Daniel Zandstra murdered Gretchen Harrington while she was on her way to Bible camp, authorities said. (Images: Delaware County District Attorney’s Office)
When Gretchen Harrington, 8, stepped out for Bible camp on the morning of Aug. 15, 1975, it was the last time she would ever leave home. Now, after almost five decades, police said they know who murdered her and abandoned her remains in a nearby park: It was allegedly David Zandstra, 83, a pastor who helped run the Bible camp.
“Justice does not have an expiration date,” said Lieutenant Jonathan Sunderlin of the Pennsylvania State Police in a statement published Monday. “Whether a crime happened fifty years ago or five minutes ago, the residents of the Commonwealth can have confidence that law enforcement will not rest until justice is served.”
According to Delaware County prosecutors, Harrington left her home at 27 Lawrence Road that Aug. 15 in Marple Township, Pennsylvania, at approximately 9:30 a.m. The township is about 11 miles west of Philadelphia.
Harrington had been walking to her summer Bible camp, which was on the premises of two churches. Her father was pastor at the Reformed Presbyterian Church at 144 Lawrence Road. Zandstra was pastor at the Trinity Church Chapel Christian Reform Church at 140 Lawrence Road.
“The children started the day with opening exercises led by the defendant at Trinity, and then were transported to the premises of Reformed at approximately 10 am,” the district attorney’s office said. “The defendant was one of the individuals responsible for transporting the children from Trinity to Reformed, and he would do so in a either a white/blue Volkswagen bus or in his green Rambler station wagon.”
But Gretchen’s father became worried when she did not show up to Reformed. That concern spread throughout the camp. Zandstra reported her disappearance to police at 11:23 a.m., prosecutors said.
About two months later, on Oct. 14, 1975, Gretchen’s skeletal remains were found within the Ridley Creek State Park, which is several miles west of Marple.
According to investigators, a witness during the initial investigation described seeing Gretchen speak with the driver of either a green station wagon or two-tone Cadillac.
Speaking to investigators in October 1975, Zandstra denied seeing Gretchen on the day of the disappearance, authorities said.
But years later, on Jan. 2, 2023, investigators spoke to someone who was friends with Zandstra’s daughter and went to sleepovers at the then-pastor’s home. She said that when she was attending one of those sleepovers as a 10-year-old, she woke up to Zandstra groping “her groin area.”
“When [the girl] told the defendant’s daughter about what had happened, the defendant’s daughter replied that the defendant did that sometimes,” authorities said.
The witness also recalled that a child in her class was nearly kidnapped twice; in her diary from 1975, she wrote that she suspected defendant Zandstra probably did it.
Investigators, coordinating with the Cobb County Police Department, traveled to Marietta, Georgia, where Zandstra now lived. They said they met with him on July 17.
He initially denied playing a role in 8-year-old’s disappearance, but when confronted with evidence from the witness’s story, he admitted seeing the Gretchen walking alone along Lawrence Road on the morning of her disappearance, they said.
“The defendant admitted that, as corroborated by multiple witnesses, he was driving a green station wagon on the day in question,” authorities said. “He admitted to offering Gretchen a ride and taking her to a nearby wooded area. The defendant stated that he had parked the car and asked the victim to remove her clothing. When she refused, he struck her in the head with a fist. The victim was bleeding, and he believed her to be dead. He attempted to cover up her body and left the area.”
Authorities arrested Zandstra for criminal homicide, murder of the first, second, and third degree, kidnapping of a minor and the possession of an instrument of crime. He is locked up at the Cobb County Jail in Georgia. Prosecutors are working on extraditing him back to Pennsylvania.
“The murder of Gretchen Harrington has haunted members of law enforcement since that terrible day in August 1975,” District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said. “The families of victims often say that their lives are forever altered into the ‘before’ time and the ‘after’ time. Gretchen’s murder created a ‘before’ time and an ‘after’ time for an entire community — and for an entire county. 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.”
Investigators are still looking into Zandstra’s history by sending his DNA to CODIS, so it can be compared to open cases nationwide. Zandstra has also lived in Plano, Texas.
“Anyone with additional information about Zandstra’s activities when he was living in Texas or in Georgia are asked to call the Pennsylvania State Police,” authorities wrote.
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