Two Dartmouth profs murdered

Two Dartmouth College professors were found dead this weekend four miles from campus at their home in Etna, N.H. Police are treating the deaths of Susanne and Half Zantop as murders, according to a statement from New Hampshire Attorney General Philip McLaughlin. The Attorney General's office, the state police and the Hanover police are continuing the investigation. "The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner commenced autopsies today in Concord," McLaughlin said. "The results of those autopsies have not been completed. The deaths are being treated as probable homicides." The deaths came as a shock to students, who generally feel secure in Hanover, a town with a population under 10,000. There has been only one other murder in Hanover in the last 50 years. "All of us consider Hanover a really safe place," Dartmouth junior Louisa Hunker said. "Nobody takes safety precautions here. Nobody locks their doors. When I was abroad my professor always used to say, 'This is not Hanover, you have to be careful.'" Dartmouth President James Wright sent a "Message to Community" e-mail to Dartmouth students and faculty this morning, listing counseling resources and opening his home to students. "Susanne and Half's deaths are an enormous loss to our community," Wright wrote in the e-mail. "They were loved and respected by faculty and students alike." Susanne Zantop chaired the German Studies Program at Dartmouth since 1996. She was a German and Comparative Literature Professor. Half Zantop was a geologist and an earth sciences professor who was at the college for 25 years. Originally from Germany, the couple became U.S. citizens about three years ago. The two were found in their home around 6 p.m. on Saturday by Dartmouth French and Italian languages Professor Roxana Verona, who the Zantops had invited for dinner. Police currently are not holding anyone in custody for the crime, and have not found cause to alert the public of any danger. McLaughlin did not comment on whether students would be involved in the investigation. However, the president's e-mail implied that they should be prepared for questioning. "The Attorney General's office will likely need to talk to students and faculty, and I hope that you can provide them with your full cooperation," Wright wrote in his message. The deaths are the second murders to rock the Ivy League in the past year. Last February, Columbia University sophomore Kathleen Roskot was murdered in her dormitory room. Her suspected killer -- a 23 year-old Columbia dropout who subsequently committed suicide -- had been signed into the dormitory according to university procedure the night before Roskot was found.