An 83-year-old former church pastor has been charged with the murder of an 8-year-old girl who went missing on her way to summer Bible camp in 1975.
The disappearance and slaying of 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington had been puzzling authorities in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, for nearly 50 years until a former pastor at the church she attended confessed to the crime, the county prosecutor said on Monday.
"The murder of Gretchen Harrington has haunted members of law enforcement since that terrible day in August 1975," Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Monday in a statement announcing that a suspect had been charged in the girl's cold-case slaying.
David Zandstra, 83, of Marietta, Georgia, has been charged with criminal homicide, murder of the first, second, and third degree, as well as kidnapping of a minor and possession of an instrument of crime, Stollsteimer said. On July 17, Zandstra was taken into custody in Georgia. He was denied bail and remains in jail in Cobb County.
Stollsteimer said Zandstra is trying to fend off extradition to Pennsylvania but the prosecutor's office is requesting a governor's warrant to bring Zandstra to Delaware County, which is west of Philadelphia.
It was unclear at the time of publication whether Zandstra had an attorney.
In response to request for comment on the case, the Delaware County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday emailed Newsweek several photos, a copy of the arrest warrant and statements from Harrington's family and Stollsteimer.
On August 15, 1975, Harrington left her Marple Township home to walk to Bible school at Trinity Chapel Christian Reformed Church where Zandstra was a pastor at the time, Stollsteimer said. Despite the church being less than half a mile away, the little girl never made it.
Harrington's father, who was a pastor at a nearby church that co-hosted the summer Bible school she was attending, became concerned about his daughter's whereabouts when she failed to appear at the Bible camp. Concern quickly spread throughout the camp and community, and at 11:23 a.m., Zandstra contacted the Marple Police Department to report the victim's disappearance, Stollsteimer said.
Harrington's skeletal remains were found a few months later in nearby Ridley Creek State Park on October 14. The cause of death was found to be injuries to her head and ruled a homicide. For 48 years, the question of who killed the girl stumped authorities.
Man Arrested in 1975 Cold Case Murder
The case went cold for decades until earlier this year when investigators interviewed a woman who said she was Harrington's former classmate and a friend of Zandstra's daughter, according to Stollsteimer. On January 2, the woman told authorities that she was " best friends" with Zandstra's daughter and that she would often play at the Zandstra home and spend the night. During two of those sleepovers, the woman said, she was awakened by Zandstra "touching her groin area," the prosecutor said.
During the interview with police, the woman showed investigators a diary that she kept as a child. In one entry, dated September 15, 1975, she wrote about a girl in her class, saying: "Guess what? A man tried to kidnap Holly twice."
"It's a secret so I can't tell anyone, but I think he might be the one who kidnapped Gretchen. I think it was Mr. Z," she wrote in the entry, according to court documents obtained by Newsweek, which noted that the woman said that "Mr. Z" was referring to Zandstra.
When questioned by Pennsylvania State Troopers who traveled to Georgia, the retired pastor confessed, authorities said. Zandstra, who previously denied seeing Harrington on the day she disappeared during a police interview in October 1975, admitted to offering the girl a ride and taking her to a nearby wooded area, according to the district attorney. Investigators said Zandstra told them that he had parked the car and asked the victim to remove her clothing, and when she refused, he struck her in the head with his fist. The victim was bleeding, and he believed her to be dead, so he said he attempted to cover up her body and left the area, according to the news release from Stollsteimer's office.
"We're going to try him, we're going to convict him and he's going to die in jail," Stollsteimer said. "And then he's going to have to find out what the God he professes to believe in holds for those who are this evil to our children."
While the little girl's murder changed the community "forever," Stollsteimer said, the charges filed give residents some closure.
"Gretchen's murder created a 'before' time and an 'after' time for an entire community and for an entire county," Stollsteimer said. "This heinous act left a family and a community forever changed. At long last, I can announce today that her killer, David Zandstra, has admitted to his crime. Justice has been a long time coming, but we are proud and grateful to finally be able to give the community an answer."
The Harrington family, in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Tuesday by the district attorney's office, said that after news of the arrest, they are "extremely hopeful" that the person responsible for the "heinous crime" be held accountable.
"It's difficult to express the emotions that we are feeling as we take one step closer to justice," the Harrington family statement reads. "Gretchen was only 8 years-old when she was suddenly taken away from us on her way to church on Friday, August 15, 1975."
The family went on to describe the "sweet" and "gentle" 8-year-old girl who "had a lifelong impact on those around her."
"If you met Gretchen, you were instantly her friend," the Harrington family said in the statement. "She exuded kindness to all and was sweet and gentle. Even now, when people share their memories of her, the first thing they talk about is how amazing she was and still is."
The family said the little girl's abduction and murder "forever altered" the Harrington family, who said they miss her "every single day."
"We are grateful for the continual pursuit of justice by law enforcement, and we want to thank the Pennsylvania State Police for never stopping in their constant search for answers," the Harrington family said in the statement.
A DNA sample was collected from Zandstra and will be submitted to the Combined DNA Index System so it can be compared to samples collected in open cases in Pennsylvania and across the country, according to the Delaware County District Attorney's Office. In addition to Pennsylvania and Georgia, Zandstra lived in Plano, Texas, Stollsteimer said.
Update 07/25/23, 6:10 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment and information from the Delaware County District Attorney's Office.
