More than 47 years after 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington vanished while she walked to bible camp, authorities have announced the arrest of a former pastor in connection with the decades-old killing.
David Zandstra, 83, of Marietta, was charged on Monday with multiple offenses, including criminal homicide and first-degree murder, NBC Philadelphia reported. He allegedly confessed to killing Harrington after he was confronted with new evidence, including claims from a witness who said Zandstra at one point groped the young victim and attempted to kidnap another girl, according to the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office.
The new witness provided officials with a diary entry written one month after Harrington went missing, speculating that Zandstra may have been responsible.
“Guess what?” the witness is quoted as writing in an entry dated Sept. 15, 1975. “A man tried to kidnap Holly twice! It’s a secret I can’t tell anyone, but I think he might be the one who kidnapped Gretchen. I think it was Mr. Z.”
Harrington disappeared on Aug. 15, 1975, while on a walk from her Marple Township home to a Bible school less than a mile away. District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Zandstra, who served as a reverend at Trinity Christian Reformed Church, pulled up alongside the little girl and offered her a ride to camp.
Instead, he took her to a secluded place and ordered her to remove her clothes. When she refused, he masturbated in front of her before beating her to death, according to Stollsteimer. Her body was discovered weeks later, on October 14 in Ridley Creek State Park.
“This man is evil. He killed this poor 8-year-old girl he knew and who trusted him,” Stollsteimer said. “And, then he acted as if he was a family friend, not only during her burial and the period after that, but for years.”