Authorities in Indiana apprehended the two teenagers wanted for the Hanover murders of Half and Susanne Zantop at around 4 a.m. yesterday in New Castle, Ind., but continued to release few details about the crime.
A press conference yesterday evening, the second in the same day, revealed no major developments in the investigation of James Parker and Robert Tulloch in connection with the killings of the Zantops.
Issues of legal procedure were discussed regarding extradition of the suspects to New Hampshire.
Malinda Lawrence, a representative from the Attorney General's office, cited the national holiday as reason for the delay in attempting to extradite Tulloch and Parker from Indiana.
She said arraignments are generally held within 24 hours of extradition, but that the specifics of such a decision would be up to the court system.
Warrants issued for items and locations investigated in the case are being held at Lebanon District Court, Lawrence said.
The arrest warrant for Parker was issued out of Littleton District Court, while warrants were sought from the Lebanon District Court for Tulloch.
She called the likely prosecution of the two a "complex situation," as 16-year-old Parker is, under state law, considered a juvenile, while Tulloch, at 17, is not.
The suspects have been charged with first degree murder, however the warrants used to apprehend the two fell under fugitive statutes after the two fled after being questioned by investigators.
When and if they are extradited back to New Hampshire, court authorities and prosecutors will determine whether to charge Parker as an adult or a juvenile.
It is "highly likely," Lawrence said, that Parker would eventually be tried as an adult, given the severity of the charges involved in his case.
Lawrence confirmed the two suspects had traveled on "multiple" tractor-trailer rigs between Sturbridge, Mass., where they abandoned their car, and New Castle, Ind., where they were arrested.
She said neither teenager was harmed in the apprehension. Lawrence could not comment as to whether the two were being held separately.
Early yesterday, Henry County, Ind., Sheriff Kim Cronk told The Dartmouth that Tulloch and Parker were arrested yesterday morning at a truck stop fueling center in New Castle, a small city 45 miles east of Indianapolis.
At the first news conference shortly after noon yesterday at the Hanover Police Department, Attorney General Philip McLaughlin confirmed that the suspects had been arrested.
Orange County, Vt., Sheriff Dennis McClure had said earlier yesterday that fingerprints of the teens taken Thursday when New Hampshire investigators questioned them in Chelsea matched prints at the crime scene.
At the noon press conference, McLaughlin confirmed that fingerprints were taken Thursday, but would not confirm that their fingerprints matched ones found at the scene.
McClure also said the boys had purchased a military-style knife on the Internet before the murders, but would not say that it was the murder weapon.
However, McLaughlin refused to confirm or deny McClure's statement. Instead, he said McClure acted inappropriately in releasing information about the crimes.
Investigators have said that they believed Parker and Tulloch brought the unconfirmed murder weapon into the home and brutally murdered the Zantops by stabbing them multiple times in the head and chest.
Meanwhile, McLaughlin also thanked Sergeant Bill Ward, an Indiana police officer, who has been credited with the discovery and arrest of the Vermont teens.
"What I found remarkable was how normal and uncommon [Ward] thought that this service was," McLaughlin said of the officer, who posed as a truck driver on his CB radio and intercepted a call from a driver transporting the boys.
The driver sent a request out over the radio for another trucker to take Parker and Tulloch further west. The driver did not know at the time that the teenagers were wanted by the police.
Through his radio and acting under the pretense of being a truck driver, Ward said he could pick the two boys up and offered to meet them at a truck stop fueling station. There, the pair was arrested by two other officers, Deputies Landon Dean and Chris Newkirk.
The officers, McLaughlin said, "tried to act surreptitiously and not let their cars be seen," at the apprehension scene and were successful.
"This is a turning point in this particular case," McLaughlin told reporters gathered at the conference.
McLaughlin thanked Vermont and New Hampshire State Police, Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell, as well as the Boston Bureau of the FBI.
In addition, McLaughlin especially called to attention the "stalwart" work of Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone, acknowledging that it must have been hard for the officer to conduct the investigation because of his closeness to the people in the small town.
McLaughlin praised Giaccone for being "a champion of the humanity" involved in the case.
FBI Assistant Special Agent John Pistol thanked members of the trucking industry for aiding officials in tracking precisely where and when Parker and Tulloch were travelling.
The boys are being charged with unlawful flight to avoid arrest, in addition to state murder charges.
When asked by reporters about the motive Parker and Tulloch might have had in killing the two professors, McLaughlin said "We're continuing to investigate and inquire into that question," but he released no further details.
McLaughlin expressed deep sympathy for the daughters of Half and Susanne Zantop, saying, "For them, time stopped on January 27."
Giaccone berated the media for the recent story that was published claiming that Half Zantop had an affair which was related to the motives for the killings.
"Suffice it to say that as certain as the Zantops didn't deserve to die, they certainly don't need to have their names smeared in print," he said.
