Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders (56 page)

Robert’s stay in Berlin ended soon after. Prison officials caught wind he was thinking about an escape—they intercepted a letter he’d written to a friend asking for help. Berlin is purely a medium-security facility, and the letter meant Robert was destined for maximum security. By September 2002 Robert was returned to Concord and assigned

to New Hampshire’s most tightly controlled prison setting.

Grim isolation defined inmate life in the so-called Secured Housing Unit. Even the corrections officers seemed tougher than those assigned to other areas of the prison, partly because they dressed in militaristic uniforms and were never more than a few feet from a wall lined with black riot helmets and Kevlar vests.

Robert spent at least twenty-two hours a day locked inside his eight-by-ten-foot cell, an enclosed box with a concrete floor, a single metal-framed bed, fluorescent lights, and an open stainless-steel toi-let. During the brief periods outside his cell, Robert faced limited choices of activities and no contact with fellow inmates. He could take a shower. He could sit alone in one of the indoor day rooms on the cellblock. He could go outside for some fresh air in one of several nar-row, high-walled courtyards the officers called “dog runs.”

Robert was scheduled to remain in the Secured Housing Unit until he was deemed duly punished and fit to return to medium security. Because he was serving life without parole, and had already gotten into a fight and plotted an escape, corrections officials seemed in no rush to make that ruling.

While Jim could look out of his day room and see over the top of the prison walls to the tree-covered mountain range beyond, Robert’s narrow window offered a view of only another wall.

The day Jim was striking the Warrior Two pose in the horseshoe pit, the two Zantop killers were as close as they had been in almost two years, since their capture in Indiana. Robert was less than a hundred yards away from Jim, inside his cell on the H tier of the max unit. But Robert and Jim were separated, as they would be forever, by several high walls and coils of barbed wire. Neither knew how close he was to the other.

One of them might as well have made it to Australia.

Notes on
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ources
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Multiple interviews with Andrew, Diane, and Andy Patti.

Transcript of James Parker interrogation; December 18, 2001; January 4 and 14, 2002; March 7, 2002; pp. 14764–14768.

Transcripts of interviews with Andrew Patti and Andrew Patti Jr. by Sergeant Ray Keefe, Lieutenant Frank Moran, and Trooper Russell Lamson, on February 16, 2002.

Interviews in Chelsea, Vermont, with Jack Johnson, Annette Johnson, Doug Lyford, Andrew Pomerantz, Cora Brooks, David Savidge, and Diane Mattoon.

Transcript of James Parker interrogations, p. 14880.

“Chelsea Municipal Plan: December 1996.” Chelsea Planning Board.

A History of Chelsea, Vermont 1784–1984
, by W. Sydney Gilman and a committee from the Chelsea Historical Society, pp. 126–127; 152–153; 198–203; 225–270; 277–278; 306–307.

Bertsche, Robert A. “Our Town,”
New England Monthly
, April 1985, pp.

41–49.

Lehr, Dick, “It Shouldn’t Happen Here,”
The Boston Globe Magazine,
July 29, 2001, pp. 10–13; 20–26.

Miller, Peter. “Chelsea, Vermont,”
Vermont Life
, Autumn 1972, pp. 14–22.

Interviews with Jim Reynolds, Haidee Wilson, Alex Bertulis, Wolf Zantop, Marianne Korsukewitz, Thomas Korsukewitz, Jeannine Blackwell, Patricia Herminghouse, Helen Mango, Werner Gocht, Bruce Duncan, Fred Berthold, Irene Kacandes, Richard Birnie, Ned Whittington, Debbie Ludlow, Catie Huisman, Kristina Kleutghen, Julia Henneberry, Erik Wright, Saleeda Salahuddin, James Wright, Margaret Robinson, Susannah Heschel, Fred Berthold, Audrey McCollum.

Remembrances of Sujee Fonseka, Joan Blumberg, Roxana Verona, Eric Manheimer, at the Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving Celebrating the Lives of Half Zantop and Susanne Zantop, February 3, 2001, Rollins Chapel, Dartmouth College. (Recorded on video.)

Estate documents of Susanne Zantop, Docket no. 2001–0066, Grafton County Probate Court, filed April 19, 2001.

Obituaries of Half and Susanne Zantop, from Dartmouth College, provided by Rand-Wilson Funeral Home.

Curriculum vitae of Susanne and Half Zantop.

Blackwell, Jeannine, and Susanne Zantop, eds.
Bitter Healing: German Women Writers, from 1700 to 1830, An Anthology
(Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1990).

Zantop, Susanne,
Colonial Fantasies: Conquest, Family, and Nation in Precolonial Germany, 1770–1870
(Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997).

Hanover, New Hampshire, property records of 115 Trescott Road. Online Berlin apartment rental information.

Copies of notes taken from Half Zantop’s last class.

The American Alpine Journal,
Volume XIV, Issues No. 38 and 39, p. 174.
The American Alpine Journal,
Volume XV, Issues No. 40 and 41, pp. 126–127. Sambasivan, Aarathi, “Susanne, My Mentor,” guest column in
The Dartmouth,

February 1, 2001.

Reynolds, Jim, “The First Day in Hanover,” guest column in
The Dartmouth,

January 30, 2001.

Fair, Alan, “Susanne and Half,” guest column in
The Dartmouth,
February 6, 2001.

Kay, Melanie, “Remembering Half,” guest column in
The Dartmouth,
February 22, 2001.

McCollum, Audrey, “Uncommon Neighbors,” guest column in
The Dartmouth.

July 31, 2001.

Zien, Jim, “Uncommonly Human,” guest column in
The Dartmouth,
February 2, 2001.

Hirsch, Marianne, and Leo Spitzer, “Remembering Our Friends,” guest col-umn in
The Dartmouth,
January 31, 2001.

Transcript of James Parker interrogation, pp. 14763, 14767, 14769, 14771,

14774–14777, 14856–14859, 14994.

Selected school and other writings by Robert Tulloch and Jim Parker: 1999, 2000, and 2001.

Hanover, New Hampshire, and Vermont State Police report of police interview on February 6, 2002, with Franklin D. Sanders of North Hollow Road, Rochester, Vermont.

Brief telephone interview on July 8, 2002, with Franklin D. Sanders.

Brief telephone interview with Rochester, Vermont, town clerk’s office on July 9, 2002.

New Hampshire State Police report of a police interview with Gaelen McKee and Mark McKee on February 18, 2001, in Chelsea, Vermont.

Transcript of June 29, 2001, interview of confidential informant “Ranger” by Sergeant Mark Mudgett and Trooper Todd Landry.

New Hampshire State Police report, dated February 14, 2002, of crime scene tour conducted on February 5, 2002, during which Jim Parker showed investigators sites in Vermont and New Hampshire for various crimes Parker and Robert Tulloch committed.

Vermont State Police Sergeant Jocelyn Stohl’s incident report of an encounter with James Parker and Robert Tulloch in Rochester, Vermont, on January 19, 2001. Also, interview with Jocelyn Stohl on July 12, 2002.

Interview with Vermont State Police Detective Sergeant Ray Keefe, July 12, 2002.

Interviews with Audrey McCollum, Margaret Robinson, Susannah Heschel, Fred Berthold, Jeannine Blackwell, Patricia Herminghouse, Bruce Duncan, Irene Kacandes, Richard Birnie, Ned Whittington, Debbie Ludlow, Catie Huisman, Julia Henneberry, Erik Wright, Saleeda Salahuddin, James Wright.

Remembrances of Sujee Fonseka, Joan Blumberg, Roxana Verona, Eric Manheimer, at the Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving Celebrating the Lives of Half Zantop and Susanne Zantop, February 3, 2001, Rollins Chapel, Dartmouth College. (Recorded on video.)

Estate documents of Susanne Zantop, Docket no. 2001–0066, Grafton County Probate Court, filed April 19, 2001.

Obituaries of Half and Susanne Zantop, from Dartmouth College, provided by Rand-Wilson Funeral Home.

Hanover property records of 115 Trescott Road Copies of notes taken from Half’s last class.

Hanover Police Department dispatch log from January 27, 2001. Transcript of James Parker interrogation, pp. 14786–14787.

Transcript of police interview with Eric Manheimer, February 1, 2001.

Sambasivan, Aarathi, “Susanne, My Mentor,” guest column in
The Dartmouth,

February 1, 2001.

Fair, Alan, “Susanne and Half,” guest column in
The Dartmouth,
February 6, 2001.

McCollum, Audrey, “Uncommon Neighbors,” guest column in
The Dartmouth.

July 31, 2001.

Zien, Jim, “Uncommonly Human,” guest column in
The Dartmouth,
February 2, 2001.

Hirsch, Marianne, and Leo Spitzer, “Remembering Our Friends,” guest col-umn in
The Dartmouth,
January 31, 2001.

New Hampshire State Police interview with Roxana Verona, January 27, 2001, with follow-up interview January 30, 2001.

Detailed narrative description and sketches of crime scene prepared by Trooper First Class Kathleen M. Kimball and Trooper Michael T. Kegelman, dated April 10–11, 2001.

Police interview with Dr. Robert McCollum, Audrey McCollum, Cynthia McCollum, and John Spellman, January 27, 2001. Also with Audrey McCollum on January 30, 2001, and Robert McCollum on February 5, 2001.

McCollum, Audrey, “A Neighbor Wonders About Her Role as a Media Source: ‘Had My Attempt to Honor Dear Friends Actually Caused Harm?’ ”
Nieman Reports,
September 22, 2001.

Martinez, Jose, “Mystery Leaves Locals Frustrated,”
Boston Herald,
February 4, 2001, p. 1.

Interview with Omer Ismail, May 16, 2002.

Multiple interviews with Philip McLaughlin, Kelly Ayotte, and Michael Delaney.

Bubriski, Mark, “Two Profs Dead; Police Investigating Possible Double Murder.” Story posted on
The Dartmouth
Web site, 11:15
P
.
M
., January 27, 2001.

Scholer, J. Lawrence, “Dartmouth Mourns Professors,”
The Dartmouth Review,
January 29, 2001.

Nitka, Abigail, “Dartmouth Reporters Lead the Way,”
Rutland Herald,

February 1, 2001.

Quint, Wilder D.,
The Story of Dartmouth
(Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1914).

Nelson, Daniel M., “Knowing Our Place,” essay contained in
Miraculously Builded in Our Hearts: A Dartmouth Reader,
Edward Connery Lathem and David M. Shribman, eds. (Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1999), pp. 399–403.

Kreiger, Barbara L., “The Alma Mater,” essay contained in
Miraculously Builded in Our Hearts
, pp. 355–362.

Cameron, Kelly, and Tara Kyle, “Students Horrified by Weekend’s Events,”

The Dartmouth,
January 29, 2001.

Ford, Royal, “New Hampshire Man Charged in Ax Murders of 2 Women,”

Boston Globe,
June 18, 1991.

Ford, Royal, “Slain Dartmouth Grad Students Thought They’d Fled Violence.”
Boston Globe,
June 19, 1991.

Klein, David, “Past Murders Were Few and Far Between,”
The Dartmouth,

January 30, 2001.

Gorsche, Ryan, “Dartmouth’s Last Murder,”
The Dartmouth Review,
January 29, 2001.

Belkin, Douglas, and Marcella Bombardieri, “Faculty Couple at Dartmouth Slain,”
Boston Globe,
January 29, 2001, p. A1.

“A Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving Celebrating the Lives of Half Zantop and Susanne Liselotte Marianne Zantop,” videotape made February 3, 2001, The Media Production Group, Trustees of Dartmouth College.

Police report of Trooper Christopher J. Scott on memorial service surveillance, dated February 7, 2001.

McCollum, Audrey, “Mediaitis,” guest column in
The Dartmouth,
February 22, 2001.

Shea, Lois, “Rattled by Deaths, Neighbors Start Locking Doors,”
Boston Globe,
January 30, 2001, p. A8.

Belkin, Douglas, “Public Asked to Help Police Solve Dartmouth Case; Keen Awareness Crucial,”
Boston Globe,
February 10, 2001, p. B3.

Kenyon, Jim, “Area Has History of Unsolved Killings,”
Valley News,
February 11, 2001.

Zuckoff, Mitchell, and Shelley Murphy, “Love Affair Eyed in New Hampshire Killings; Husband Involved with Unidentified Woman, Officials Say,”
Boston Globe,
February 16, 2001, p. A1.

Zien, Jim, “Maligning the Zantops,”
The Dartmouth,
letters to the editor, February 20, 2001.

Transcript of James Parker interrogation, pp. 14745, 14747–14748, 14790,

14799, 14803–14811, 14813–14814, 14871–14872.

Selected school and journal writings of Robert Tulloch and James Parker, 1999, 2000, and 2001.

Grossman, Dave, Lieutenant Colonel,
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
(Little Brown and Co.: 1995).

Interviews with Andrew Pomerantz, Jack Johnson, Annette Johnson, Brad Johnson, Zack Courts, Kip Battey, Tyler Vermette, John O’Brien, Dan Sedon, Maggie O'Neale, Will Gilman, Doug Brown, Kevin Ellis, DeRoss Kellogg.

Transcript of James Parker interrogation, pp. 14739, 14741, 14742, 14750,

14751, 14755, 14864, 14869, 14871, 14873, 14876, 14877, 14883,

14884.

Transcript of police interviews on March 16, 2001, with Kienan Tulloch (pp. 4798–4841), Diane Tulloch (pp. 4842–4871), Michael Tulloch (pp. 4871–4894), John Parker (pp. 4895–4962), Joan Parker (pp. 4967–5021).

“Life of Robert,” a three-page school essay written by Robert Tulloch in 1999–2000.

“Jim: Male Subject 769 10010,” an eight-page school essay written by Jim Parker in May 2000.

Search warrant return, dated February 16, 2001, and February 17, 2001, by Vermont State Police, following search of the Tulloch house, 313 Main Street, Chelsea, Vermont.