The editor of The Boston Globe yesterday retracted a story that an extramarital affair was the presumed motive in the deaths of Susanne and Half Zantop, saying the anonymous authorities it spoke with had changed their claims.
The Globe published a story Friday based on interviews with three law enforcement officials who said the murders were likely the result of an affair Half Zantop had had.
State Attorney General Philip McLaughlin quickly issued a statement saying the article was inaccurate. Later that same weekend, the state charged Chelsea, Vt., teenagers with two counts of first-degree murder each for the Zantop murders.
In a letter to readers today, Globe editor Matthew V. Storin wrote that his reporters returned to their anonymous sources, who told them the information they supplied was correct to the best of their knowledge at the time.
Storin said the paper had reason to believe its sources had timely and accurate information.
"However, in light of the current focus on teenage suspects Robert W. Tulloch and James J. Parker, the sources now concede that the extramarital affair theory is not correct," Storin wrote today.
Storin apologized to the family and friends of the Zantops in the statement: "It was certainly never our intent to increase the suffering of the Zantop family, their friends, or the Dartmouth College community, and we express regret for the pain our story undoubtedly caused them."
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.
