Starting immediately, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will enter the fray of the Zantop murder investigation, Senior Assistant Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said today in a news conference.
New Hampshire police and FBI agents have traditionally worked in conjunction with each other on certain cases, she said, and this current new involvement is logical with respect to the position of the investigation.
She said she believes that it would not have made sense for the FBI to have gotten involved earlier because now local forces have done initial work that will allow bureau agents to focus "where their efforts will be fruitful." She indicated that the FBI's expertise with evidence and its international ties will be helpful as the case develops.
The N.H. state police will continue to lead the investigation effort, but will take some cues from the FBI.
Ayotte also acknowledged today that a team of N.H. State and Hanover Police traveled to Arizona to ask questions related to the Zantop murder case.
"Those individuals aren't being treated as suspects," Ayotte said of the people questioned in Arizona. This morning, reports indicated that people connected to Arizona State University had been questioned in relation to the case.
Ayotte said Arizona is not this investigation's only target, and when questioned, she said investigators have traveled to other states as well, though she would not release which states or regions were of particular interest or the number of states visited by investigators.
Ayotte repeated that the white car that started the Arizona furor was just "one car among many" and she said that after being examined, the vehicle was returned.
At this point, investigators have not traveled outside the United States, but they will if the need becomes apparent.
Ayotte continued to say that investigators were leaning toward the scenario of a targeted crime, however she repeated that they have not ruled out other possibilities.
Ayotte confirmed that at this point, no arrests have been made, although authorities have sought and received some search warrants related to the case.
She still had no comment on a specific motive, the murder weapon or whether the weapon was in police custody.
She also repeated that the investigation "is continuing in a systematic manner" and said she remained optimistic that it would be resolved.
Ayotte said investigators had not ruled out a connection between the date of the Zantop murder -- Holocaust Remembrance Day -- and their deaths.
"That's information that we would consider," she said.
According to her neighbor Audrey McCollum, Susanne Zantop was never taught about the Holocaust until Zantop was 13 years old because of the "historical blackout" that existed in her home country of Germany.
Susanne Zantop had a "vivid memory about the day the kids were told about the Holocaust in school," McCollum told The Dartmouth and said this memory spurred her decision to become a U.S. citizen three years ago.
