A retired Georgia pastor has been charged with murder in the death of an 8-year-old girl nearly 50 years ago in Pennsylvania.
Investigators say David Zandstra, now 83, confessed to killing Gretchen Harrington in Marple Township on August 15, 1975, KYW reported.
Zandstra was a family friend of the Harringtons and pastor of Trinity Christian Reformed Church at the time. He helped search for the girl when she disappeared and presided over her funder when her body was found, sources said.
Police say Gretchen left home on the morning of August 15 to walk to bible school. Her father watched as she headed up the road. Once the girl got out of her father’s view, Zandstra invited her into his car, prosecutors said.
Court documents say Zandstra took her to a secluded area and performed sexual acts in front of her, then beat her to death when she refused to take off her clothes. He dumped her body in Ridley Creek State Park.
“He killed this poor 8-year-old girl he knew and who trusted him and then he acted as if he was a family friend not only during her burial and funeral but for years,” Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said.
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Zandstra has continued to work as a pastor in Georgia and Texas over the decades since the murder. He had retired and was living in Marietta, Georgia, at the time of his arrest. He is being held in the Cobb County jail in Georgia and is fighting extradition to Pennsylvania while being held without bond, WXIA reported.
Investigators said they are looking into other cases for his potential involvement.
Police said the case had lain dormant for decades but was revived in 2017. Recently investigators eliminated a possible suspect and had a witness report seeing Gretchen get into a car the morning she disappeared.
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[Featured image: Gretchen Harrington/handout and David Zandstra/Cobb County Sheriff’s Office]
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