Chapter 74: Because They Were Home-The Murders of Half and Susanne Zantop

WEBVTT

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Hi guys. I'm Courtney and I'm
Lisa, and welcome to the next chapter

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in the Book of the Dead,
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Podcasts with a Twist. Do you
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traditional values and ceremonies that many of
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lost loved one that was involved in
human trafficking, exploitation, missing, or

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murdered. My name is Jessmine Castillo
and I am the host of Hands Off,

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ma'am, what's going on out there? As well as nonprofit organizations.

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When I was there pri Investigator five
years ago, be picked up a case

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that was Sneeze Harris case that help
and advocate families of lost loved ones with

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their closure from some time from his
ship they worked to that next day he

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was either robbed or apprehended at some
point with someone coming into the restaurant and

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opening a cold case. So that
to me was his his way out and

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it negatively impacted our money's investigation.
Please join me on Thursdays on any podcast

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platform wherever you listen to your podcasts. We are voiceless no more. Hi

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guys, Welcome to the next chapter. This is actually one of our Patreon

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episodes, obviously on release. Until
now it was only on our Patreon and

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that is because this is a story
that I feel is necessary to be told.

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From what I know, not a
lot of people know about it.

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And two, I am working on
a couple of cases right now and I

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just could use some more time to
really flush out research. One of which

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I'm working on. The victim's mother, debor A. Schiller, is the

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name of the victim, and I
just want to make sure that I do

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the case justice. So I'm going
to give myself more time to work on

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that, especially because it should have
been out earlier, but with the break

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everything got pushed back. So without
further ado, we are going to jump

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right in to the Dartmouth murders.
So half Zantop was born on April twenty

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fourth, nineteen thirty eight, in
eppern Ford, Germany. His father was

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a printer and his mother was a
homemaker and he was the youngest of four

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children. When he was one,
his family moved to Spain to escape the

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war, and they returned in nineteen
forty two, moving back to Spain a

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few years later in nineteen forty eight. Growing up, Half was fascinated by

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the earth and geology, and he
returned to Germany to earn a geology degree

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from Freiburg University before moving to the
United States to pursue further education. After

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enrolling at Stanford University for his doctorate, he met German born Suzanne Krsukowitz.

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Suzanne was born on August twelfth,
nineteen forty five, in Kissingen, Germany.

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She was the oldest child of three
and her father was a factory manager.

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Her mother was also a homemaker.
She loved badminton kats, playing the

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piano, and she loved to read, especially history books. Her brother,

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doctor Thomas Sukowitz, told the Boston
Globe quote, she was always the best

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or the second best in class,
but mostly the best, so she was

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very, very intelligent. She earned
her bachelor's degree in political science from Berlin's

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Free University, and then she moved
to America and started school at Stanford for

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her masters Suzanne in Half. Once
they met, hit it off and the

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rest was history. Love at first
sight, one and done, like you

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were the one for me. That's
very sweet, it is, it's really

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really cute. In nineteen sixty nine, Half traveled to South America as a

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field geologist. Suzanne actually went with
him and they got married in nineteen seventy.

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They actually traveled a lot for Half's
work and they had two daughters together,

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Veronica and Marianna. In nineteen seventy
six, after the family moved back

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to Germany, Half was actually hired
as the geology professor for Dartmouth College,

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bringing the family back to America.
Meanwhile, Uzann wrote six books, and

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her nineteen ninety seven book Colonial Fantasies
Conquest, Family and Nation in pre Colonial

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Germany, which was dedicated quote to
Half in more than one sense My better

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Half, received an Outstanding Book Award
from the German Studies Association. According to

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crimelibrary dot org, Suzanne would go
on to become the chair of the German

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Department at Dartmouth, and she would
also go on to teach comparative literature.

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Half and Susannah were well loved by
the staff and students at Dartmouth colleague Alexis

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Jetter told the Concord Monitor quote together
they were just magical people, and Irene

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Kankati's and other colleagues that quote.
They were very dear friends. They were

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the kind of people who sort of
ran an opera house. You could stop

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over any time with any problem or
anything you wanted to celebrate. So they

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were essentially two incredibly successful people,
I mean, very well educated, traveled

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world together. Suzanne wrote a number
of books that were very very very well

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received in that field. Half was
a very accomplished geology professor. His students

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loved him. He took his students
to Mexico every year or to learn about

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like geology in Mexico, and all
of the kids looked forward to that trip

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every year. Like everyone loved them. Well, it sounds like they're very

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caring and giving and loving people.
I mean, you know where their students

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felt that they could go there at
any time, day or night. Yeah,

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to talk to them or to celebrate
with them for whatever accomplishment. Their

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students, their colleagues, anyone was
welcome. They had frequent dinner parties for

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their colleagues to come over and you
know, hang out and have dinner together.

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Like they were just one of those
like I feel like for them,

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it was probably like if anyone asked
one of like the xant Hops, like,

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oh, what are you doing this
weekend? It was probably We're having

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a dinner party. You should come. Probably like it opened door policy at

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their house. That's awesome. According
to the New York Daily News, on

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January twenty seventh, two thousand and
one, Half in Suzanne were hosting one

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of their famous dinner parties when one
of their friends, Roxanna Verona, arrived

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at the Xantops home in Etna,
New Hampshire at six point thirty pm.

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She came upon something that terrified her. The front door was wide open,

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and when she stepped inside, the
bodies of her friends were in the study

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covered with blood. Well, I
can understand why she was horrified. I'm

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horrified listening to this. According to
medium dot com rock Sanna got in her

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car and drove to the neighbor's house, banging on the door for help.

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The owner of the home was actually
a doctor, and he ran to the

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Xantops to try and administer first aide
while his wife dialed nine one one,

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But by the time the doctor arrived, he knew that there was nothing he

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could do for them now. When
police arrived, Burglar was quickly ruled out

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as a motive. According to the
Daily News, the Xantops home was filled

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with all sorts of valuables like antiques
and laptops, but the killer touched nothing

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except perhaps wallet, which was missing. However, the police did manage to

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find something very important in the home. They found the sheaths to two knives.

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Now, these sheaths most likely belonged
to the murder weapons and were the

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covers for two seven inch blades.
And these knives were identified to be sog

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Seal two thousand knives, which are
used for combat and are known to do

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a lot of damage. These are
not little switch blade knives that you can

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get at like a hobby store or
whatever. These are like tactical level knives,

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so almost like military grade. Yeah, that's basically what it was.

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They were military grade knives. In
addition, police also found bloody footprints made

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from a left boot inside and outside
of the home, as well as finger

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prints. The police also, according
to The Washington Post, got a tip

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from a witness saying he saw a
young white male, possibly in his twenties

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speed out of the driveway of the
Xantaps home and he was able to Okay,

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never mind, I'm not going there. I'm going to wait for you

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to finish. According to Crime Library, initially investigators focused on rock Sanna as

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a suspect because she was the one
to find the bodies, but they quickly

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ruled her out. This woman had
nothing to do with it. She was

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just the person unfortunate, unfortunate enough
to find the bodies. When news made

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its way to Dartmouth of having Susanna's
murders, the whole of the community was

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rocked by the slaying of two beloved
members of the staff. Many of their

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colleagues canceled their classes so that they
could properly mourn, and the community as

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a whole were petrified at the thought
that the killer could potentially be one of

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their own. Because this was a
very small town, things like this did

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not happen there. Now, I
will say that the investigator moved quickly hanover

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where happens. Susannah lived is a
tight knit community that didn't often see crime,

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as I said, as brutal and
senseless as this, So the state

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and local police were doing everything they
could to try and identify the killer or

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killers. That included working with the
manufacturers of the knives to get a list

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of people who had recently purchased them
within the last few months, and they

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got an interesting hit. They saw
that a shipment of two knives had been

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shipped to a Jim Parker in Chelsea, Vermont, which is right across the

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border from Hanover a few weeks before
the murders. They also learned that Jim

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Parker is a sixteen year old boy
after speaking to Chelsea police. In fact,

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according to police, Jim was an
overall good kid and did very well

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in school. Did he know them
No. According to Medium, on February

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fifteenth, police go knock on Jim
Parker's door to interview him, wanting to

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know what purpose he had for ordering
these knives. His parents led in the

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officers and they have a chat with
Jim. He's allegedly very nervous during this

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conversation and explains to police that he
purchased the knives for himself and his friend,

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Robert Tullick, who was seventeen,
in order to build forts. According

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to the Washington Post, Jim told
police that the knives were too heavy,

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so they sold them for one hundred
and twenty dollars to someone at a store

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in Burlington, Vermont. I know
you're waiting for me to say something.

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I have lots of questions now,
he said. There's a seventeen year old

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and a fort sixteen sixteen year old, Yes, and they're building forts,

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Like what kind of forts are they
building? Like in the woods. They

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lived in a dairy town, like
a lot of woods, so I'm assuming

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they were like using or wanting to
use the knives for like cutting branches to

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build like forts in the woods.
I don't know they're teenage boys. I

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don't know what they do on a
dairy farm. I see what I okay,

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I see young not young kids using
knives, don't get me wrong,

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but young kids wanting to build forts. Yeah, I guess like hideout,

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you know, and playtime. I'm
thinking of sixteen and a seventeen year old?

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Are not using them for playtime?
Oh yeah, No, I get

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what you're saying. Okay, Like
is this, Hey, we're gonna build

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a fort and you know we're gonna
I don't know, calm somebody into buying

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us beer and we're gonna hang out
and that kind of thing or like it

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doesn't just white doesn't make sense to
me. No, no, no,

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no, I get that. I
get the thought process. Well you'll see

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you always do this. You'll see
I'm getting there. Okay, it's not

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fast enough. I've said this a
million times. We already know this.

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It's not fast enough for me.
I know that I'm working on it.

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I'm going as fast as I can. No. I think you like,

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just you know, keeping me in
suspense with a horrific crime. Well,

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people that didn't do anything wrong.
Well, not that you could do anything

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wrong to warrant that. Yeah,
the average person. Yeah, I'm not

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talking maggots. Please do not get
me wrong, but you know, the

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average person is not out there doing, you know, committing horrific crimes.

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These these are nice people. They're
welcoming, they're welcoming, you know,

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people into their home and being there
and having dinner parties, and you know,

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like they have a lot of friends. Like. This is not somebody

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that's out I don't know, selling
drugs or committing crimes or anything like that.

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Later that evening, the police speak
to Robert Tulleck. According to Medium,

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I'm like his best friend. Robert
was not nervous at all, but

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rather very cocky. He's also a
seventeen year old boy. Yeah, that

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kind of goes with the territory.
He told police the same story about selling

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the knives, but this time police
had learned about a cut that Robert had

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on his leg that he had gone
to school with that day, so they

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asked him about it. Ryan said
he got it falling down an embankment and

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cutting it on an old maple syrup
spigot on his way to go pee in

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the woods. Seventeen year old boy, and that was according to crime library.

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Then police asked to see his shoes, so he brought them. What

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he had. Among the shoes was
a pair of Vasquez hiking boots, which

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were the same kind of shoes that
left the prints at the xantops. The

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problem is that these are a couple
of kids, really like sixteen and seventeen

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couple of kids, So the police
don't necessarily think that they had anything to

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do with the murders physically, but
they thought they knew who did. I

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could see where they would get that
conclusion. Yeah. The evening of February

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sixteenth, after being told by their
parents to keep below profile and not to

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speak to each other, Robert grabbed
three hundred and forty dollars and got in

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his mom's silver Audi and picked up
gym and then they left. Can I

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say red flag here? Huge red
flag? What is this? You know?

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Don't talk to each other or you
know, from what I could understand,

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the parents were. Additionally, you
know, it was like let you

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police come in, of course,
because they they're like, you know this,

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this happened in New Hampshire, you
know, like what does this have

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to do with our kids? Like
maybe maybe the person drove through. But

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then I think after the questioning,
the parents were like, what's what's going

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on? And they're like, all
right, you two don't talk to each

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other, like until we know what's
going on. I think that's what it

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was probably, But then you know, when the one comes by to pick

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up the other one, well I
think it was more like a sneaking out

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of the house in the middle of
the night kind of thing. That's a

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no point, no thing. But
don't do that, yeah, don't don't.

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Don't do that. They drove as
far as Massachusetts before or abandoning the

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car at a truck stop. At
this point, though, their parents realized

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they were missing and called the police, after which an APB was posted and

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the manhunt for Jim and Robert began. The reason partially for this man hunt

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was because investigators had been notified that
after analyzing Robert's hiking boots, criminologists had

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00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:25.360
found a bloodstain on them that matched
half DNA. They were also able to

205
00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:30.759
match Robert and Jim's fingerprints that they
gave willingly to Prince found in the Xantop

206
00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:37.840
home. Why can I ask why
these prints and the footprints and the blood

207
00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:42.440
was at this person's home or these
people's home. Can you tell me that?

208
00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.039
I'm sure you can figure out the
reason. I'm sure I can too.

209
00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:53.720
I'd like to not think that they
are evil little maggots, but that

210
00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:57.440
is the only conclusion I can come
up with. When investigators go back to

211
00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:03.440
Robert's house, they search his room
and they find the knives in homemade chefs

212
00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:07.519
in a box under a pile of
magazines. Now these would later be analyzed

213
00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:11.519
and blood found on them would be
a match to Susannah. According to an

214
00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.880
article for The Boston Harold Via the
Crime Lab, the police issued a warrant

215
00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:19.680
for Robert Tullick of Chelsea, Vermont, charging him with two counts of first

216
00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:26.200
to remurder in the January twenty seventh
stabbing deaths of the Xantops. Because of

217
00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:30.279
Jim's age, he was said to
be a sixteen year old friend who was

218
00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:33.440
also being sought in connection with the
homicides, which makes sense. He was

219
00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:37.079
a miner. They can't release that
information. It's like a legal thing.

220
00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:41.319
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, the
boys approached a trucker James Hicks, after

221
00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:45.759
hitchhiking to another stop, and asked
if they could use his radio to call

222
00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:49.240
for a rides California. James,
feeling sorry for the two boys, offered

223
00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:53.039
them a ride in his truck,
which he actually lost his job over it

224
00:17:53.079 --> 00:17:59.079
was against company policy. According to
ABC News, the Henry County Shriff's Department

225
00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:03.799
had been monitoring the radio when a
call came in from Hicks asking if anyone

226
00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:07.640
could pick up the two boys and
take them farther west. As he drove

227
00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:11.519
them into Indiana, Sergeant Bill Ward
said, quote, so I just got

228
00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:15.000
on and said, hey, why
didn't you just drop them off at the

229
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:18.839
fuel desk and someone will pick them
up in a few minutes. So James

230
00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:22.279
did. The boys were met by
police at the truck stop off Interstate seventy

231
00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:27.440
in Spiceland, Indiana at four am. Both Robert and Jim were charged with

232
00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:33.160
two council murder, and James apparently
was furious that, you know, they

233
00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:38.039
basically not tricked him, but he
felt sorry for them, Like it was

234
00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:41.680
like, I felt sorry for you. I wanted to help you, and

235
00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:45.279
you guys were running from the law, and I lost my job. Yeah,

236
00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.759
he lost his job after the fact, but yeah, because once this

237
00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:51.440
came out, they were like,
you, that's against company policy. Why

238
00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:53.440
did you give them a ride kind
of thing? So he ended up losing

239
00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:57.519
his job over that, which it
seems like he wasn't too beat up over.

240
00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:00.279
He said it was kind of like
a black in disguise, But either

241
00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.640
way, he lost his job because
he was trying to help these two,

242
00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:07.279
right, And I'm sure they didn't
say, hey, we you know,

243
00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:12.640
we're running from the law. We
are suspected criminals. Yeah, no,

244
00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:18.559
of course not so he and it
seems as if Jim was the only one

245
00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:23.119
to apologize to him. He was
like very remorseful that they more or less

246
00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:27.200
tricked James into giving him a ride. After the news of the boys arrests

247
00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:33.680
was released. Chelsea as a community
rallied around them purely because they didn't believe

248
00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:37.640
the two kids were responsible. They're
the two teens. According to The Washington

249
00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:41.400
Post, sixth grade teacher DeRoss Kellogg
said, quote, they were the type

250
00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:45.559
of students that teachers appreciate, and
the families were the same involved in caring.

251
00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:49.519
But there were those in Chelsea that
believe showing support was setting a bad

252
00:19:49.559 --> 00:19:55.319
example for the youth in Chelsea.
Town Constable Carol Olsen said, quote,

253
00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:57.559
there's a reason why the police found
their way here. They didn't just pick

254
00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:02.200
the kids' names out of a hat. To say it can't be true is

255
00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:08.160
irresponsible, and I can see why
the community wanted to support them, however

256
00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:14.279
misguided it may have been. According
to Crime Library, both boys came from

257
00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:18.240
really good families. Robert's father,
Michael, was a carpenter and his mother

258
00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:22.839
was a nurse. Jim's father,
John was a construction worker and his mother

259
00:20:22.519 --> 00:20:26.920
was a part time teacher. So
like, they come from good families.

260
00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:32.960
Yeah, they were obviously taught right
from wrong. Yeah, from you know,

261
00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:37.920
from the time that that little kids
are doing things that you may not

262
00:20:37.160 --> 00:20:41.000
like, you know, to grabbing
the cookies or whatever it happens to be.

263
00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:45.000
No, No, No, you
know they're taught No, They're taught

264
00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:48.519
right from wrong. They're taught you
know, you don't take somebody's toy,

265
00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:52.680
you know, doesn't belong to you, don't take that. So they were

266
00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:59.839
taught that by their parents. Their
parents are productive citizens, and they raised

267
00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:06.720
their children to be productive citizens in
the community. No, I definitely so,

268
00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:10.160
Like, I get why the community
like wanted to support them, But

269
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:15.799
I also get what Carolson saying,
Like we are a tiny little dairy farm

270
00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:21.640
town right in Vermont, Like I
think the population's like seventeen hundred. There's

271
00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:25.079
like nobody living there. Like,
they didn't just decide to come here.

272
00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:27.559
Obviously there's a reason. No.
Absolutely, So, I like, I

273
00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:33.960
gat both sides, But I don't
understand how these boys knew them. I'm

274
00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:37.839
gonna get to that. A classmate
said of Robert, quote, he was

275
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:41.400
a pretty normal kid. He's got
hobbies, he's got friends, He's an

276
00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:45.799
extremely intelligent person, very quick witted. I'd have to say he didn't do

277
00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:48.480
it. He's not like that.
He's a calm person under conflict. He

278
00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:52.720
doesn't have a short temper, He's
not a weapons type of kid, not

279
00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.240
a knife person. And of Jim, he said quote, He's definitely not

280
00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:00.599
like that. Jim was also said
to be a bit of a class clown

281
00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.440
and interested in theater, performing in
school plays as well as the bands like

282
00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:11.160
Very Involved. Robert was actually student
body president. Although he was they wanted

283
00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:18.000
to impeach him because he was a
pretty crappy student body president. Very just

284
00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:25.240
not nice in a position of power. However, it was revealed that Rob

285
00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:29.720
wasn't really the great, well mannered
kid that everyone thought he was, because,

286
00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:33.960
you know, police found his journal
entries, and according to his own

287
00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:37.799
journal entries, which were written when
his family was living in Florida and really

288
00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:41.960
struggling financially, he said quote,
this time, I had developed into an

289
00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:48.160
incredibly smart, witty and scheming individual. So now, after defying school for

290
00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:52.400
the last five years, having regular
conflicts with the teachers, enjoying myself by

291
00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:56.400
doing exactly what I want, I'm
ready to depart. School is not for

292
00:22:56.519 --> 00:23:00.000
me, and now I can leave. He and Jim met in sixth grade

293
00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:03.319
and became fast friends. According to
Jim, by high school, Rob was

294
00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:07.880
referring to himself as a higher being, and more evolved than other people.

295
00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:15.799
Oh jeez, I'm getting Academy maniac
vibes. Yeah, kind of. And

296
00:23:15.880 --> 00:23:19.119
if you haven't listened to that episode, not that you really want to,

297
00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:26.240
because it's horrific, but if you're
up for the horrifying. Eventually they got

298
00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:30.039
the idea, according to the Rutland
Herald, to become Navy seals, but

299
00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:33.839
they didn't want to go through the
training quote. They decided instead to train

300
00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:41.519
themselves as killers, starting with robbery
murders to earn money to emigrate to Australia.

301
00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:44.880
According to Jim, quote, we
could just go wherever we want and

302
00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:47.680
then, you know, become these
really cool people. And one of our

303
00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:52.039
main goals was to find some way
to live forever, like just check out

304
00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:55.880
all the myths in Egypt or something. We weren't really sure, he said.

305
00:23:55.880 --> 00:24:00.920
The fantasy about immortality involves replacing their
bodies with machines someday. They also

306
00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:06.160
admired Hitler's way of manipulating people,
and it seems as if Robert may have

307
00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:10.720
had more of an interest in Hitler
than that, because allegedly they found neo

308
00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:15.839
Nazi rating material in his bedroom.
But it's alleged that that was more for

309
00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:19.720
research purposes, so take that information
do with it what you will. So

310
00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:30.039
they want to follow a true maggot, evil, evil, horrifying maggot.

311
00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:36.960
Eventually this idea evolved into murder in
order to obtain money to fund the stream

312
00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:40.759
of moving to Australia. In the
summer of two thousand, when they spotted

313
00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:45.039
an elderly couple on the way home
from a concert and quote Robert suggested that

314
00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:48.400
we should park the car and get
out and like jump them, and we

315
00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:52.759
would like knock them out with rocks
or even killing them with rocks. Jim

316
00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:57.240
said it was the first time,
or one of the first times, that

317
00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:02.880
he started talking about actually killing people. Now. On the day the Xantops

318
00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:06.480
were murdered, they drove in Jim's
car to New Hampshire in search of victims.

319
00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:10.119
The first two homes they visited,
no one was home, but the

320
00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:14.519
Xantops were. They knocked on the
door and when half answered, they posed

321
00:25:14.519 --> 00:25:18.119
the students doing a survey in order
to be let in, so they picked

322
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:22.279
them at random. The Xantops were
home. I have a lot to say,

323
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:26.720
but I'm not going to say it
because this would be a true tangent

324
00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:30.960
Initially, Robert tried to go for
an insanity defense, and Jim, who

325
00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:36.759
was being charged as an adult,
was taking a plea deal by testifying against

326
00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:40.079
Robert. Jim would receive a lesser
charge of second degree murder for the death

327
00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:44.519
of Susannah and be sentenced to twenty
five years, while Jim or while Robert

328
00:25:44.599 --> 00:25:48.799
was looking at life. But two
weeks before the trial, Robert dropped his

329
00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:52.519
defense and pled guilty to charges of
first degree murder in the killing of Half

330
00:25:52.599 --> 00:25:59.599
because it was determined and corroborated by
Jim that Jim killed Susannah and Robert killed

331
00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:04.839
Half. He basically from what I
can understand, it wasn't really clear exactly

332
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.440
what happened, but it seems as
if they had been let into the home

333
00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:11.799
and they were keeping up this pretense
of doing a survey, and Half was

334
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:17.319
kind of like, you guys are
really not prepared for this, Like is

335
00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:23.319
not going well. So he was
allegedly getting them the number for someone that

336
00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:29.119
could potentially help them with the survey, you know, one of his colleagues,

337
00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:33.799
and Robert flew off the handle.
And then when Susannah came in because

338
00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:41.559
she heard what was happening, he
had kind of pushed Jim to take care

339
00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:48.240
of her. Please, please,
just let's get to the trial. Let's

340
00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:52.039
get to the well there wasn't really
a trial because they pled guilty, or

341
00:26:52.279 --> 00:26:56.599
just the sentencing here, okay,
well, all right, sentencing. Just

342
00:26:56.599 --> 00:27:00.480
just get to the sentencing. Right. At the sentencing hearing, Veronica,

343
00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:03.880
the Xantop's oldest daughter, gave an
impact statement, saying, quote, her

344
00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:10.039
father's very generosity and openness had made
the crime possible, and that therefore the

345
00:27:10.039 --> 00:27:14.039
way in which he and her mother
died makes their death seem like the greatest

346
00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:21.119
violation. She also noted that in
German, half's name means help or to

347
00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:26.119
help. It's actually biblical. She
said, quote, my father lived up

348
00:27:26.119 --> 00:27:29.920
to his name. As she read
this statement, Robert refused to look at

349
00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:36.400
her, and Jim sobbed. Joan, Robert's mother wept and outside the courthouse

350
00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:40.440
afterwards, she said of the Xantops
daughters, quote, we hope that over

351
00:27:40.519 --> 00:27:44.599
time they will be able to find
peace in their hearts and forgiveness. Now.

352
00:27:44.680 --> 00:27:48.319
Jim was sentenced to twenty five years
with the possibility of parole in twenty

353
00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:52.359
twenty four, and Robert was sentenced
to life without the possibility of parole.

354
00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:59.039
In twenty nineteen, Jim petitioned for
early release, citing good behavior. He

355
00:27:59.079 --> 00:28:02.960
received his masters degree in prison and
took on a leadership role to better the

356
00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:07.319
prison community. However, due to
objections from the Xantops family, he withdrew

357
00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:11.799
his request. Quote, Jim does
not wish to cause the family any more

358
00:28:11.839 --> 00:28:15.559
pain than they already had than he
already has, so he hereby withdraws his

359
00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:21.720
motion to suspend. According to his
attorney, Kathy Green, Associated Attorney General

360
00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:25.839
Jeffrey Strelsen said, quote, what
we tried to convey to the defendant was

361
00:28:25.880 --> 00:28:30.720
the long lasting effects of his actions
and the reverberations over time that still impact

362
00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:34.240
the Xantop daughters and their families today. Obviously, we wish that we weren't

363
00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:37.680
in this position, that he never
participated in the murder of their parents,

364
00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:41.599
but we are appreciative that they will
not have to endure this hearing. So

365
00:28:42.039 --> 00:28:48.160
he is. He expressed a lot
of remorse. You don't see that a

366
00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:52.400
lot, especially in the cases that
we've covered where the killers express a lot

367
00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:56.799
of remorse, and his remorse seems
to be genuine. Even at the trial,

368
00:28:56.880 --> 00:29:00.839
it seemed to be very genuine.
I think he more or less God

369
00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:06.799
have got caught up in this idea
of Roberts the same mortality, like maybe

370
00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:15.680
seals these cool, badass guys,
And he probably did and realizing what he

371
00:29:15.720 --> 00:29:18.279
has done and what he has to
live with for the rest of his life

372
00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:23.640
along with the Xantop's daughters and their
families and the communities. But maybe he

373
00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:33.400
did realize that his actions caused so
much heartache. Yeah, he I mean,

374
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:38.400
he is eligible for parole. It's
possible next year. I believe in

375
00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:42.640
May of next year he is eligible
that he could get out. This is

376
00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:48.160
one of those times where I don't
because the purpose of prison is rehabilitation.

377
00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:56.119
If he is truly remorseful and this
was something that he kind of got too

378
00:29:56.200 --> 00:30:02.279
far deep in and he is really
sorry, and they want to give him

379
00:30:02.279 --> 00:30:06.119
that chance where the and the family
is like kind of okay with it,

380
00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:11.400
Like I could see him being released
from prison and leading a productive leading a

381
00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:18.480
productive life. Robert will never get
out of prison, and he wants to

382
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.920
write a book and make a lot
of money on this book about the murders,

383
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.359
which you can't do anyway, because
there's a whole lot against that but

384
00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:29.640
whatever, Well, he can maybe
you know, spend the rest of his

385
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:33.319
life in solitary confinement and he can
write his book on the walls. Yeah,

386
00:30:33.720 --> 00:30:38.640
Robert, not sorry at all.
Jim at least has sown a ridiculous

387
00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:45.160
amount of remorse Robert, because he's
going to spend the rest of his life

388
00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:49.839
in prison. I'm thinking justice was
served in his case, at least,

389
00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:53.759
that's my opinion. Yeah, no, I agree. So that was the

390
00:30:53.839 --> 00:31:00.119
Dartmouth murders. Thank you for taking
us another horrifying, terrible rabbit hole of

391
00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:06.720
case. You're we Thank you so
much for listening to this bonus chapter.

392
00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:18.400
I hope you learned something something new
again. This is one of our Patreon

393
00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:23.160
episodes, so hopefully you guys enjoyed
it. I know the audio is probably

394
00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:29.039
not perfect. Our audio is a
lot better now. I think at one

395
00:31:29.079 --> 00:31:30.599
point you can hear about cycle going
by, not that there's a lot I

396
00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:36.480
can do about that. I think
the dogs will work in a little bit

397
00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:41.119
towards the end then, But either
way, I hope you enjoyed it.

398
00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:47.880
I will have a new, brand
new episode for you in two weeks,

399
00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:52.319
and if you want, check me
out on WQEE Radio for the true crime

400
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.960
segment on Thursday. Link will be
down to listen in the source notes and

401
00:31:57.119 --> 00:32:00.960
with that I will see you guys
or the next chapter of the Book of

402
00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:05.960
the Dead. Bye, guys,
thank you so much for listening to this

403
00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:08.279
chapter of the Book of the Dead. As always, check the source notes

404
00:32:08.279 --> 00:32:13.279
for resources used in this chapter,
and don't forget that you could follow us

405
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on Instagram at Book of the Dead
pod or shoot us an email with ak

406
00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:23.160
suggestion at bookofthedeadpodat gmail dot com.
We just hope that you have a wonderful

407
00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:29.119
rest of your week. We will
be back next week with another chapter of

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00:32:29.160 --> 00:32:35.160
the Book of the Dead, and
always remember to stay curious, stay safe,

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and stay vigilant. Bye guys,
Bye,