The New Hampshire man who was convicted as an accomplice in the fatal stabbing of two Dartmouth College professors in 2001 was released from prison on June 7 after being granted parole earlier this spring.
Then 16-year-old James Parker and his friend Robert Tulloch, then 17, plotted to rob Half and Susanne Zantop to get money to move to Australia.
The pair posed as students conducting a survey door-to-door to force their way into the Zantops’ Hanover, New Hampshire home where they robbed them of their credit cards, cash, and ATM PINs before Tulloch fatally stabbed them.
The two teenagers fled the state and were later arrested at a truck stop in Indiana.
Robert Tulloch pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was given a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. His sentence is expected to be adjusted because of a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that found it unconstitutional for juvenile offenders to receive a mandatory life sentence without parole.
James Parker pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for being an accomplice in the murders and was sentenced to 25 years to life. At the time of his release, Parker served slightly less than the minimum of his sentence.
During his parole hearing earlier this year, Parker described his actions as “unimaginably horrible” and said no amount of time and nothing he could do could change or alleviate the pain he caused.
In a June 7 statement, James Parker’s attorney Cathy Green confirmed that he had been released from prison with an order not to make contact with the Zantops’ two surviving daughters.
The German-born Zantops both taught at Dartmouth College. Susanne, 55, headed up the German studies department while Half, 62, was a professor of Earth sciences.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Veronika Zantop said she wished the best for James Parker and his family and said that she hoped they could heal.