Girl missing from church camp was found dead in 1975. Ex-pastor now charged in Georgia
An 8-year-old girl was found dead after vanishing from a Pennsylvania church camp nearly 50 years ago, and now a former pastor faces charges in Georgia, officials said.
The case dates to August 1975, when Gretchen Harrington was attending a summer bible camp. She didn’t show up to one of the churches that was hosting the camp, causing her father to grow worried and report her missing, according to the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office in Pennsylvania.
A jogger found Gretchen’s remains about two months later in a remote part of Ridley Creek State Park, officials said.
Now, about 48 years later, a man who served as pastor of one of the churches that hosted the camp is charged in the girl’s kidnapping and death. Prosecutors didn’t list attorney information for the man, identified in a July 24 news release as 83-year-old David Zandstra of Marietta, Georgia.
“The abduction and murder of Gretchen has forever altered our family and we miss her every single day,” her family told the National Center for Missing an Exploited Children in a news release. “We are grateful for the continual pursuit of justice by law enforcement, and we want to thank the Pennsylvania State Police for never stopping in their constant search for answers.”
More about the Gretchen Harrington’s disappearance
At the time of Gretchen’s disappearance, Zandstra was working as the pastor of a church in the Broomall area, roughly 10 miles northwest of Philadelphia. He was responsible for driving children from one church to another during the summer camp, officials said.
In 1975, a witness saw Gretchen speaking to someone in a car similar to the one Zandstra drove. When he was interviewed at the time, he reportedly said he didn’t see the girl the day she went missing.
The case remained unsolved for decades before someone came forward in January to report that the former pastor touched her inappropriately as a child. In a 1975 diary entry, she wrote that she believed Zandstra was responsible for what happened to Gretchen, the district attorney’s office said.
After the allegations surfaced this year, officials interviewed Zandstra again. He reportedly told them he saw the 8-year-old by herself as she walked to the camp.
“He admitted to offering Gretchen a ride and taking her to a nearby wooded area,” officials wrote. “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.”
Now, decades after Zandstra is accused of killing the girl, prosecutors believe more allegations could surface. Before he retired in 2005, he worked at congregations in several states, including California, New Jersey and Texas, according to the Christian Reformed Church website.
“We are concerned that there may be more victims who might have been sexually assaulted by this man,” District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said during a July 24 news conference, adding that he encourages people with information about other potential cases to move forward.
As officials wait to take Zandstra to Pennsylvania, he remains jailed in Cobb County, Georgia. The Atlanta-area man is “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,” officials said.
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