True Crime Campfire - Because They Were Home: The Dartmouth Murders, Pt 2

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

Our homes are meant to be where we feel the safest, so it makes sense that there’s an entire horror movie subgenre dedicated to home invasions. The Strangers, Panic Room, Funny Games, When a Stranger Calls, even Jordan Peele’s Us. All those movies play on the innate fear we have that our most peaceful area would be disturbed by those that would do us harm. Unfortunately, there are people out there that would do us harm just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Today, we’re finishing one of those stories. Join us for part 2 of the story of the Dartmouth Murders.Sources:Judgment Ridge by Lehr and ZuckoffFollow us, campers!Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfirehttps://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/Facebook: True Crime CampfireInstagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfireEmail: [e-mail]! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.

Hello, campers. Grab your marshmallows and gather around the true crime campfire. We're your camp counselors. I'm Katie. And I'm Whitney. And we're here to tell you a true story that is way stranger than fiction. We're roasting murderers and marshmallows around the true crime campfire. Our homes are meant to be where we feel the safest, so it makes sense that there's an entire horror movie subgenre dedicated to home invasions. The strangers, panic room, funny games, when a stranger calls, even Jordan Peels us. All those movies play on the innate fear we have that our most peaceful area would be disturbed by those that would do us harm. Unfortunately, there are people out there that

would do us harm just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Today we're finishing one of those stories. This is part two of Because They Were Home, the story of the Dartmouth murders. When we last left off, Dork-ass Supreme Robert Tulloch and his loser, Hengeman Jim, had talked their way into the home of two Dartmouth professors, Hoff and Susanna Zantop, on January 27, 2001. That evening, a friend of the Zantops, Roxanna Verona, drove up the darkening drive of the couple's home.

Earlier that morning, Susanna had invited her to share a meal with her in Hoff. Susanna wanted to meet the previous night to go to the movies with them. Roxana found herself on their doorstep, holding a salad she'd brought with her, and she rang the bell. The Xantops were fastidious about locking the door, something their friends often teased them about. Why would they lock their doors in a town like Hanover? What were they afraid of? Some of their friends didn't even know where their house keys were. When they had dinner parties, they'd lock an unlawful. lock the door behind every guest, brushing off the jokes.

Susanna was born in Germany in August of 1945, days after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. I can't help but wonder if their locking doors had something to do with the instability she grew up in. After a few moments of waiting, Roxana placed her hand on the doorknob, almost instinctively and turned it. She didn't think anything of it at first. Susanna had mentioned that Hoff would be late to their dinner because he would be celebrating a fellow geologist's birthday. Roxana thought Susanna had probably left the door unlocked for her. She was so sweet

and thoughtful about stuff like that. Wouldn't want her friend waiting outside all confused. I'm in, Roxana called out as she stepped over the threshold. She hung up her coat and purse. Susanna! Susanna! Walking a few steps deeper into the house, Roxanna felt a strange sensation.

Something was wrong. Her voice was too loud. She peaked into her. the kitchen, but no one was there. There was no sound of the shower. Silence hung in the house too completely, like the house was empty. She looked toward the study and saw that the door was wide open with the light on. The Zantop's house was usually sparkling clean and organized like only a German couple could keep it, but the study was in chaos. In horror, Roxanna saw her friend Susanna lying on her stomach, her body partially covered by an upturned card table,

Her clothes soaked in blood. Nearby, arms stretched out toward his wife, laid Hofzantop. His head was leaning against the bottom of one of the bookshelves. He had fallen so hard that it knocked the books askew, and there was blood spatter everywhere, painting the whole study in red. The blood had pooled around Hoff's body and soaked into his sweater. Roxana couldn't have stood there for more than a moment, but that moment would stay seared into her mind forever.

of her sweet friend Susanna and her husband, whose last act was to reach toward the love of his life to try and hold her one last time. Roxana didn't know what to do. 9-1-1? But what if the killer was still in the house? Instead, she grabbed her coat and sprinted toward the neighbor's house. She knew a doctor lived there, Dr. Bob McCollum, another close friend of the Xantops.

The doctor was in the midst of celebrating his birthday with his wife, daughter and son-in-law, and they were just raising their glasses for a toast when they heard a woman screaming outside, and a moment later frantically pounding on their door. When they opened the door, they were met with a hysterical Roxanna, who did her best to communicate what she'd seen. Bob, Roxanna, and Bob's daughter went straight over to the Xantops, while Bob's wife called 911. By that time, Bob and his daughter had made it to the Xantops and confirmed his fears. His friends were long dead and cold to the touch. Roxana kept herself away from her friend's bodies and went to the kitchen where she saw the

remains of the lunch Susanna was preparing earlier that day. The police arrived and quickly secured the scene. This would be most of these investigators' first major homicide case, and the police chief, Nick Jaconi, immediately knew that they would need assistance on this from the New Hampshire State Police. He walked through the scene and observed a trail of blood and two bloody footprints, fearing contamination, he ordered his men out of the house and had them walk through undisturbed snow to prevent any other evidence from being obliterated. Major Barry Hunter from the state police's major crime unit would have a secure and mostly undisturbed scene in the morning. Earlier that

afternoon, Robert Tulloch and Jim Parker had raced out of the Zantop house and toward Jim's mother's car, a green Volvo station wagon. Jim had pulled up the curved driveway forward, so he had to back out now. Unfortunately for him, but delightfully for us, the windows were fogged up and he couldn't see anything as he backed up. Jim panicked. He kept yelling at Robert. Am I hitting anything? Am I hitting anything? Over and over again. The last thing they needed was to get trapped in the snow at the scene of the crime. Both of them had to stick their heads out the windows to see. It's a small justice, but any humiliation for these two dweaves is okay in my book. Yeah, they actually had scouted the Xantop's house the day before, which is so

unbelievably creepy, I can't stand it, and as they were backing out, they sped out of the driveway and nearly hit another driver who had to swerve to avoid being hit. Dipshits. As they drove, they both took stock of themselves. Jim was unharmed, but jumpy. Anytime he saw blood on himself, he thought it was his. Robert, on the other hand, was calm. He'd gotten a pretty bad cut on his lower thigh. We don't know exactly how it happened, but I suspect he did it to himself, or Holf and Susanna fall back. Either way, it serves him right. Hell, yeah. Conversationally, he turned to gym. It was too easy. That was really weird. He said it like he was impressed with himself, like he'd made a particularly tough basketball shot,

not murdered two people. And what was the take? What did they score to help fund their spectacular new life? They managed to grab Hulf's wallet before they left, but nothing else. Robert checked the wallet and found some cash and a debit card but no pin. Overall, the Xantops were brutally murdered over $340 in cash and a leather wallet. Oh my God. Jim and Robert determined that they needed $10,000 to make it out of the U.S. Robert broke the news to Jim. In the words of Lair and Zucker from the book Judgment Ridge, Jim was unsure about everything, surprised about how things went, pissed off because our plan didn't work. We screwed up. We didn't get it. We didn't get it. We didn't get, you know, any kind of money.

Jim decided that the outlaw life wasn't for him. If you're thinking that our boy was feeling some kind of remorse, don't worry. He wasn't. He was scared of the consequences. Robert, who seemed to be riding high, just decided, we have to do something again. Jim, not wanting to ruin the mood, didn't comment. They were heading home, but had to make a pit stop first. Jim parked to the side of the road so they could clean the blood off their hands using

snow. Robert took a closer look at his wound and washed it a little with snow. As he scrubbed off his knife, Jim realized something with a lurch. They forgot the knife sheets at the scene. The pair went through the backpacks they used to carry their kill kits and confirmed they were indeed gone. We told you last episode, fail whales. Yep. Robert was insistent that they turned around and grab them before the bodies were discovered, but Jim wasn't so sure. He did not want to the bodies again. Rat, coward, fuck. Yeah, you murdered them, but your tum-tum is too tender to go back and sit with what you've done.

Screw, and I mean this with all the fire of youth, you. You absolute little damp wad of duck shit. I hate these kids. Sorry. Instead, they headed home to drop off their kill kits and change clothes. They decided to do some research and drove to the nearest Barnes and Noble to see if they had any books about how to deal with kill killing people. Just, just, you think Barnes & Noble has that.

Really? You think you're going to go find a hitman manual at Barnes and Noble? They did find one, actually, but it was an actual academic paper, and they ditched it and left. Yeah, it's a book called On Killing, and it was written by, like, an actual, like, military veteran. So, right. You're telling me these baby geniuses couldn't read an academic. written paper, who did a study on exactly what they were looking for, you know they just couldn't read it. It had nothing to do with the helpfulness. These idiots were high off their own

farts. Remember, these are the guys who thought they could just train themselves to be MI5 agents, for God's sakes. God forbid they try and learn something from somebody else. They briefly discussed ditching the knives, but ultimately decided to keep them. According to Jim, wherever we went, we needed survival knives. I don't think that's quite the case. I don't think that's quite the case, though. I think that Robert wanted to keep the knives as trophies and talk Jim into it. There's no logical reason to keep the murder weapons, for God's sakes, especially ones that could be traced to you through the sheaths that you left at the scene. The boys tried to return to normalcy after the murders, for a few days at least. Robert only

had to take one class, but now he plopped himself down in an art class, too. The art teacher, by the way, was not impressed with Robert's little classroom shenanigans. She was one of the only teachers at that school who didn't think his constant interruptions were charming, so she's the only one I'd want to have a beer with. By then, the news of the murders was spreading, and when friends brought it up in front of Robert and Jim, they just kind of shrugged and changed the subject. Robert just couldn't quite help begging for attention, though. He told several people about the cut on his leg. To one friend, he said he cut it climbing over a fence. The friend said he thought it looked too straight for that, almost like a surgical cut. To a few

other friends, he said he ran into a sap spigot in the woods. To his girlfriend, he said he dropped a knife on his leg. Yeah, this loser had a girlfriend. Soak it in. I know, poor girl. That next week, Jim and Robert decided that it was time to get the hell out of Dodge. Their money problems persisted, so they tried selling everything that they could. Unfortunately, nobody wanted their shit. Between the two of them, including the money they stole from the Xantops, they had about $800. But, you know, when you travel, there's always things you have to buy. Travel-sized deodorant, a neck pillow, expensive rock-climbing shirts and shoes to match your bestie. Um, what were those last two things?

Expensive rock-climbing shirts and shoes to match your bestie. Yeah, it doesn't really sound like a necessary piece of travel gear under the circumstances, does it? Okay, but to Master Blaster over here it was. They were avid rock climbers, and they were sure that they'd be roughing it for a while. So they'd definitely need this stuff, okay? Sure, it was pricey, but it was essential. I mean, sure, it brought their total funds down to less than $500, but that would last them forever. The authors of Judgment Ridge wrote,

In the rough math of robbery murder, the lives of Half and Susanna Sandop were only worth two shirts and a pair of shoes to Robert and Jim. They packed up some clothes, their sleeping bags, their hunting knives, wrapped in tape and cloth, and Robert went to visit his girlfriend to say goodbye. Her name was Christiana Yucenza, and she had been with Robert for quite some time. He gifted her a teddy bear, and they stayed up late talking that night before he and Jim were supposed to leave. Robert was, quote, unusually emotional, and said he was upset at the thought of not being able to tell his mother that he was leaving.

After he started tearing up, Christiana told him, you don't have to go right now. You could wait until you have more money, until you graduate. Robert, who had just seen the family cat and teared up, responded, well, I have to go. I kind of have to go. I've done something bad. Christiana prompted really bad, and Robert just said, yeah. He didn't elaborate and Kristiana didn't ask. She assumed he'd stolen something. He had told her about stealing an ATV last summer to sell for trip money, so she had no reason to believe it. was anything more serious than theft. Sure. It's crazy that she didn't ask, though. I would be like, what? What did you do? I couldn't let it go. I mean, it's amazing to me when people just don't ask questions. That's unreal. Yeah, I'm always, I'm always like, I need more than enough info, actually. I don't need just enough. Jim drove to pick Robert up from the Tolok home,

and they drove to White River Junction, a village an hour away from Chelsea. There, they went to the bus station and told the ticket agent that they wanted to go somewhere warm. She suggested San Diego, the tickets were too expensive. They decided on Amarillo, Texas. By the end of the day, they were on the road. That evening, Jim called his parents to let them know that he and Robert were safe, just on a trip. They needed to take a break. His parents were still worried sick. In an email to Jim's sister, Diana, his mother wrote, Dad is really sad because he thinks Jim has left home to be out in the world. I tend to think he's on a joy ride and way back when he runs out of money.

Diana fired back, geez, I can't believe Jim sometimes. But maybe after he realizes he can't make it out on his own, then he will come to his senses. I just hate that he thinks he's Mr. Do Whatever He wants because he's cool and that he thinks he's so grown up and beyond everyone else. Seems to me that the Parker ladies had Jim's number down pretty good. Oh, yeah. So any guesses on how long Pinky and the Brain lasted on their little trip? anyone Bueller

It was seven entire hours They got all the way to St. Louis Before the reality of freedom hit them The bus st. They couldn't sleep in the cramped seats And they hated eating fast food for every meal They hated eating fast food What kind of children are these?

And what kind of pinko shit is that? What do they hate baseball too? Apple pie? Freedom Unbelievable Also, Robert's cut was starting to develop a nasty infection. On top of all of that, they were quickly running out of money. I feel like if we took a shot every time these two sucked spectacularly at something,

we'd be like blacked out by the end of this episode, so do not do that. So Jim called Mommy and Daddy, who bought the boys' plane tickets. Prince Ling Robert called his girlfriend and told her the news. America is gross. The food is gross. My cut's getting worse. just oh i can't i can't i can't oh i hate him so much so let's put a pin in the adventures of pete and pete for a moment and get back to the investigation the medical examiner found that halve died from multiple stab wounds with injuries of airway heart and lung and susanna's cause of death was multiple stab wounds with injuries of skull brain major vessel thyroid cartilage airway intestine and splice lean. Both victims died very quickly. The New Hampshire State Police spent three days inspecting the Zantop's house for clues. They took possession of 105 items, including the Zantop's computers

and the knife sheaths found at the scene, as well as collecting hair, blood, and fingerprint samples from all around the house. They found five bloody footprints at the scene and took impressions. The sheaths, the investigators found, were from a pair of Sog-Seal 2000s. This was marketed as the official knife of the Navy Seals. The knives were introduced in the mid-90s, but the sheaths had only been produced in the last year or so. The sheaths were probably the best piece of evidence that the investigators had. It wasn't a smoking gun. There were no serial numbers to run or anything, but if they could prove that the killer or killers had purchased a sog seal knife, they could circumstantially link them to the scene of the crime. The investigators did their best to find

any kind of suspect. The Xantops were incredibly loved. People tripped over themselves to tell investigators what an outrageously wonderful couple they were. One of the first people they talked to was Hoff's teaching assistant, Tom Douglas. The very worst thing Tom had to say about his boss was that Hoff was anal about running his field trips, which if you've ever tried to hurt a bunch of adolescents on a school trip, you'd understand. When asked if he knew anyone who might want to hurt Hoff, he first mentioned a couple of students who were kind of slackers, but had never, like, threatened Hoff or anything. They just played hooky sometimes. After some thought, he did mention someone else, though. A rival professor by the name of Dr. Stanley Williams. Williams taught geology at Arizona State

University, and he was kind of a big deal. Are you saying he was a rock star? Yes. Anyway, he got famous because of some horrible look. In 1993, on an expedition to an active volcano in Columbia, the volcano erupted, killing nine of his colleagues and literally vaporizing two of them, which is just one of the craziest things I've ever heard. Dr. Williams, much like Phineas Gage, suffered from a traumatic brain injury so severe

that it changed his entire personality. According to Judgment Ridge, a fist-sized rock plowed into Williams' head, driving pieces of his skull deep into his brain. His jaw was broken, his right leg was nearly severed, and the bone of his left leg jutted through his pants. Two vertebrae were cracked, and his back and arms were badly burned.

Williams was carried down the volcano, a changed man. Beyond his broken body, he was permanently brain damaged. He lost a piece of his brain the size of a peach pit. He retained his lopsided grin, but tended to erupt in anger. he was prone to depression. According to Douglas, Williams was in town the weekend of the Zantop murder and had gone to the party that Hoff missed on the day of the murder. Douglas told investigators that Williams seemed edgy at the party

and rudely asked him why he hadn't arrived early to park cars. Later, he acted all Pally with him, offering a drink. At the party, Dr. Williams was talking a lot about wanting to get a job at Dartmouth, where he'd worked before. Geology is in a super lucrative field and position, at Premier universities didn't open up every day. The person standing in the way of Williams getting the job was Hall Sandtop. They also learned that Susanna had been in Arizona in the months before the murder for a work trip. They didn't know if she'd contacted Williams while she was

out there. Investigators managed to find their rental car that Williams had used and processed it, finding a box with a strange, dark stain in the trunk. While interviewing the rental place's employees, they mentioned that he was quite rude to them. Finally, they took a trip to Arizona to interview Dr. Williams. He was cooperative and explained that he'd seen Hulph while visiting campus, but hadn't seen him beyond that. When asked if he'd killed Hulf and Susanna, Williams responded, No, I can't even see how you could kill anybody.

It became clear to investigators that Williams was not their guy. The suspicious stain they found in the trunk was from a pot of moose stew that Williams had brought a friend, and despite being kind of a jerk, Dr. Williams hadn't really had any kind of motive outside of the job, and he never threatened the Xantops at all. For the record, he's still at ASU, and his rate my professor scores are decent. The people that have issues with him seem to not like that he's quiet and rambles and sometimes goes off on tangents. Like, yeah, dudes, he got blown up by a volcano.

I think he... Yeah. I think that means he's legally allowed to do whatever he wants, including being a little bit of a jerk. Oh, yeah. I don't think we can overstate how well-loved the Zantops were. Like, their friends talk about them so lovingly, I wish I knew them. Yeah, absolutely.

At their memorial service held at Dartmouth, 700 people attended. That's amazing. Do you know 700 people? Do 700 people know you? Would they all come to your funeral? No. Hi, I'm Darren Marler, host of the Weird Darkness podcast. I want to talk about the most important tool in my podcast belt.

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as your show grows. So if you're ready to podcast like a pro and get paid while doing it, check out Spreaker.com. That's S-P-R-E-A-K-E-R.com. I want to take a moment to read some statements from their friends because I feel that it shows what truly wonderful people the Zantops were. Susanna Heschel, a woman who consulted the Susanna when she was feeling insecure about a paper she was writing, and like, Suzanne. Susanna swept in and made her feel immensely better, said,

I could say Susanna was my best friend, but I know 12 other people who would say the same thing. Phil Pachota wrote, How can they be the only two people that fate would obliterate? The thought that we could go on without them is now inconceivable. Dartmouth President James Wright said, A teacher affects eternity. We learned much from their lives and we benefited. Be free, good friends.

Be at peace. Erb Rowland said, When we were with them, we felt safe and taken care of. There was gentleness and grace, and both of them made time disappear on each occasion that we were with them. And I felt that I became a better person, more patient, more compassionate, more understanding, and more committed to social justice.

In all, 14 people spoke in remembrance of Hoff and Susanna Zantop. Each of them spoke about the love and light they brought into their lives. It makes sense, then, that when the media got hold of the story, the Dartmouth community was absolutely disgusted. The Boston Globe published an article insinuating that the murder had something to do with an affair gone wrong. The Globe was then inundated with letters from the Zantop's friends coming to their defense, and the globe had to print a retraction. The hell were they thinking.

Meanwhile, the investigation was plugging along. Tracing the Zantops' movements in the days before the murder, they found nothing but evidence of a couple deeply in love. weeks before the murder Hoff purchased a pair of diamond earrings the week before the murder the couple had seen the mockumentary best in show about the wild world of dog shows

I love that movie they recommended it repeatedly to their friends saying that it was hilarious it's lovely that one of the last things they ever did together was laugh they were just normal people going about their lives no one by the police's estimation

had any real motive investigators determined that the footprints at the scene were from a size 11 or 11.5 Vosk brand hiking boot. They also set up a tip line, which wasn't proving exactly helpful. Some were suggesting that Susanna's leftist views had tipped over into extremist territory and she joined a terrorist cell. Where the hell did that come from? Others thought that the increasing number of foreigners in Hanover might have something to do with it too because racism. One enterprising tipster suggests that it was a deep state conspiracy involving George Bush Sr., George W. Bush, and the feds

as some kind of convoluted plot by the same people who assassinated Kennedy. So, you know, kind of useless? Except for one. Paul New City called in to tell the investigators that he'd seen a green Volvo station wagon rip out of the Zantops driveway, so fast it nearly hit the car he was a passenger in. He described the driver as white, male, thin, 20 to 25, clean, shaven, and with dark hair, and said he looked like a punk. Agree.

They knew their best lead was the knives, so Detective Chuck West was on that lead like a dog with the bone. He filed requests with companies as far as Arizona to see if they kept records of who purchased knives at their store. Local shops weren't coming up with any hits, so he started focusing on internet retailers, which in 2000 was a fairly new world. He wasn't exactly computer savvy, but he quickly adapted and started perusing sites and corresponding with their owners. One site, he noted, had a supply of 124 sog seal knives, the highest number he'd seen so far. He was able to get a report of all their sales, and of 83 customers, only one had purchased two, a gentleman with the username of Jimmy Bruce.

The knives were sent to a Jim Parker who lived in Chelsea, Vermont. He grabbed his coat and headed to his car. Jim had decided that he just wanted to graduate high school and work for his dad. Robert, on the other hand, kept pushing Jim, saying, let's do some illegal stuff again. Jim wasn't brave enough to tell him to fuck off, though, so he just kind of shrugged. Detectives arrived at the Parker's place after dark. John Parker answered the door.

Sergeant Robert Bruno told him, we're detectives investigating the homicide of the Dartmouth professors over in Hanover we'd like to talk with your son James about his purchase of two sawg seal 2000 knives just so you know you're not obligated to talk with us and you don't have to invite us in

it's completely up to you John Parker invited them in and told him he didn't know anything about the knives but they were welcome to ask questions like the innocence of Jim's parents really breaks my heart and all this I know they just couldn't conceive you know that their kid could have any

involvement. No, they could not. Now, Robert and Jim had thought about this outcome. Their frankly, genius plan included knocking out or killing a police officer, stealing their gun, and stealing a car, then picking up Robert from the house and going on the lamb. Now, this plan, with all its unrealistic grandiosity, was clearly Roberts and never would have worked in a million trillion years, ever, ever, never. In the moment, though, Jim called an audible and decided to sit meekly at the kitchen table with the detectives. Yeah. To Bruno, Jim was the image of a guilty conscience.

He could see Jim's heart racing through the veins in his neck. He was swallowing hard. He told the detectives that he did indeed buy the knives for himself and his friend Robert Tulloch so they could use them for camping and such. Unfortunately, the knives weren't made for that, so they ended up selling them to a random man at an Army Navy store in Burlington. Bruno knew he was lying, but maybe he was lying about not knowing who the buyer was.

Bruno asked Jim if he would be willing to be fingerprinted, and he agreed. While Jim was getting his fingerprints taken, Bruno left to go speak with Robert. Compared to Jim, Robert was cool as a fridge full of cucumbers. He calmly reiterated the story about finding the knives too large for any kind of camping utility and selling them to a stranger at the Army Navy store. Now, Robert's plan for the detective seemed to quail in the face of grown men carrying guns, and he didn't make any attempts to disarm or incapacitate them. He did mention that he cut his leg on a sap spigot,

and the detectives asked to look at his shoes. Robert brought them the two pairs of shoes he owned, a pair of tennis shoes and some Vosk hiking boots. Why would you still have the shoes, Robert? Dude. Oh, they're so bad at it. So it's like just every turn. They're like keystone criminals, you know?

Yeah, but you're Nietzsche and Superman. Sure, we buy it. Mm-hmm. Up until this point, the detectives weren't particularly suspicious of Jim and Robert. Like, why would these two skinny idiots kill a pair of beloved professors from the next town over? It didn't make much sense. True. But the shoes kind of shifted their perspective.

There were the knives, the hiking boots, and the cut on Robert's leg. the picture was getting a little bit clearer. Oh, yeah. One of the detectives pulled the Tulloch parents aside and told him that a Vosk bootprint was found at the scene of a homicide and that he'd like to take Robert's boots for processing. Mike Tulloch said, I don't think my son is involved in this case. You have my permission to take the boots as long as it's okay with Robert. Robert agreed. I guess he figured it would be more suspicious to not give up the boots.

Yeah, honey, they're already suspicious. If you were half as smart as you think you are, you'd keep your mouth shut and don't give up a damn thing. But, of course, you're not. You're not. Because we've well established. Oh, my God. Every turn. It's like they're reading a choose-your-own-adventure book and they're making the worst choice every single time.

Yeah, exactly. Upon further inspection, the cops noticed that the boots were a size 11 and a half and felt the rush of a case coming together for the first time. The next step was to take the Tulloch family. to the police station for fingerprinting. A decision was made then. Robert and Jim would have to run again. Both sets of parents did their best to keep the idiots from talking to each other, but after they went to bed, Jim called Robert and they planned their escape.

They packed again, bringing camping gear, clothes, and a fake ID belonging to Kip Batty. Jim left a note for his parents. He said, I just had to talk to Robert alone. I'll be back by the morning. Don't call cops. Okay. As he started the car to meet Robert, Jim's father startled awake. He yelled through the window for Jim to stop, but nope.

They desperately tried to call the Tulloch House, but they assumed Robert would answer the phone. When he didn't, the Tulloch's checked Robert's room, which was empty. It was too late. The boys were fugitives. It's so clear the difference in parenting. It is. Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Because, like, Robert's parents did tell that. him to not contact Jim. They told him that. And the phone rings late in the middle of the night and they just assume Robert's going to pick it up. Who else is it going to be besides his best friend? Like, what were you thinking? I don't know. No children of my own. I'm not a parent. Rake me over the cold if you must, but it seems like a bad fucking decision. Yeah. As the boys were driving, they had a realization. Robert had forgotten the godforsaken knives. Yes, our criminal master mine forgot the items that could link them to the murders. The teenage dirtbags decided it was too risky to turn around and they just kept on driving

along the highway, mulling over what they would do next. Robert and Jim would ultimately have about an eight-hour start on the authorities, one that they would try to make the most of. Their goal was to get to California. Despite their numerous examples of DeMassery, they did realize that a silver Audi would be quickly recognized, so they parked it at a truck stop and decided to try to try their hand at hitchhiking. In Sturbridge, Massachusetts, the boys parked the car and sat inside the truck stop, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. Their waitress noticed them right

away as they were her age and seemed on edge. One was chain smoking and staring off into the distance, while the other was pacing around like a caged tiger. One, who she later identified as Jim, looked like he'd been crying. Aw, puppy, is double murder not the fun adventure you thought it would be. I'm really starting to doubt your potential as a British Secret Service man jimbo. Tisk. Tisk. They kept approaching truckers, asking for a ride

and then looking dejected when the trucker said no. Eventually, they met Rowdy Kyle Tucker and his wife and driving partner, Nancy Lee. And if those ain't the platonic ideal of trucker names, I don't know what are. It's so true. They need a song about them.

Routy Kyle Tucker and Nancy Lee. Unreal. I love it. Rowdy, initially, told the boys no, but they pulled at Nancy's heartstrings. She profiled them pretty efficiently. They looked pretty fresh, not like they'd been out on the road a long time.

She pegged him as runaways. She told the boys to go ahead and get in the rig. They told the tuckers that their names were Sam and Tyler, names of classmates. Whenever Rowdy would get gas or drop off a load, Robert would hop into the front seat and play like a kid. But when he found out that, trucking was like hard and he'd have to study though he lost interest of course our boy is nothing

if not consistent when they got to new jersey the tuckers put the teens on the cb to seek out drivers that could take him further west and vouched for them to their colleagues which just doesn't seem like a greatest idea like you just met these people yeah you know you don't know these two kids come on one driver agreed to take them a 45 year old named james hicks he was really dragon and he felt like maybe guests might help him finish his trip. James had three sons, one of whom had passed away, so two young men out on the road alone tugged at his heart. He had no idea what these two were capable of. He just pitied them. By this point, detectives had started getting tips about their two suspects from truck stops and gas stations south of Chelsea. They managed to get

security footage of Thing One and Thing Two getting into the Tucker rig. It took the help of the trucks, GPS, and the feds, but eventually the tuckers were treated to a wake-up call from a SWAT team. Fun. Unfortunately, this was long after they'd handed the boys off, but they cooperated with the investigators and pointed them toward the stop where they dropped them off. Hicks's trip was coming to an end, so like the tuckers, he got on the CB and asked if anybody could take them. It didn't take long until someone responded. Sure, I can. Just drop them off at the fuel desk at the Flying J Travel Plaza in Spiceland. At 3.45, the boys were left at the truck stop in Spiceland, Indiana, ready to be picked up by their mystery driver.

Who was this driver, you ask? Well, it was none other than Sergeant Bill Ward of the Henry County Sheriff's Department in Indiana. The honestly, ultimate hero of the story. I'm obsessed with him. He and his squad were eating at the Flying J. Diner when Ward brought up the case. Based on his estimation, Indiana could be a stop along the way for these fugitives. Later, while he was patrolling the semi-parking area, he heard the call over the CB for the hitchhikers and responded. He called for backup and waited.

Like, I know he's a cop, right? But he could be, like, he's an honorary camper, I think. Like, you know, he was gossiping with his friends about this ongoing case was like, we could catch these little torps. And then, like, took it upon himself to be like, yeah, bring him to this station. shit at this time. Oh yeah. It's crazy. It was a really good instinct. Coincidentally, another truck driver heard the description of the fugitives and called in a tip. The boys were waiting near the fuel pumps trying to bum a ride. He ordered his backup to head in that direction while he parked his car behind a semi to prevent escape. There, he saw two teenagers matching the description he'd

seen on TV, tired and a little worse for wear, but matching nonetheless. When questioned, the boys were clearly unprepared for any pushback. When Jim was asked what his name was, he said, Tyler J. Jones. But when asked for his full middle name, he hesitated a second too long before saying, Jeffrey. Robert, generally the better liar of the two,

had clearly reached the end of his mental rope. He told an officer that he was born on March 40th, 1982. But then when he heard a day, Yeah, March 40th. But then when he heard a dispatcher say his name, he just said, it's me you're looking for. You've got us. Nice one, dude.

Way to keep it together. By the way, both the tuckers and Hicks were fired for picking up hitchhikers. It sucks, but I kind of get it. Like, they clearly were just trying to, like, keep these boys safe and do the right thing. But you can't pick up hitchhikers. You just can't. Yeah, though. It's so sad.

At the jail, Robert and Jim both cried, like, a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. Oh. Jim handled the arrest the best out of the two of them, for sure. His parents were able to hire him a lawyer and drove to Indiana to visit him. He didn't talk to the investigators at all. Meanwhile, Robert couldn't manage to keep his trap shut. He first bragged about being on the student council to the cops.

like they were supposed to be impressed. But then he cried during his initial interrogation. He told the FBI agent that was speaking to him, It was pretty easy to throw my life away. It should have been a little harder, you know? Or maybe if I should be, have been less, oh, I know everything. But, you know, like a house of cards, you know, it takes, what, 17 years to build it. And then you just blow it away.

and you can never pick it back up, which is, you know, slightly incriminating. A little bit. And super out of touch. Like, wow, dude, you care more about the impact of your life, rather the impact you made on the people in the Zantops lives. Oh, of course. I know this is going to shock you. But as soon as they were arrested, Jim Parker immediately stopped talking about Robert at all. He never asked how he was, whereas it seems like Robert couldn't stop asking about Jim.

This happens a lot in killer duos, with the less dominant killer distancing themselves from the crime as soon as times get tough. Carla Homolka did it to Paul Bernardo and got a plea deal. Roy Norris confessed almost immediately trying to throw his partner Lawrence Biddecker under the bus. Yeah, and it was the smartest thing for Jim to do to distance himself from Robert. Robert didn't get the memo. In a jailhouse letter to his girlfriend, he wrote, So many ways to commit suicide, but I can't do that. Not if Jim doesn't want me to.

He's my hero, you know, him and you. Him because I've seen him. I know how he dealt with this, as smooth as obsidian. He's amazing. I know nothing can break him. It's amazing. He never broke throughout this whole deal. Which, wow, I'm sure your girlfriend really enjoyed hearing that, Robert.

Smooth as obsidian, huh? Alrighty. Robert literally could not stop running his mouth about the murders. He talked a lot about getting a book deal for his story, about how screwed he was, about his stupid big brain. Jim, meanwhile, did his best to acclimate to prison life. He started taking GED classes. He called his parents every night, and he did his best to keep his head down.

Ultimately, Jim took a plea deal. He agreed to testify against Robert in exchange for a second-degree murder charge. the friendship to end all friendships was all over realizing that the jig was up robert decided to plead guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole during the victim impact statements robert stared emotionless right at veronica zantop hoff and susanna's daughter as she said rather than focus on the inhumanity and monstrosity and the sheer stupidity of their brutal and senseless death I've tried to console myself by trying to perpetuate the essence of my parents, two people with true open-heartedness and generosity, who fought for positive change. And my sister and I will continue that fight. And that's it, isn't it? Despite the horrors of the world, we must persist, open-hearted and generous,

fighting for positive change no matter what. And that, Camper's, is what I hope you take from this case. on a side note James Parker was released on parole last month we hope he keeps his nose clean and we hope that little shit-stained Robert stays his ass in prison forever

so that was a wild one right campers you know we'll have another one for you next week but for now lock your doors light your lights and stay safe until we get together again around the true crime campfire and as always we want to send a grateful shout out to a few of our lovely patrons thank you so much to running mermaid

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