Robert Tulloch, who is suspected of murdering two Dartmouth College professors, agreed to be extradited from Indiana to New Hampshire yesterday. The extradition hearing for his alleged accomplice, James Parker, has been scheduled for next Tuesday.
Tulloch and Parker were apprehended by law enforcement officers on Tuesday in Henry County, Indiana. They were trying to hitchhike to California, according to The Associated Press.
Warrants for their arrest had been issued in New Hampshire on Saturday. The search for Tulloch and Parker might have lasted much longer had it not been for the efforts of Henry County Sheriff William Ward. Ward heard a radio call from trucker James Hicks requesting a ride for two youths headed to California. On a hunch, Ward responded to the call, and agreed to pick the boys up at a local truckstop. When Hicks parked his truck, Ward identified the teenagers and arrested them.
Both teenagers have been charged with first-degree murder for "acting in concert to cause the deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop by stabbing them multiple times in the head and chest," according to the AP.
Tulloch and Parker could face up to life in prison without parole if they are convicted.
Authorities would not disclose any information on the relationship of the victims and the accused, and they refused to speak of possible motives, according to the AP.
In a statement issued Monday, after the apprehension of Tulloch and Parker, Dartmouth College President James Wright wrote, "While neither today's developments nor future proceedings in this case can diminish the pain caused by the loss of Susanne and Half Zantop, we hope that these arrests will bring some measure of relief to the Zantop family and the Dartmouth and Upper Valley communities."
"We also recognize that the two persons arrested are entitled to the due process of law and that the legal proceedings may be lengthy," Wright added. "We will need to continue to support one another as the process goes forward."
Susanne Zantop chaired the German Department and specialized in 18th and 19th century fiction and the history of ideas. She also taught in the comparative literature and women's studies departments. Half Zantop was an economic geologist, a scientist who explored connections between the earth's makeup and human needs.
Wright expressed a deep sense of loss on behalf of the Dartmouth community. "Susanne and Half's deaths are an enormous loss to our community. They were loved and respected by faculty and students alike," he wrote.