against Robert, was sentenced to 25 years to life with the possibility of parole. But Robert, who was

painted as kind of the mastermind of the whole operation, was given a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole. In 2018, so 16 years after his sentencing, James sought a sentence reduction after having served two-thirds of his term. Initially, the Xantops daughters, Veronica and Mariana, understandably objected to this, and so the petition was withdrawn the following year. However, six years later, in 2024, when he became eligible for parole, the women declined to intervene.

Veronica, who is now a psychiatrist, claims that she's come to peace with the crime, however horrific and misguided it was over the years. She explained that becoming a doctor and having children has given her a new sense of empathy and perspective, saying, quote, "...it's not about revenge. For every collective year he's in jail, it's not going to make me feel any better about what happened. Since it happened, I've become a mother, I've become a psychiatrist, and I realize that

the world is complex and teenagers are complex." And maybe some of the thoughts I had at the time have changed, in terms of compassion for his family, and even him at 16 doing something terrible. We felt strongly that it wasn't our job to comment on whether or not he should be released. We acknowledged the collective trauma of his actions. A lot of people did. Well, despite his actions as a teenager, James seemed to make strides in prison, obtaining both his bachelor's and master's degrees

in nonprofit leadership, which obviously looks pretty good for him. And this also reignited the passion for music and theater that he had as a child. So when his legal team made a push for parole last year, the Zantop sisters concluded that they could make their peace with it. Veronica said wisely, quote, What happens with James Parker for me is completely separate from the feelings of cumulative and intangible sadness and grief that his actions caused.

At his parole hearing, 39 year old James Parker softly repeated the details of the night of the murders to the court, saying, quote, I've gone over it and over it and just finding an explanation for that. I just, I just don't know how I could do that. Echoing his sentiment from 22 years prior, he said, I'm just deeply sorry and we do have a clip of his explanation. So let's play that In 2001 when I was 16 I Entered the home of the sand tops pretending to be a student And to home of the Zantops pretending to be a student and to have an interview

and during the interview when Mr. Zantop pulled out his wallet my co-defendant and I he attacked Mr. Zantop. And then when his wife came throat, she fell to the floor. I've gone over it and over it and just finding an explanation for that. It's just... I just don't know how I could...

How I could do that. I'm just... I'm just deeply sorry. So James Parker's parole was granted and he was released just six weeks later in June of 2024. Robert Tullock's legal team on the other hand is also vying for a new trial, citing the 2012 Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life sentences for defendants under the age of 18 are quote, cruel and unusual. According to his attorney Richard Guerrero quote, it's cruel in the constitutional sense to punish children the same way we punish adults

when in every other context, we recognize they are different. So Robert's first hearing on the matter was held on September 25th, 2024, and is believed to be headed for the New Hampshire Supreme Court in the near future. Regarding James' parole, Veronica said in an interview, quote, I wish James' family the best and hope that they are able to heal. My dad was extremely kind and it got him killed. What he taught me though, and what I've tried

to continue to practice is that kindness is key, that people are complex, and that it's okay to experience and hold diametrically opposed emotions about situations without there being a right or wrong way to feel. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. I just think that it sucks so much that these two just wonderful people were killed over nothing.

I mean really, really just over $340. And it's frustrating whenever, it's always frustrating when kids kill, you know, or teenagers kill, because obviously if they had been adults, they would not be up for parole. This wouldn't even be a conversation. James would not be free today.

But because they were kids and because they, you know, maybe were too young to know right from wrong, quote they, you know, maybe were too young to know right from wrong, quote unquote, you know, it just, it makes you so mad because now James is saying he's sorry. Now he's, he's so regretful for doing it, but it's like, well then why did this happen in the first place? It just makes you wish you could go back in time so bad. It's such a frustrating and devastating story.

And by the way, of course, thank you again to Christine Robin and Alice for recommending it Yeah, I think the other part that's just terrible is the fact that the Zantops lived such amazing lives They did so many things for so many people and they didn't even get to cherish their golden years They didn't get to retire and live their lives happily as they planned Well, yeah, just like Veronica said her dad in particular in this situation died being helpful. He saw these two boys and probably saw a great opportunity to do what he did every day in the classroom at Dartmouth, and that was to teach young people something.

You know, so such a devastating story. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Also, if you want to see photos of the Xantops, James Parker and Robert, head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram at Going West podcast, and we're also on Facebook. We've got a discussion group as well. Let us know what you guys think about this one. Yes, please do.

And we will see you guys on Friday. All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. Thanks for watching!