A jury has found an 84-year-old retired pastor not guilty of murdering an 8-year-old girl who was walking from home to her church’s Bible school. The verdict in the decades-old case has cleared him of all charges.
Jurors reached their decision after a four-day trial in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where David Zandstra had been accused of taking the life of Gretchen Harrington in 1975, The New York Times reported.
Zandstra had been taken into custody in July 2023, decades after the girl disappeared while walking from her home to what prosecutors described as a summer Bible school, according to NBC Philadelphia. Authorities in Delaware County alleged that he offered her a ride, drove her to nearby Ridley Creek State Park and killed her. The retired minister was living in Georgia at the time of his arrest.
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During the trial, prosecutors cited statements attributed to Zandstra by law enforcement. Authorities said Zandstra had confessed to the 1975 kidnapping and killing, but his lawyer contended the confession was coerced. Defense attorneys maintained throughout the proceedings that their client never voluntarily admitted guilt and that he was pressured into providing details.
“It took jurors about an hour to reach a verdict” on Friday, clearing him of first-, second- and third-degree murder charges, as well as criminal homicide, kidnapping of a minor and possessing an instrument of crime, according to the Times.
Zandstra served as a pastor at the Trinity Chapel Christian Reformed Church in Broomall, Pennsylvania, in the mid-1970s. On the morning of Aug. 15, 1975, Gretchen was heading to a Bible camp at that church when she vanished.
Investigators later learned that Trinity Chapel Christian Reformed Church was less than half a mile from her home. A hiker discovered her remains in Ridley Creek State Park about two months after her disappearance.
At the time, multiple agencies and community members searched for the missing girl.
Gretchen’s father, who was a minister at a different church on the same road, contacted authorities when his daughter failed to arrive for a session of the camp. Zandstra also called the Marple Police Department the same morning “to report Gretchen missing.” A month later, on Oct. 14, 1975, the child’s remains were found in the state park.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer had earlier referred to the 1975 events as a case that had “haunted members of law enforcement since that terrible day.” He called the girl’s killing a crime that “left a family and a community forever changed.”
A witness had reportedly told investigators about seeing Gretchen talking with someone driving a green station wagon or a two-tone Cadillac around the time of her disappearance. Another individual came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by Zandstra in the 1970s.
When approached with those allegations in July 2023, police said Zandstra admitted to offering Gretchen a ride and taking her to a wooded area. “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 law enforcement said at the time.
