Judgment Ridge: the True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders
by Dick Lehr & Mitchell Zuckoff

Reviewed by Elaine Williams

Jim and Robert were best friends in the small village of Chelsea, Vermont. Jim was a talented drama student and musician, and a junior at Chelsea Public School. Robert, a senior, was student council president and a gifted member of the debate team. Together, they built a raft and entered a rafting contest, went rock climbing, and built forts in the woods. They had pushed themselves so hard academically that they only had to take one or two classes that last year of school. The two decided that they would need about $10,000 if they wanted to get out of Chelsea and fulfill their dream of adventuring in Australia. They were also into the writings of nihilist philosopher Frederich Nietzsche, who proclaimed that God is dead, there is no right or wrong, and that some humans are so superior as to be above the rules. No one in Chelsea could believe it when these well-known class clowns were questioned and finally arrested-- after a manhunt that crossed state lines -- for the brutal murders of two beloved university professors.

Judgment Ridge is not only the true story of the horrific events of January 27, 2001, but also an attempt to find an explanation for how two boys who functioned so well in society became capable of random murders. Authors Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff, who covered the murders for the Boston Globe, had access to police dispatches and reports, transcripts of interviews, and newspaper files as they pieced together the crime and the thoughts of the criminals. They found some disturbing facts about the boys:

By school rules, the two boys were supposed to be in school every day whether they had a full schedule or not. This rule was not enforced. It was common knowledge that Jim and Robert were not in school on a regular basis.

Robert was not punished by his parents or by the police after he was caught joyriding in a stolen truck.

Neither boy was punished when Robert’s mother discovered that they had purchased two stun guns over the internet with her credit card. The two went on to purchase two more stun guns and two SEAL knives (which became the murder weapons) in the same way.

Both sets of parents thought it was unhealthy for Jim and Robert to have such an intense friendship to the exclusion of all others, but they made no attempts to intervene.

Robert’s father, a recluse who rarely interacted with his son even though they lived in the same house, did not recognize his own son’s bedroom in a photograph.

The boys kept a stolen ATV they wanted to sell on e-bay near Jim’s house for seven months, and no one noticed.

Robert was not kicked off the debate team even after he insulted a German student and sexually harassed three girls on opposing teams during debate competitions, in front of many witnesses.

To be sure, Lehr and Zuckoff don’t place the blame for the murders completely on the boys’ permissive environment, but one wonders what might have been avoided had they been separated or even held accountable for their escalating rule- and law-breaking. Instead, Jim and Robert were morally on their own, as if no adults were around at all. Judgment Ridge is a chilling story that may inspire adults to get more involved in the lives of teens at risk.