Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders [Hardcover]

Dick Lehr (Author), Mitchell Zuckoff (Author)

Book Description

On a cold night in January 2001, the idyllic community of Dartmouth College was shattered by the discovery that two professors had been hacked to death in their own home. Investigators searched helplessly for clues linking the victims, Half and Susanne Zantop, to their murderer or murderers. The residents of Hanover, New Hampshire, speculated endlessly -- could the killer be a disgruntled student? a spurned lover? -- while the grisly nature of the crimes themselves destroyed, perhaps forever, the sanctity and invulnerability of their academic arcadia.

By contrast, the hardscrabble community of nearby Chelsea, Vermont, was relatively unaffected. The big news in Chelsea came when the school's basketball star scored his 1,000th point on a Friday, three weeks after the murders. As parents and teenagers streamed into the night to celebrate after the game, a stunning scene stopped them in their tracks. Outside the house of high school senior Robert Tulloch were the flashing lights of a swarm of police cars. His neighbors couldn't imagine what the trouble could be -- a prank gone overboard, perhaps -- but they were confident it was all a misunderstanding that would be sorted out in due course.

But they were wrong. The town discovered the incomprehensible reality that Tulloch and best friend Jim Parker, two of Chelsea's brightest and most popular sons, were now fugitives, wanted for the murders of Half and Susanne Zantop.

Afterward, their classmates and teachers would admit to noticing subtle changes in Robert and Jim over the previous year. Robert, a former Student Council president, and Jim, a member of the school band and drama club, had been popular kids, benign mischief-makers -- their escapades included breaking into an empty home and raiding the refrigerator. But as their friends thought about college and futures beyond Chelsea, Robert and Jim began plotting a very different life. Split off from their peers, with too much free time and too little structure, normal teenage ambition took, in these two boys, an unthinkably dark and sinister turn.

Authors Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff provide a vivid explanation of murders that captivated the nation, as well as dramatic revelations about the forces that turned two popular teenagers into killers: Could poor parenting, psychological abnormalities, or a community that fails to challenge and engage its young people be blamed? Or was it more complex? Judgment Ridge conveys a deep appreciation for the lives and the devastating loss of Half and Susanne Zantop, while also providing a clear portrait of the killers, their families, and their community -- and, perhaps, a warning to all parents about what evil may lurk in the hearts of boys.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this meandering yet irresistibly absorbing book, Lehr (co-author of the bestselling Black Mass, about a turncoat FBI agent) and Zuckoff (Choosing Naia, about a Down syndrome child) recount the harrowing story of the murders of Half and Susanne Zantop, two beloved Dartmouth College professors who were savagely butchered in their home on January 27, 2001. The messy crime scene soon led investigators to James Parker and Robert Tulloch, a couple of popular teenagers from nearby Chelsea, Vt. But after being interviewed by detectives, the two promptly fled, leading authorities on a three-day manhunt that ended abruptly at a truck stop in Illinois. While the stunned and bewildered residents of Chelsea muscled their way through choking crowds of reporters (the already sensational story was made all the more lurid by the suspects' youth and the sleepy, idyllic setting) and came to terms with the unimaginable (two of their own townspeople were murderers), Parker and Tulloch were remanded to New Hampshire and arraigned on murder charges that were supported by an arsenal of incriminating evidence. Although the authors (Lehr supplies the grit and Zuckoff the sympathetic touch) assiduously reconstruct the events surrounding the pointless double homicide (Parker and Tulloch made off with a whopping $340), the authors appear to have been reluctant to omit any mundane detail or passing commentary, bogging down their energetic narrative in its own research. But the authors nicely expose the strange relationship between these two boys, their muddleheaded motivations for the crime, and Tulloch's arrogant and volatile personality, disregarded by his family and teachers as youthful exuberance when in fact it was the self-absorbed posturing of a burgeoning psychopath. 16 illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The New Yorker

In January, 2001, Half and Susanne Zantop, popular professors at Dartmouth College, were murdered in their home in New Hampshire. Clever detective work linked knife sheaths found at the scene to a pair of teen-agers, Robert Tulloch and Jim Parker, who lived in an isolated Vermont town thirty miles away. Confronted by police, the boys fled; eventually, they were tracked down in Indiana. Parker, the sidekick, struck a plea bargain that may free him in sixteen years, but Tulloch pleaded guilty and received a sentence of life without parole. Zuckoff and Lehr, who covered the case for the Boston Globe, examine in fascinating detail the ordinariness of the boys' grudges—typical high-school controversies about the student council and the debate team—and how, in Tulloch's twisted mind, the idea of random killing became an obsession.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1ST edition (September 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006000844X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060008444
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,278,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mitchell Zuckoff is a professor of journalism at Boston University. Previously, he was a reporter and writing coach for The Boston Globe, where he was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting. He won the Distinguished Writing Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, The Livingston Award, and The Heywood Broun Award, among other national honors. He received a master's degree from the University of Missouri and was a Batten Fellow at the University of Virginia. He lives outside Boston. His website is www.mitchellzuckoff.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling! One of the best in the genre, November 17, 2004

By 

Fox in a Box (Buffalo, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders (Hardcover)

I have long been an afficianado of true crime and have read many of the best -- and of course, some real groaners. This book, however, is one of the very best I have come across. I literally could not put it down. I give it my highest recommendation.

The editing is as good as the writing, by the way. No repetition, careless observations, hanging questions, annoying trivialities, psychobabble or irksome misuse of "which" and "that."

Although it's real page-turner, the authors, award-winning investgative journalists at the Boston Globe, do not sensationalize or otherwise cheapen this heartbreaking story of one of the most brutal murders in the recent history of the state of New Hampshire.

The victims, two decent and well-loved Dartmouth professors, come vividly to life. Great thought also is given to the cryptic psychopathologies of the two "nice" young men who destroyed dozens of lives in their pursuit of sensation. For this the authors draw on articulate experts in the field who answer many obvious questions, although there are others that must, by their very nature, remain unanswered.

They build their narrative slowly, piece by inevitable piece, so that when they arrive at their devastating conclusions, we cannot help but share them, despite the implications they carry about our own children and communities.

Thank you, gentlemen, for a stunning and thought-provoking work of journalism. It has remained with me for many months and still makes me shudder.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling story., May 25, 2004

By 

Terence M. Hines (Chappaqua, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders (Hardcover)

This is the best true crime book I have ever read. It tells the compelling but horrifying story of the murder of Half and Suzanne Zantop, two Dartmouth College professors, by two teenagers from the rural town of Chelsea, Vermont. Contrary to a previous reviewer, I did not find the book too detailed. There is a lot of detail, but this is necessary for the authors to tell the story properly. The details about the killers, Jim Parker and Robert Tulloch, and their lives in Chelsea before the killing are necessary to the understanding of these two. Neither were the "loner / loser" type that one thinks of in connectionn with teenagers who kill. Both had good friends in Chelsae, took part in extra-curricular activities in school and were intelligent. Granted, Tulloch's parents are a little strange, but not so strange as to explain his behavior. It is exactly in all the detail the authors provide that we see the transformation of these two reasonably normal acting kids into killers. This is a great strength of the book. In the end it is clear that Tulloch was a psychopath who manipulated Parker, a "follower" into going along with his criminal activities. The authors use of detail allows the reader to watch as Tulloch gets more and more out of control. Nor do I think the authors show any sympathy for either killer. They simply describe the relationship between them as it was. And, as it was, Parker certainly comes off the more sympathetic of the two. Another strength of the book is that it is happily free of the psychobabble sometimes found in true crime books.
The authors are also able to paint a very poignant picture of the Zantops. These were kind, wonderful people. In their acknowledgments section, the authors say "Getting to know the Zantops postumously made us wish we had known them in life." I can't imagine anyone reading this book not feeling the same way.
Another reason I found the book so compelling is a personal one: Hanover, NH, the home of Dartmouth College, is my home town. I was born and raised there and my dad was a Dartmouth professor. So I know the town and the area very well. In fact, when I was in high school, I loved going over into Vermont and driving along the unpaved back roads just to see beauty of the forest. I never knew the Zantops but many of the names of other Dartmouth faculty and administrators are familiar. And on their way along East Wheelock Street in Hanover to the Zantop's house the day of the killing, Tulloch and Parker passed within 100 or so yards of my own home in Hanover.

34 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The True Story of a Brutal Crime and Its Aftermath, September 21, 2003

By 

prisrob "pris," (New England USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders (Hardcover)

The Zantop's, Half and Susanne were a much loved couple from Dartmouth Collge a small community in New Hampshire, who were brutally murdered. This book tells their story and that of the two young men who committed this crime. I have ambivalent feelings about this book- it is very well written and the authors have given much detail about the lives of all involved, but this murder took place in my community, and the wounds are still raw. Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff, are Boston Globe columnists and followed this case day by day. They interviewed many of the people involved in the lives of the Zantops, Robert Tulloch and Jum Parker. They have been able to give an account of the shock and grief both communities felt in the aftermath.
Half and Susanne Zantop came to Dartmouth College from Germany. They wanted to open their world to their two young daughters. In the midst of living their lives, they touched many in the Dartmouth and Hanover community. Half was considered one of the best educators in his Geology department and at Dartmouth. Susanne was a much loved professor of the German department. Both were in their mid fifties and looking at early retirement. They were a very active couple and had lived their lives to the fullest. They had two daughters who were just starting their adult lives.
James Tulloch was an eighteen year old from a small community in Vermont. His life is shared in bits and pieces, and we are able to see that something is terribly wrong in this young man but a murderer? James Parker is his younger friend. They have a bond and have the feeling of "us against the world". They were adventurers and wanted to go to Austrailia and live the life they deserved. In their fantasies they would glean the monies needed by killing their victims and accumulating the money needed to flee. The book tells the story of their attempts to rob and plunder, and the mistakes they made. No one in their community really knew these young men or could have foretold the paths they were establishing.
One cool grey day in January of 2001, Robert and James headed towards Hanover, NH, a town of well-to-do people. A town that neither boy liked or visited often. On a previous day they had searched the town for likely victims. The first home they visited was empty, they moved to the next home and Half Zantop answered. The young men posed as Vershire School studnets interested in the environement and asked Half to participate in a survey. As a professor of Geology, Half was involved in keeping the enviornment clean and invited the young men into his home. At some point during the survey, Half remarked that the young men were not well prepared. This infuriated Robert and he lunged at Half and slit his throat- Susanne hearing the commotion ran into the room and Robert yelled to James to kill her. James hesitated a moment and then slit Susanne's throat. The boys had bought knives over the internet to use for this crime. When they were sure the Zantops were dead, they took Half's wallet and left.
A friend of the Zantops came to their home in early evening to have dinenr with them- found the front door unlocked and walked in. She came to the study and found the grisly scene- she left hurriedly and drove to the neighbors where she screamed for help. The neighbors called 911 and went with her to the Zantops home.
The ensuing half of the book describes the investigation and the
people involved ,and how the many clues left at the scene helped the local police and State Police to find these young men. They were questioned at their homes. In the dead of night the boys left and fled to Indiana where they were picked up. The flight and the local authorities and their stories are told in detail. the boys were brought back to New Hampshire and charged with murder. After delibertion, James Parke became a State's witness ande gave up his best friend, Robert to save his life. He was charged with being an accomplice to murder and given 25 years to life. Robert Tulloch decided a trial was not in his best interest and pleaded guilty. He received a life sentence with no chance of parole. Both young men are at the NH State prison. James Parker is a model prisoner. Robert Tulloch is considered a risk and a troublemaker.
Judgment Ridge is a small ridge near Chelsea, Vermont, the boys hometown. It is a fitting title for this book. The judgment shown by these boys is hard to fathom. The lives destroyed are too numerous to count. This is an account of a gruesome crime and its aftermath. How could these young man kill innocent people? Robert Tulloch is probably a psycopath with no remorse and his partner, James Parker was brought willing into a situation where he did not think of the consequences- he was a follower. Both communites are left to ponder what went wrong and how could this happen. This book attempts to answer these questions and does an admirable job. I am left with an uneasy feeling in my gut- the memories of the Zantops and their remarkable lives will stay with me. As will the memories of these young men and the tragedies they wrought. prisrob