Exactly two months after Half and Susanne Zantop were found brutally stabbed in their home and over a month after arrest warrants were issued in the case, authorities still seem to be searching for a definitive motive explaining the suspects alleged murder of the Dartmouth professors.
From all indications, that effort has yet to yield substantial results.
Thus far, prosecutors appear to have only physical evidence implicating Robert Tulloch, 17, and James Parker, 16, both of Chelsea, Vt., in the crime. Not only do police and prosecutors seem to lack a motive, they also appear to be still looking for some connection between the teens and the deceased.
Court documents released yesterday reveal much more information about the evidence against Tulloch and Parker than was previously released, including the fact that knives found in Tulloch's bedroom bore blood with DNA matching that of Susanne Zantop.
But the new documents do not cast any light at all on what reasons authorities believe Tulloch and Parker might have had to kill the couple, providing no hint of a connection to the Zantops.
A motion filed last Wednesday in a Massachusetts court offers insight into the current state of the investigation.
"New Hampshire authorities have reached an impasse with many of the witnesses in the case and ... the impasse has frustrated their ability to complete the Zantop murder investigation," states the court document, written by Worcester Assistant District Attorney Thomas Landry.
According to the document, filed in response to a motion filed by the Boston Herald to unseal search warrants for the silver Audi abandoned by the two teens at a Massachusetts truck stop as fled Vermont on Feb. 16, the calling of an investigative grand jury exemplifies the frustration of prosecutors in dealing with reluctant witnesses, the motion states.
Whether the recent decision to release the information yesterday implies that the investigators are closer to finding a link between the suspects and the victims still remains to be seen.
The prosecutor leading the investigation, Senior Assistant Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, yesterday declined to comment on the apparent lack of connection between the accused and the victims.
If there is a link, it does not appear to lie with the parents or families of the two teenagers, according to attorneys for both the Tulloch and Parker families.
"There's no connection between my clients and the Zantops," Tulloch family lawyer George Ostler said firmly. He emphasized, however, that he does not speak for Robert Tulloch.
Kevin Griffin, who represents Parker's parents, told the Boston Globe last week that there is no link between his clients and either of the Zantops.
"I'm telling you 100 percent there is absolutely no link, no connection, between Mr. and Mrs. Parker and the Zantops," Griffin said. "Mr. and Mrs. Parker are as mystified as anyone."
He added that, according to his clients, there was no connection between James Parker and the Zantops.
Rock climbing -- a sport that Half Zantop participated in earlier in his life in and in which Tulloch and Parker were reportedly interested -- has previously been suggested as a possible link between the couple, as was a meeting at a fitness club, but both possibilities have been refuted by a number of sources.
It would not be impossible for prosecutors to obtain a conviction without being able to explain why the murders happened -- just more difficult.
"Motivation is not a necessary condition for establishing the guilt or innocence of a defendant in a murder," Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University, told The Dartmouth earlier this month.
Ayotte declined to discuss the role a theory of motive would play at trial.
But prosecutors seem to be in no rush to get to that point, giving them a chance to bolster their case.
Christiana Usenza, for example, who has already talked to investigators, was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. As possibly one of the closest friends of one of the suspects, her testimony could be critical to the investigation.
But when the appearance of the former Tulloch girlfriend conflicted with a planned trip to Mexico, prosecutors were flexible about rescheduling, moving the date for her testimony to April 20, when the grand jury is scheduled to meet again.
And after the grand jury completed the first phase of its proceedings last week, police have gone back to questioning Chelsea acquaintances of the teenagers.
Ayotte would not comment on the role the grand jury is playing in the case, except to say, "It's an investigative tool that we can use in any murder case and we are using [it] in this case."
Thus far, though, it appears that authorities have not gotten what they want from the grand jury investigation and are still searching for that crucial reason that would explain to a trial jury why the alleged murderers committed the horrific crime.
