Man convicted for role in 2001 stabbings of Dartmouth College professors released from prison

James Parker listens to the parole board's decision during his parole hearing, Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Concord, N.H. Parker, who served more than half his life in prison for his role in the death by stabbing two married Dartmouth College professors in 2001 as part of a plan to rob and kill people before fleeing overseas, was granted parole. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man convicted for his role in the stabbing deaths of two Dartmouth College professors has been released from prison.

James Parker was 16 years old at the time of his conviction in the 2001 deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop in Hanover, New Hampshire. He was paroled in April.

Parker's attorney, Cathy Green, said Friday that Parker was released on the condition of a “no contact” order with the Zantop family. Parker pleaded guilty years ago to accessory to second-degree murder and served a little less than the minimum of his 25 years to life sentence.

Parker told a parole hearing earlier this year that what he did was “incredibly horrible” and that I didn't have “a lot of time or things I could do to change that, or relieve the pain I have caused.”

More than twenty years ago, Parker and Robert Tulloch, then 17, wanted to settle in Australia and hatched a plan to rob the Zantops of their credit cards and ATM information and kill them. Parker and Tulloch fatally stabbed the Zantops and fled with $340 and a list of numbers. They were arrested at an Indiana truck stop weeks later.

Tulloch pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, but he was later re-sentenced. The United States Supreme Court has declared the sentencing of juvenile offenders to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole unconstitutional.

Susanne Zantop, 55, and Half Zantop, 62, were academics of German origin. Susanne headed the German studies department at Dartmouth and Half taught earth sciences.

Veronika Zantop, one of the Zantops' two daughters, said in an email to The Associated Press in April that she missed her parents and was “deeply sad for everything they — and we — have missed.” “. She also said she wishes Parker “and his family the best and hopes they can recover.”