Internet Knife Purchases Led To Zantop Suspects
Teens Allegedly Purchased Commando-Style Knives Before Murders
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Investigators checked with the manufacturers, who gave them a list of customers who had recently purchased the knives and allegedly Tulloch and Parker's names were on the list.
The teens were then brought in for questioning Thursday night and were fingerprinted. Fingerprints taken from the murder scene allegedly matched perfectly with the prints the teens willingly gave to police when they were brought in for questioning.
According to a statement released late Sunday by New Hampshire Attorney General Philip McLaughlin, authorities now believe Tulloch and Parker are heading across the country by soliciting rides from tractor trailer drivers at truck stops.
Authorities said the two Chelsea, Vt. teens may have been seen at a truck stop in Columbia, N.J. Saturday morning.
The following morning, Parker's mother's car was spotted by a state trooper on a routine patrol at the Sturbridge Isle truck stop along Interstate 84, about two miles from the Connecticut state line.
Sturbridge Isle employee Sharon Palmer told The Dartmouth, the college's student newspaper, that she saw the boys at about 4 p.m. Friday. She said Parker appeared to be upset.
Parker and Tulloch have been charged as adults with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the Zantops, whose bodies were found stabbed to death in their home near the Dartmouth campus in Hanover, N.H., on Jan. 27.
They are also being charged with federal unlawful flight.
In his statement, McLaughlin released detailed descriptions of both teens.
Tulloch is described as 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighing 155 pounds, with blue eyes and dyed blond hair. He may be wearing BDU pants with large pockets, black high top sneakers and a light long brown jacket, and may be using the name ``Sam.''
Parker, who is 6-feet-tall and weighs 150 pounds, has brown eyes and dark brown spiked hair. He is reported to be wearing a dark brown coat, brown hiking boots and a dark ski cap, and may be using the first name "Taylor" or "Tyler."
"I'm confident we will find them soon," FBI special agent Bruce Ellavsky said Sunday.
The two teens allegedly stabbed the popular professors "multiple times in the head and chest," Senior Assistant Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said at a news conference Saturday in Hanover, N.H.
She said that they were last seen in or near Chelsea, VT., on Thursday. Authorities refused to discuss how they identified the suspects, a motive or any connection between the boys and the victims.
A friend of Tulloch's, Casey Purcell, said Saturday that Tulloch and Parker left town in the days after the killings, then returned two or three days later.
A few days later they disappeared again, said the Chelsea High School senior.
Purcell said Tulloch told him the pair were trying to go rock climbing in Colorado, but had to return because Tulloch had a cut on his leg that became infected.
Tulloch said he cut his leg on a maple tree sap bucket while walking in the woods, Purcell said.
Half Zantop, 62, taught earth sciences at the 6,500-student school. Susanne Zantop, 55, was chairwoman of the German Studies Department. Both were naturalized citizens who were natives of Germany and traveled abroad frequently.
New Jersey State Police Sgt. Joseph Eden said they have no knowledge of the two teenagers being spotted in Columbia, N.J.
