Police: Pastor Murdered 8-Year-Old Pennsylvania Girl In 1975 After Kidnapping And Attempting To Rape Her

July 24, 2023 Crime, Religion

Atlanta’s NBC affiliate reports:

An 83-year-old Marietta man who is a former pastor has been arrested in the cold case murder of an 8-year-old girl in Pennsylvania. Gretchen Harrington was attending Bible summer camp in 1975 in Marple Township when she vanished while walking from her home to one of the camp’s two locations.

Skeletal remains were found at a state park in Edgemont Township on Oct. 14. The coroner determined she died of blunt impacts to the head, which he classified as a homicide.

At the time, the Bible camp was housed in two churches, including the one where Gretchen’s father was a pastor, Reformed Presbyterian Church. David Zandstra was the reverend at the other church, Trinity Church Chapel Christian Reform Church in Marple Township.

Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate reports:

“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,” said District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer on Monday.

Zandstra has been charged with criminal homicide, murder of the first, second, and third degree, as well as kidnapping of a minor and the possession of an instrument of crime.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:



Police honed in on Zandstra as a suspect in January, when investigators interviewed an unnamed witness who was best friends with his daughter when Harrington disappeared, according to a criminal complaint. The witness said that she often went to sleepovers at Zandstra’s home, and during one about a week before Harrington’s disappearance, Zandstra molested her. When the witness told Zandstra’s daughter what had happened, she told her friend that Zandstra “does that sometimes,” the complaint said.

Investigators contacted Zandstra in June, and spoke with him in Georgia on July 17. At that interview, police confronted him with the witness’ allegations of sexual assault, and he admitted to the accusations. He later admitted that he had seen Harrington the day she disappeared, and that he was driving a green station wagon at the time.

Zandstra told investigators that he offered Harrington a ride, and took her to a nearby wooded area, according to the complaint. There, he parked the car, and told the girl to remove her clothing, but she refused. Zandstra said he struck her in the head with his fist, causing her to bleed. Believing the girl to be dead, he covered her body with sticks and left the area, the complaint states.


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