Marple Twp police looking at accused Gretchen Harrington killer for potential involvement in other unsolved cases
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The arrest of a man accused in the beating death of an 8-year-old from Broomall nearly 50 years ago has police now looking at other unsolved cases.
Now, an old storage facility where old records are kept may be key in finding answers.
Behind a random door inside a Marple Township building that shares space with a gym and a doctor's office, sits stacks of dusty, old township records and files that survived a flood some years ago.
Police invited CBS News Philadelphia along as they looked for a report from the mid-1970s.
EXCLUSIVE— Investigators are re-examining an attempted kidnapping case of two boys in Broomall around the same time frame Gretchen Harrington, 8, was abducted and murdered. Police suspect David Zandstra, charged in Harrington’s murder, could be responsible. @CBSPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/HhkRHJJbPS
— Joe Holden (@JoeHoldenCBS3) July 26, 2023
Officials said a report was filed by a mom who told officers at the time that a stranger attempted to kidnap her son near West Chester Pike and New Ardmore Avenue.
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"A man pulled up, got out, opened the trunk and grabbed her brother and they just knew the intention of kidnapping him," said Marple Township Police Chief Brandon Graffe.
Police are now reexamining that case after Monday's announcement of the arrest of 83-year-old David Zandstra, who is accused in the kidnapping and fatal beating of 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington in 1975.
Arrest papers allege he molested two other children while living in Broomall.
Investigators have also said Zandstra could have more victims out there and Zandstra is now under investigation for a possible connection to the kidnapping attempt.
"It was probably evil in the works," Chief Graffe said.
Prosecutors said Zandstra, who was a one-time reverend, moved around a lot, including to California and Texas before ending up in Georgia, where he was arrested.
The results of a DNA test are pending and will be entered into a national database to determine possible connections to other investigations.
"My mind goes to the places he's lived at the last 48 years: Texas, California, Georgia," Chief Graffe said. "This generally is not where somebody does this one time."
Police are still looking for that incident report on the attempted kidnapping from the 1970s.
An eyewitness to that crime contacted CBS News Philadelphia's Joe Holden after news broke of Zandstra's arrest. She then called police, which jumpstarted this reexamination of the case.
Detectives said finding that incident report would help corroborate current-day statements about this alleged child luring along West Chester Pike. If they can't find it, it doesn't mean this latest part of the investigation meets a dead end.
Zandstra isn't expected back in Pennsylvania for a few months while he fights extradition. Court records do not list an attorney for him.