Friends and students described both as generous with their time and pillars of the Dartmouth community, both as people and academics. They traveled frequently, including trips with students, and frequently invited students and colleagues to their home.

"I am stunned and totally shocked by it," said Oran Young, an environmental studies professor and friend of both victims. "Most people here have felt that it's a safe community and something like this couldn't happen."

"The feeling is, 'My God, how do you respond to such a thing?'" Young said. "The unthinkable is hard to deal with."

Dartmouth, located in the town of Hanover N.H., population 10,000, has been largely crime free for decades. In 1991, two Dartmouth graduate students were murdered by a spurned lover. Prior to that, police say Hanover had not had a murder in 40 years.

--Associated Press reports were used in the compilation of this article.

--Staff Writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.