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[Music] n [Music] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
00:01:14
listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who saw the lights go
00:01:18
out on Broadway here is the captain and in that moment it wasn't good to be seen
00:01:24
and it wasn't good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music]
00:01:32
today we are still drinking some gravel Donuts by the good folks over at outer belt Brewing this is a solid IPA a great
00:01:40
New England IPA it's a mild hazy but not mild on Flavor it reminds me a little bit more of a Midwest IPA juicy with
00:01:51
just the right amount of bitterness garage grade 4 and A2 bottle caps out of five and let's give some thanks and
00:01:58
praise to our friends for helping us out this week first up a big shout out to Logan and Leila in Fort William and a
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big we like your chib goes out to Sarah Coughlin from North Grand be and here's a cheers to minow's Mama from Liston
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Indiana and last but certainly not least we have Sharon Spiller from Richmond Virginia everyone we mentioned they went
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to our website clicked on that pint glass that put some beer in the fridge for us for this week and for that we say
00:02:27
thank you yeah BW r beer run if you want to keep the lights on you want to keep the show going support us on patreon or
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through Apple subscription and Colonel that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair
00:02:42
grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] [Music] the police were tracking down these
00:03:05
leads they were following where the evidence was taking them this information that they had gleaned from
00:03:13
the sales reports of these knives had taken them to the doorstep of Jim Parker and his parents and before even leaving
00:03:23
the Parker residents some of these other detectives remember we said that there were 30 plus investigators working this
00:03:32
case they sent other investigators to the home of the toic to interview best friend of Jim Parker
00:03:41
Robert Tock remember Jim told the police I bought the two knives for me and my buddy yeah one was going to be mine one
00:03:48
was going to be his this is what we bought them for we they didn't work out well so we sold them during that sitdown
00:03:54
the police aren't really trusting what Jim Parker is saying because he looks so nervous in fact one of the detectives
00:04:01
telling Jim Parker look I've been doing this long enough I can tell when somebody's lying to me kind of planting
00:04:07
that seed of not calling him a liar not saying he's a liar not especially in front of his parents but planting that
00:04:14
seed of I I kind of know you're not telling me the whole story here right what we learn here Captain is that they
00:04:21
they did the right thing by sending other investigators to talk to Robert Tok and his parents you want to keep
00:04:28
these two separate but the reason for doing so in that moment was not because the detectives were suspicious that Jim
00:04:37
Parker had killed the xant Toops not because they were suspicious that even his buddy Robert toic had killed the
00:04:46
xant Toops they somewhat believed the story of selling these knives to somebody or at least giving these knives
00:04:56
to somebody else right in that moment investigators believed we're talking about two high school kids here we think
00:05:05
they know something that they're not willing to tell us we think they know who they gave or sold the knives
00:05:11
to and if we can find that person or persons that is very likely our killer now the flip side of that
00:05:20
coin is you have detectives at the home of Diane and Mike tolik Robert their son
00:05:27
is home at that time as well so now have a sit down going on at the toic home very similar to what was taking place at
00:05:35
the Parker residence but if you're law enforcement you have to remember when you're at the Parker's house what do you
00:05:41
see a green Subaru yep now you're talking to his buddy you're at the to's house and what do you
00:05:49
find a pair of hiking boots same size same brand same brand and again it's a unique brand it's Unique New York you
00:06:00
know what they're not seeing at the toic house that they were seeing at The Parkers is a very nervous teenager this
00:06:07
Robert toic was described as cool as a cucumber yes they found size 112 hiking boots same brand that they were looking
00:06:15
for and they asked the toxs can we take these hiking boots with us for for testing yeah father Mike says look th
00:06:24
those are my son's boots should I get an attorney here what what's my move here and and the detective was was very cool
00:06:32
as a cucumber as well tells the father look if you say the boots stay they stay if you tell me that I can take them
00:06:39
we're going to take them we're going to test them and we'll give them back to you and so father Mike tells his son
00:06:45
Robert these are your boots what do you say Robert says go ahead and take them so they take the boots and and Robert
00:06:53
also says just like Jim Parker said he was willing to go down to the Sheriff's Office and be fingerprinted and so he's
00:07:02
there at the sheriff's office he sees his buddy Jim there as well they don't they don't talk while they're there at
00:07:09
all but they do see each other and recognize that each other is at the sheriff's office both for the purpose of
00:07:16
getting fingerprinted and I'm sure probably some other questionings going on at this time now police the
00:07:23
authorities let both of these teenagers go after joining them at the sheriff's office for a bit the cops let both
00:07:31
Robert and Jim go home with their parents that day because really the reality of it at at that time was
00:07:37
despite all of the signs pointing strongly at these two boys knowing something or being
00:07:45
involved it it seemed like the police needed more to build their case or just didn't think that these kids were
00:07:53
vicious Killers they're high schoolers their parents loved them they seem to be resp respectful and polite we know the
00:08:02
police were wrong at least in that moment the boy's parents rightfully so had forbidden the two of them to contact
00:08:09
each other until this whole thing got sorted out it appears that both parents thought that this was just some kind of
00:08:16
misunderstanding right that the the cops weren't being rude or being bad cops that they had evidence that led them to
00:08:21
their sons their sons are cooperating they're cooperating well they seem like nice kids from a nice family nice
00:08:30
Community popular kids it just seems very strange and what is their connection to these professors none
00:08:39
there is none and then what is the connection to even the college none to to the town of Etna do they had never as
00:08:49
far as the parents were concerned they had never been there the their sons had never been there one thing that we
00:08:56
shouldn't we need to make sure that we don't miss here and is of note is that Robert tolik had a a pretty bad cut
00:09:07
on his leg and that of course did not go unnoticed by the detectives if I'm a detective I'm going well I'm looking
00:09:15
into these two kids and I'm getting some yeses but I'm getting some NOS too mhm but I need to keep them on the radar
00:09:23
they're not supposed to have communication with each other but that's not what happens yeah if you're
00:09:28
Detectives you're thinking I have their fingerprint information I have their the
00:09:33
boot the boot and so now I'm going to I'm going to take this give it to the people that can make the comparisons and
00:09:41
wait to hear those results but they do yes Captain's right the two the two teenage Sons contact
00:09:50
each other even though the parents said that they were not to speak to one another they they do what every other
00:09:56
teenager does you just wait till Mom and Dad fall asleep and do what you're told
00:10:00
not to do so they they make some communication via phone call and it appears that that is all they needed to
00:10:09
ignite the two onto a get out of Dodge situation we do have John Parker Jim's father who says that he was sleeping but
00:10:22
then he heard a vehicle startup and he runs to the window he sees Jim driving and pulling out of the driveway this is
00:10:35
a silver Audi that is owned by the Parker family he quickly John Parker the father quickly calls the
00:10:44
toic right to say hey my son just took off in our car I'm guessing he's probably going to your place to see your
00:10:51
son the phone keeps ringing and ringing and ringing he tries a few different times nobody picks up if you're a little
00:10:57
bit suspicious of your teenage son doing something very dumb and very heinous I think your
00:11:07
suspicions and your red flags all the alarm bells are going off as your son is leaving the house that night yeah so
00:11:17
John finds a note left by Jim his son that says I just had to talk to robber alone I will be back in the
00:11:25
morning don't call the cops again another red flag so dad tries calling the to's house nobody
00:11:34
answers he hops in another vehicle and drives out to the toic home and now eventually we have parents
00:11:43
talking to parents face to face John Parker tells the toic about the note that Jim had left the parents kind of
00:11:51
agreed like okay this makes some sense our kids aren't used to being talked or interviewed by detectives or police they
00:11:59
were just at the Sheriff's Office okay this makes some sense here they probably just wanted to talk go somewhere and
00:12:06
sort some stuff out and maybe they would be back in the morning just like Jim Snow indicated they were not they did
00:12:13
not come back that morning right John Parker calls the lead investigator Chuck West this is at 11:00 a.m. and he says
00:12:21
my son Jim is gone so an APB went out for Robert toic and Jim Parker and that silver 1987 Audi 500 that they were
00:12:31
driving with Vermont plate CDG 690 so officers from various agencies working the case gathered to draft search
00:12:40
warrants right because now you're you're these two teenagers are behaving very suspiciously and appear to be on the run
00:12:48
so you are not waiting for test results to come back at this point now you're getting search warrants but all at the
00:12:55
same time here Captain the lab reports do come back fingerprints on the knife sheets matched Jim
00:13:02
Parker and of course he admitted to owning the knives and he has no reason to be there no the the sheets had been
00:13:10
found in the room with the dead bodies of Mr and Mrs zantop Right and now police had confirmation that the knives
00:13:18
Jim and Robert had admitted to owning were in fact the murder weapons Vermont State Police Trooper Joselyn
00:13:26
stall she's out driving and her Cruiser she's rushing off to an unrelated emergency call when she comes across a
00:13:35
car stuck in the snow on bethl Mountain Road so this is this is the AI the the the 1987
00:13:43
silver AI was stuck on the side of the road after it appears it had skitted on a ice patch the two there's two teenage
00:13:55
boys dressed in black standing outside of the car they agreed to provide license and
00:14:01
registration but something about them triggered sto's Spidey senses she's asking you know where are you
00:14:09
going they say that they're going skiing this is a State Trooper she's like sure you're going skiing and the
00:14:18
ski mountain was there is a ski mountain in that area it's in the opposite direction of where they were traveling
00:14:25
so that's a that's a flag further the boys are not dressed for skiing and the vehicle there is no
00:14:34
skiing Gear with them instead what she sees is two large black backpacks bulging with something inside these are
00:14:42
in the vehicle the boys were Shifty and weird stole ran their licenses finds no records but she also
00:14:51
knew that there had been some burglaries in the area so this is what she's suspicious of that that these guys might
00:14:57
these teenagers might have been breaking into the houses but she was in a hurry remember she's got that other emergency
00:15:03
that she right needs to respond to so she quickly puts together a report and has to race off to this other scene the
00:15:11
last line of her report about this incident finding the boys and the vehicle on the side of the road reads my
00:15:17
suspicions of criminal activity were significant now we have these search warrants are in Full Effect right now we
00:15:27
got searchers tackling Robert's room uh in Robert tok's room we have Gary Lawrence who noticed a cardboard
00:15:38
Florida Citrus box in the corner of his room tucked in next to a bureau inside of this cardboard box they find some
00:15:49
notebooks and other stuff under the notebooks were two duct tape bundles that turned out to
00:15:56
be a mitten and a sock inside those that Mitten that was wrapped in duct tape and
00:16:05
that sock that was wrapped in duct tape they find a foot long SOG SEAL 2000 knife in
00:16:14
each in Robert's haste to get out of Dodge it appears he had completely forgot to pack the
00:16:23
knives at the murder scene the murderers completely forgot to leave the scene with the sheaths here these two kids
00:16:32
appear to have taken off on the run and by the time that Robert realizes that he forgot to bring the
00:16:41
knives they're already on the road he and Jim are already on the road so now the police are in possession of the
00:16:47
suspected murder weapons the boy story was that they had sold these knives to some guy well you
00:16:57
know that's not true Parker and like they're young and dumb mhm other item sees from both homes were clothing
00:17:05
computers notebooks writings and a book about Hitler a search of the Parker's green Subaru yielded a floor mat that
00:17:14
was taken for testing it would come back with positive with positive blood evidence and the blood belonging to
00:17:22
suzan zantop so we have the fingerprint evidence we have the bootprint evidence is all matching our
00:17:30
two kid suspects mhm and now we find the murder weapons in their possession yes yeah it's it's in the room of one of
00:17:41
your suspects bedroom of one of your suspects and and well and now we have these two numbnuts they're on the run
00:17:48
from law enforcement so you're you're going to collect this evidence and you're going to
00:17:53
charge both of these individuals with the slangs even though the they are not in your custody and that's going to have
00:18:02
a domino effect of now we got a nationwide manhunt for these two teenagers what we would learn is that
00:18:09
Robert and Jim had driven South to Massachusetts and then they were heading west they decided that they had to lose
00:18:15
the vehicle because they knew that police would be looking for this vehicle we say it all the time don't we Captain
00:18:22
Vehicles cops love Vehicles they're so much easier to find Than People yeah they're bigger they parked the car in a
00:18:28
lot at a busy Sturbridge aisle truck stop in Sturbridge Massachusetts so at this
00:18:37
service station they are talking to different truck drivers and whatnot and they find a tow truck driver his name's
00:18:45
John morren who was he's he works part-time as a cop but he also drives a tow truck or reverse that he probably
00:18:56
drives the tow truck part-time and works full-time as a cop he said that he thought the boys looked nervous and
00:19:02
noticed that they had New Hampshire plates when he saw an APB out for the two boys in the in that
00:19:12
plate this is 6 hours later when he sees the APB though after seeing the boys he
00:19:18
does call this into police so now police are hot on the trail right they go out to the Sturbridge and they find the
00:19:25
vehicle the Audi that they had left behind the boys are gone gone by this time they had ended up being successful
00:19:33
hitching a ride West a trucker with the awesome name of Rowdy Tucker and his wife
00:19:42
Nancy had picked up the boys taking pity on them because it's snowing it's cold outside and these These are kids right
00:19:49
they're yeah they're teenagers they they thought they're trying to help these kids out and luckily we have them on
00:19:56
surveillance footage get in into the truck the boys introduced themselves as as Sam
00:20:02
and Tyler they said that they were headed to California to try to get fishing jobs the Tuckers were so nice
00:20:08
that they not only gave them a ride but also bought them snacks and stuff at the
00:20:14
truck stop before hitting the road they ride together about 220 miles to get the
00:20:20
Columbia New Jersey the Tuckers used a CB radio to find other truckers who might be able to
00:20:27
transport Sam and Tyler further west this is as far as we can take you we're going to see if anybody else can help
00:20:34
you out so another trucker his name is James Hicks agrees he is driving he says he's
00:20:41
driving a truck full of M&M's to Chicago the the snack not not multiples of the rapper not the rapper yeah just
00:20:50
to be clear yeah uh not the rapper holding cans of moose stew that's right what what is awesome here though well if
00:20:59
you're going from New Jersey to Chicago You're Going probably 90 to I70 going to pass right through Ohio
00:21:09
right through Indiana yeah so while this is all going on this is very cool because the police
00:21:15
are hot on the trail of this hot Sam and Tyler you know the fake names that they're using horrible names New
00:21:23
Hampshire attorney general Philip mlin issued a statement that the teens possibly using the names Sam and Tyler
00:21:30
were hitching rides at truck stops on interstate highways and everyone should be on the lookout by the early morning
00:21:37
of February 20th the boys were in the Hicks truck approaching the end of his route in Chicago right the Eminem route
00:21:48
that that golden Eminem route that everybody knows about that runs from New Jersey to Chicago that's how the
00:21:53
chocolate is made Hicks got on his CB Radio and said hey can anybody give a ride to two boys who want to go to
00:22:01
California he had mentioned that they had been picked up initially in New Jersey so a male voice responds sure I
00:22:09
can they agree to meet at the Flying J Travel Plaza in Newcastle Indiana Hicks truck pulled in at 3:45
00:22:18
a.m. and he drops off the boys this next bit is from the book judgement Ridge the
00:22:25
trucker on the other end of the CB radio at that time turns out not a trucker at
00:22:31
all he was Sergeant Bill Ward a 22-year veteran of the Henry County Indiana Sheriff's Department so he's working the
00:22:42
O overnight shift he is eating a meal with three fellow officers at the Flying J Truck
00:22:50
Stop Restaurant they discussed the fugitives right they had heard the APB go out for
00:22:56
these two teenagers well believe he also saw it on the news they're talking about
00:23:02
this when they're having their meal and they actually talk about the idea that well if if they're heading this way if
00:23:11
they're heading out west to California that Indiana would be a logical place for them to travel through along their
00:23:18
route to California so a couple of hours later when Sergeant Ward was in his patrol car
00:23:24
he hears the trucker Hicks CB call for someone to pick up two teenage H hitchhikers he told Hicks he'd meet them
00:23:33
at the Flying J truck stop on I70 in New Castle Indiana he calls his buddies for
00:23:39
reinforcement so this guy pretends to be another trucker that's willing to drive
00:23:43
these kids when they pull up the cops are face to face with Robert tolik and Jim Parker and Robert Tok says to one of
00:23:54
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it can also summarize your class notes visualize your ideas and so much more it's the most advanced AI at your
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[Music] [Music] all right we are back you silly monkeys cheers to the people in the back
00:26:16
tall can in the air cheers to everyone power to the people here we go we got our guys in custody now after their
00:26:25
attempt to flee out West by hopping trucks and getting picked up by the police thinking that they had a a third
00:26:34
Connection in in picking up another ride out in Indiana but that was not to be turns out to be the police and you have
00:26:42
a lot of evidence right thanks to the evidence investigators pretty much by this point know the who when where and
00:26:49
how about this case but the motive continue to elude everyone yeah because we don't have connections from The
00:26:57
Killers to to the victims yeah and you now have detectives interrogating the parents
00:27:05
individually for hours trying to figure out what the connection was and the focus of this questioning was the
00:27:12
family's connection to the area of Handover what was the relationship with the xant Toops and what were Robert and
00:27:20
Jim doing in that neck of the woods and as the captain pointed out before in this story is that neither of the
00:27:26
parents had any idea any idea of any connection whatsoever that their sons would have with the area
00:27:34
with the xant Toops frankly with Handover at all but law enforcement has something on their side now we have two
00:27:42
killers meaning all you have to have as one of the killers break and to tell you
00:27:48
all the details of the crime and why they they committed the crime and it the parents in both cases Robert tok's
00:27:56
parents and Jim Parker's parents they seem to be unable to process the knowledge that their children were
00:28:04
murderers like even when the police are pointing out all this evidence that says
00:28:09
look this this all leads to your son and his friend they they have a difficult time ramping their minds around this
00:28:15
whole idea and then on top of that the town's people seem to feel equally shattered again these are popular kids
00:28:22
they're likable kids got decent grades had friends got great grades were were considered to be
00:28:31
intelligent kids and and no criminal history correct now what we start to see here is two different paths by these
00:28:41
individuals that were arrested together for committing the same crimes so you have Jim he's he's in jail we have
00:28:50
Robert tolik he's in jail but he's getting into fights at the jail and it's reported that he was picking on person
00:28:58
he deemed to be weaker prisoners he was sneaking letters to his girlfriend at the time and obsessively reading
00:29:05
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradberry and he was also trying to he was planning an escape we know that he
00:29:15
confided in a biker turned Czech fraudster who went by the nickname of Ranger so Ranger is going to be
00:29:24
transported Ranger takes the opportunity to talk to police while he's being transported so this is Deputy Chad
00:29:35
Morris that that is doing the transportation here so he says he tells the deputy that Robert
00:29:43
toic told me that this crime was random in fact he and his buddy Jim initially they intended to kill the xant
00:29:53
Toops neighbors they went to that house knocked on the door nobody answered so they just kicked the can down the road
00:29:59
and went to the next house he said that he was told by Robert that there was no connection to the xant Toops they did
00:30:07
not know who they were they had not seen them prior to that day he said Robert told him that the that this was his
00:30:13
first murder and that he had wanted to get quote a few under his belt to get some street
00:30:20
cred finally Ranger told the deputy that the only item that the kidss actually stole was Hal's
00:30:31
wallet so this is backed up they know this the police know this from having been at the crime scene yeah there
00:30:38
wasn't much money in there $340 is what was found in Hal's wallet and from my understanding they use that
00:30:46
money to buy two shirts and a pair of uh rock climbing shoes so these two very lovely wonderful people that so many
00:30:57
adored that so loved their company parents turns out their lives were worth two shirts and a pair of rock climbing
00:31:04
shoes to these two teenagers anyway the story was that Jim and Robert had gained
00:31:11
access to the xanto's home by pretending to conduct an environmental survey for a
00:31:16
school project they selected Etna the area of Etna simply because they thought people would be rich the people that
00:31:23
live there would be rich they had struck out at two previous homes before getting
00:31:30
invited inside the home by Hal zantop well again he probably only let them in because he's a educator who's trying to
00:31:38
help these kids out well and this Deputy says Hey Ranger you need to sit down with investigators and tell them
00:31:44
everything that you're telling me as The Story Goes On he tells them that Robert
00:31:49
said that he deliberately selected a home with someone present because the purpose of the whole operation was Rob
00:31:58
they didn't want to just steal things they wanted to Rob someone get their ATM cards and get their PIN numbers from
00:32:09
them personal identification number from them so they could use these ATM cards at will but the other part of this
00:32:18
that's even more Sinister again this is according to a jailhouse snitch Ranger tells the detectives that
00:32:28
Robert told him look this was all kind of just an excuse for him he wanted to kill somebody while
00:32:36
he was out there doing this robbery I guess they had loose plans to hey let's get some money and then we'll go live a
00:32:45
awesome I think they said badass life in in Australia so they were trying things
00:32:50
like stealing people's mail and trying to steal cars and all this stuff but like you're saying you can go well we
00:32:58
can break into houses that'd be a great way to get money or we could rob somebody even let's say gunpoint where
00:33:04
this becomes very Sinister as when somebody says no we'll just kill them everything the captain just said is
00:33:10
spoton the the the thing here is it seemed like the the two boys shared this idea that where they grew up Chelsea was
00:33:19
boring and that they were destined for greater things yeah it's weird because they also seem like they're like they
00:33:27
want to live a boring life and they didn't like people that weren't trying to better themselves but all these other
00:33:34
opportunities they talked about like joining the Army or even the British forces but they're like but the training
00:33:40
that would be too difficult yeah that's why most people don't join but it just makes no sense because
00:33:46
it seemed like they were anti- people that weren't trying to make themselves better and would it by by doing
00:33:54
something hard that's what makes you better by going through a tough training that's what makes you better right they
00:34:00
you know they weren't into drugs they they didn't do things like drugs or drink in fact the two of them uh even
00:34:08
shunned away from fast food or any type of unhealthy food it's very strange and they they did they talked about living
00:34:17
these badass lives but unfortunately it turned to things that were illegal activities like
00:34:24
breaking and entering burglary joy riding and boosted car and then of course these two murders now no bail was
00:34:32
granted to either teen due to the severity of the charges thankfully an investigative grand jury indicted both
00:34:39
boys the indictments revealed the evidence against the boys and the prosecutor's theory of the crime it
00:34:45
appears that Robert and Jim were looking to collect about $10,000 roughly through
00:34:51
different types of CRI criminal activity to travel to and live in Australia working for the money too slow
00:35:00
too mundane so as the captain pointed out they stole from Neighbors mailboxes looking for credit cards they stole an
00:35:07
ATV they tried to sell it but couldn't do it without the title they kept running into problem after problem with
00:35:13
their half-baked plant well they're also dumbasses yeah yep and th this but but that's
00:35:22
where it becomes evil though because again it doesn't look I'm just maybe I'm a horrible person but you get these two
00:35:30
teenagers they don't like the the living situations like you said getting a job and saving the money that's not fast
00:35:38
enough so you commit some crimes that really only affect somebody financially big whoop they they end up
00:35:47
getting the money they move to Australia they live their badass life out but once
00:35:52
somebody decides that we need to murder somebody that's when these to really become evil yeah and as said there was a
00:36:02
couple of other failed attempts one attempt that we know about is something that took place in July of
00:36:08
2000 when the two teenagers went to and approached to a home the homeowner they had actually cut
00:36:17
the phone lines to this house yeah the homeowner for some reason this is after 10:00 at night it's dark out he is
00:36:25
living in Vermont but he this green Goose Road in in uh Vermont he previously had lived in New
00:36:34
York and maybe it was a little bit of the New Yorker inside of him that was like you know what I'm not opening up
00:36:39
this door so he talked to one of the teenagers that it's reported that it was Robert who had approached the door and
00:36:46
had Jim hide outside uh Robert approaches the door and now the homeowner is talking to Robert through
00:36:52
the door and he's letting him know look I got a gun I I I'm I'm armed if you guys attempt to come in here or if you
00:37:02
attempt to come in here I am going to there will be shots fired the story that Robert tried to sell to this guy through
00:37:11
the door was that his vehicle had broken down and he needed to use a phone and the homeowner's like cool there's a pay
00:37:17
phone right down the street within walking distance go ahead and go use that phone well then like you said the
00:37:22
the homeowner realizes somebody cut his phone line so now he thinks something things
00:37:28
up and he stands guard basically all night waiting for the for this kid to try something yep yep
00:37:38
and and and on top of that like you want to talk about evil you have toic that goes to the door knock knock knock hey
00:37:45
I'm going to try to be the ruse in Waiting this Parker with a mask on but they also dug shallow Graves to put
00:37:54
these individuals in yeah they had previously dug the grave to put whatever person was
00:38:02
home and that's that's what's crazy too like we C we can't we can sit here in magnifying glasses as much as we can as
00:38:11
much as we can attempt to those conversations behind closed doors leading up the plotting of these
00:38:19
different Adventures that they were going to go on that's where a lot of the psychology comes into play because you
00:38:25
start to wonder like is is one of the these guys purposely steering the ship to saying hey you know what would be
00:38:31
best is if we commit crimes where there is a victim present rather than just breaking and
00:38:36
entering and going through somebody's home it's it's gets very difficult to say here but like I was saying earlier
00:38:44
the thing that law enforcement has on their side now is that we have two killers they're kids they're numbnuts
00:38:51
one of them is going to speak and you can kind of threaten both of them hey one of you is going to speak and the
00:38:57
first person to do it is going to get the best deal yeah so this comes about in December of 2001 the short of it here
00:39:05
is that Robert and his attorneys were planning on an insanity defense for Robert a big
00:39:14
problem with that Insanity defense is going to be that Jim his partner in crime was making a plea deal with the
00:39:23
prosecution part of that deal is that Jim would tell the prosecution everything and would testify against
00:39:29
Robert in exchange for reduced charges of being an accomplice to second degree murder of the death of Suzanne his
00:39:38
sentence would be 25 years to life but he could apply for a reduced sentence after serving 16 years and 8
00:39:46
months so in court in December this is the 7th of December Jim gives a 5-hour confession under questioning from the
00:39:55
prosecutor no details were spared in his complete account of all that had occurred Jim confirmed that they
00:40:02
selected the xant Toops home simply because it looked expensive Jim said that after the murders and the failed
00:40:09
escape to California he started to see Robert In a Different Light he said things that he hadn't liked about Robert
00:40:17
stood out more and more to him now and one of the things he was pointing out he said that that his friend Robert was was
00:40:25
rather violent toward uh his own dog which Robert said that he hit the dog because he said the dog was
00:40:32
stupid this whole Insanity defense was based around the idea that Robert that they say Robert was in full-blown manic
00:40:40
episode when he killed Hal zantop so Robert kills Hal Jim kills Suzanne Insanity defense
00:40:50
but the problem was in New Hampshire there was no statutory standard for an insanity defense basically it was up to
00:40:58
the jury right they're not there's no guidelines to decide if Robert or anyone had been insane at the time of a killing
00:41:06
and according to the book judgement Ridge the insanity defense had never been successful at any murder trial by a
00:41:12
jury in the state of New Hampshire that's that's an uphill battle my friend so then Jim pled guilty turned on Robert
00:41:21
Robert and his family and his attorneys then decided that there was too much evidence of premeditation to risk going
00:41:27
for this Insanity right you can't say hey I was in fullblown manic episode when I killed this man and yet there's a
00:41:36
mountain of evidence that you sat around plotting to kill somebody you were planning this for weeks for months so
00:41:45
they dropped the insanity plea and Robert ended up pleading guilty Robert was senten to life without the
00:41:53
possibility of parole so toic is sentenced to life without the possibility of perole Parker is
00:41:59
sentenced to 25 years with the possibility of perole 25 to life with the possibility of parole and then of
00:42:06
course there were people that were rightfully angered by the plea agreement because it seemed that Jim got off
00:42:12
easy with a mere accomplice charge even though he had personally cut Suzanne's throat but the prosecutor publicly
00:42:20
reminded people that Jim was only 16 at the time of the murders and he had demonstrated willingness to take
00:42:25
responsibility for his action which was not on display by the other suspect in her message to the media after the
00:42:34
hearings she simply said justice has been served in this case now Jim started off serving his sentence at the New
00:42:42
Hampshire State Prison in Concord his days were filled with things like schooling guitar and piano
00:42:49
lessons Robert was sent to a smaller prison facility in Berlin New Hampshire prison officials
00:42:57
they decided look the decision was made that that Jim and Robert would never be together in the same facility but Robert
00:43:06
immediately became known as uncooperative and got into fights prison officials also learned of an attempted
00:43:13
Escape that he was planning so he was sent to the state prison and Concord and assigned a maximum security cell in the
00:43:22
secured housing unit until he was deemed eligible to be returned to genp pop so for a while they did they were housed in
00:43:30
the same facility bootprint evidence the confessions the murder weapons it's a lot and look that that's a thorough job
00:43:38
by detectives and by the New Hampshire State Police Department well and and the the sheriffs for catching them on the
00:43:46
Run shout out to those boys in Indiana yeah now I don't want to go too far down this
00:43:53
road but the there was a in 2012 so the US Supreme Court made a ruling in Miller
00:44:00
V Alabama in 2012 after that ruling five New Hampshire cases came under review based off of that ruling off of that
00:44:10
Supreme Court ruling this one of those included Robert tox as a result of that in 2014 a superior court in New
00:44:19
Hampshire ruled that this applied retroactively to Robert tok's case along with some others
00:44:27
that it would be up for review for resentencing the state appealed but the New Hampshire State Court affirmed so
00:44:35
appeals by the defendants in the other cases held up as well Robert is currently scheduled for a
00:44:44
resentencing hearing sometime in 2024 in fact it's originally scheduled for for July so that may have already happened
00:44:54
he may have already been resentenced as for Jim in the fall of 2018 his attorney
00:45:00
petitioned the court for an early release remember he would be eligible for an early release or reduced sentence
00:45:07
after having served at least 16 years of that original sentence the short of it as much as nobody or at least the zantop
00:45:16
daughters and the people that knew the xant Toops do not want these two individuals back
00:45:22
out out of prison what we would end up having is Jim Parker has been paroled in 2024 this
00:45:31
year Jim had served the requisite amount of his sentence to be considered for parole Jim recently had a hearing in
00:45:40
which the parole board members asked him questions about whether he was rehabilitated now we know what Jim did
00:45:47
we know how horrible and heinous these crimes were we know how horrific and brutal the Act was but we challenge you
00:45:55
to watch the video of Jims parole hearing it it and not pity him he he's nearly 40 years old he's been in prison
00:46:04
since he was 16 he comes across as remorseful introspective humble and softspoken uh this is from the
00:46:16
nhpr quote Parole Board member Ronald bassette noted Jim had a stellar disciplinary record and has worked with
00:46:25
nonprofit groups on art projects Parker earned bachelor's and Master's degrees he's been a part of theatrical Musical
00:46:34
and sports activities and has helped developed inmate education guides he has lived in transitional housing which is
00:46:43
usually the final placement for Resident prior to their release so all of these things are lining up in what the parole
00:46:51
board would say this this is the way that you get granted parole if you if you if you want a uh
00:46:58
stepping stone to parole and and a eventually a release do some of these things do all of these things you know
00:47:05
in theory the purpose of our prison system is to rehabilitate I I rarely think that that
00:47:12
happens especially when we're talking about a double homicide case in this case I think it it's been
00:47:19
achieved I mean he this seems to Jim seems to represent the best case scenario of the good our prison system
00:47:28
can accomplish true reform so Jim Parker was released just this year well let's play a little clip
00:47:37
from that parole hearing and you could be the judge um and we usually start these proed by asking the resident to
00:47:46
tell us what they did okay um in 2001 when I was 16 um I entered the home of the sand Toops
00:48:03
pretending to be a student um and to to have an interview and during the interview when Mr zantop pulled out his
00:48:21
wallet uh my codefendant and I um he attacked Mr zantop and then when his wife came
00:48:35
in I uh I restrained her and then when uh and then I I I cut her throat she fell to the
00:49:00
floor why did you do that it's I just it's so hard to I've gone over it and over it and
00:49:19
just finding an explanation for that it's just I just don't know know how I [Music]
00:49:30
could how I could do that let's put yourself back 2001 okay was it 2001 2001 you were 16 yeah you were not alone
00:49:44
that's correct Robert T all right and you two were tried to do this in other homes that day and you were doing this
00:49:55
why we were we were attempting to get money to to go overseas and live some sort
00:50:10
of life of adventure or whatever some sort of so so were you planning on robbing
00:50:18
people yes we were we were planning on obtaining there yeah the violence was that a part of your
00:50:28
yes you going to kill somebody yes what do you think about what you did I think it's unimaginably
00:50:48
horrible and I just and I mean I I know there's there's not an amount of time or things that I
00:51:02
can do to change it or alleviate any pain that I've caused uh this one's tough for me
00:51:11
because I do hear remorse In that clip but because of his parole I think it's likely that tolik will be pared as well
00:51:21
just who knows when yeah per the conditions established by the parole board Jim Parker must not have any
00:51:29
contact with anyone in the zantop family and must continue to seek mental health
00:51:35
treatment as we said earlier Robert remains in prison the book judgment Ridge the true story behind the
00:51:42
Dartmouth murders really captures this case uh very well from start to finish and a lot of the things that we just
00:51:51
simply didn't have the time to cover here today in its conclusion had toic and Parker been a part arguably
00:52:00
this crime would never have occurred in tandem they brought out the worst in each other the book depicts Robert as a
00:52:07
near perfect specimen of a true psychopath but it does not absolve Jim who went along with Robert's plan with
00:52:15
no resistance arguably the corruption of Jim is the second tragedy in this case but let's not forget the first the lives
00:52:25
of half and Suzanne zantop snuffed out in 10 minutes time by two teenagers looking
00:52:34
for an [Music] adventure want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage thanks for
00:52:52
telling a friend about the show thanks for telling your mama and pop about the show as well Colonel do we have any
00:52:58
recommended reading for the beautiful listeners this week we are very happy to be recommending judgment Ridge the true
00:53:05
story behind the Dartmouth murders by dick Lear and Mitchell zuckoff uh this is the definitive book about this case
00:53:14
that really captured everyone in that area during this time so if you want to learn more our show we dive deep into
00:53:24
these cases but this one goes super down into the depths of this intriguing True
00:53:31
Crime Story check out judgement Ridge the true story behind the dart myth murders you can find that recommendation
00:53:38
and many more on our recommended page on our website true Crim garage.com and until next week be good be kind and
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