Despite the recent announcement that arrest warrants have been issued for Robert Tulloch, 17, and James Parker, 16 -- the alleged murderers of professors Half and Susanne Zantop -- Dartmouth students appear reluctant to let out a collective sigh of relief.
The news has only rendered what initially appeared to be a senseless crime even more difficult to comprehend, according to many students who spoke with The Dartmouth.
"I'm shocked at how young they are," Esther Inglis-Arkeller '03 said. "They're like my brother's age."
Jorge Miranda '01, Alicia Willson '03 and Luis Mantilla '04 expressed relief that the alleged murderers are not related to the College.
"Somehow, it would be more disturbing if they arrested a Dartmouth student," Willson said.
Mantilla stated that "as sad as the whole thing was, it would have hit even closer to home if it had been a member of the Dartmouth community."
But Miranda added, "I think a lot of people are still looking for closure."
Many students echoed the sentiment expressed by AmyLynne Frankel '03, who said that, even though a warrant has been issued, "I don't really feel safe when I walk home alone at night. I lock my door when I get into the shower ... I lock my door all the time now."
But even those who did not express fear for their physical safety now that an arrest is imminent were still far from moving on. Many students said it is not enough to know who murdered the Zantops -- they need to know why the killings happened.
Although he "never really felt that threatened to begin with," Andy Hunter '04 was disconcerted at the apparently irrational nature of the crime. "It seems strange that [Parker and Tulloch] are a sixteen and a seventeen-year-old from relatively far away."
All students who spoke to The Dartmouth criticized the Boston Globe for its explanation of the crime last Friday, when it reported that the murder had been the result of an adulterous affair on the part of Half Zantop.
Scott Stewart '03 said, "I think the Globe was just hungry to satiate public appetite for news on the subject."
Mantilla called the article "irresponsible journalism," because "the memory that we have of [the Zantops] can be tarnished by this type of news, and they are not present to answer for themselves."
Indraneel Sheorey '04 also questioned the Globe's discretion in printing news of doubtful verity.
"It sounded like a National Enquirer story. Maybe they were jumping to conclusions a bit, but even if there had been the slightest hint of truth to the story, it couldn't have helped the case for The Globe to release that information," he said. "In any event, they never identified a source for the story, and nothing has come of it."
The Silver 1987 Audi driven by the alleged murderers was found abandoned in a Massachusetts truck stop parking lot yesterday.
Even though Tulloch and Parker remain at large, many questions remain unanswered and the fears of some students are yet to be allayed, most members of the College community who spoke with The Dartmouth agreed with Mantilla's conclusion that "at least now the case seems to be getting somewhere."
