Vermont sheriff rips N.H. officials: Says cops didn't share information
by Jules Crittenden
Sunday, April 22, 2001
http://wwww.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/dart04222001.htm

The Vermont sheriff who was slammed by tight-lipped New Hampshire authorities for talking to reporters about the Zantop case has fired back, saying he could have thwarted the flight of two teen suspects if Granite State cops had kept him in the loop.

Orange County Sheriff Dennis McClure has held his tongue since he was publicly criticized by New Hampshire Attorney General Philip McLaughlin after the February arrests of Robert Tulloch, 17, and James Parker, 16, for the stabbing deaths of Dartmouth professors Half and Susanne Zantop.

McClure told the Valley News of Lebanon, N.H., Friday that his officers would have been glad to keep an eye on the teenagers had they known they were suspects, but New Hampshire authorities failed to share investigative information even before McClure had spoken with the press about some aspects of the case.

``If they even gave the slightest indication . . . that they would flee, we'd have watched them,'' McClure told the Valley News. ``I mean, that's what we do: We try to help every agency out. We can't say why they didn't put a watch on them.''

The boys disappeared for three days and were finally caught at an Indiana truck stop.

McClure said his department was kept in the dark as New Hampshire police questioned the two teens in his office Feb. 15 and later obtained warrants to search their homes. He said he did not learn that the boys were wanted until the day after they had fled, and New Hampshire authorities did not tell him the boys might be armed and dangerous.

``When did New Hampshire know they had two murder suspects running loose in Chelsea? That bothered me,'' he said.

McClure also said McLaughlin should apologize for criticizing him for releasing information to the media. McClure had told reporters that the boys became suspects after authorities learned one had bought a military-style knife via the Internet and that fingerprint evidence linked them to the crime. McLaughlin only released the information a month later after a court fight.

McClure said he got the fingerprint information from a search warrant and saw no reason to keep it secret.

``That has got to be public record. I've never heard of an executed secret warrant in all my time in law enforcement,'' he said. ``I never even gave it a second thought that I was violating anybody's gag order.''

New Hampshire authorities typically release only sparse information about ongoing murder cases, citing rules handed down by the state's Supreme Court.

McClure was not bound by those rules.

McLaughlin would not respond to McClure's comments but said he stands by his earlier criticism.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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