Pastor arrested for 1975 murder of 8-year-old girl moved to Plano after her death
PLANO (CBSNewsTexas.com) — An arrest in the murder of an 8-year-old Pennsylvania girl nearly half a century ago has police in North Texas investigating the suspect's local ties.
The disappearance and murder of Gretchen Harrington in 1975 shocked her western Philadelphia suburb of Marple.
"I was stunned...the fact that this case is finally potentially coming to a close," said Joanna Falcone Sullivan, who was 9 and living in the town of Broomall when Gretchen was kidnapped while walking to Bible school.
She and her coauthor Mike Mathis wrote a book about her murder.
"It came out last year and we're really hopeful that it helped close this case," Sullivan said. "I think we got people talking again."
Investigators Monday announced the arrest of 83-year-old David Zandstra, the former pastor of her church.
They say he confessed after being confronted with new evidence. Sources told our Philadelphia station he lured Gretchen into his car, attempted to molest her, and beat her to death. Her body was found in a field two months later.
The following year, Zandstra left the Philadelphia area for Dallas, where he founded the Bethel Christian Reformed Church, which closed in 1995.
For five years, he served as its pastor and live in Plano in a home owned by the church.
The pastor who replaced him, Dale Slings, was shocked by the news of his arrest. He said the church at the time was small and that everyone knew each other. He even recalled Zandstra being well-liked.
The Plano Police Department says it is searching its records and Pennsylvania prosecutors say Zandstra's DNA has been collected to compare to unsolved cases nationwide.
Plano police have not commented on what, if any, cold cases they may be reviewing but are asking anyone with information on Zandstra and his ties to the area to contact them.
A spokesperson for the Christian Reformed Church told CBS News Texas that of the five churches Zandstra led, two are still active today and are fully cooperating with the investigation.
They have since released the following statement:
On Monday, July 24, 2023, a retired Christian Reformed pastor was charged in a murder case. Rev. David G. Zandstra (now 83) was the pastor at Trinity Chapel CRC in Broomall, Pa., in 1975 when 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington was kidnapped and murdered on her way to Vacation Bible School. While Zandstra denied involvement at the time, he has now confessed to the murder.
In the wake of this shocking news, the Christian Reformed Church in North America would like to extend condolences to the Harrington family. We were heartbroken to hear about Gretchen's kidnapping and death back in 1975. We are additionally grieved now to hear that a CRC pastor was responsible for her murder.
We join in prayer for the Harrington family and the Broomall, Pa., community. We are grateful that local law enforcement did not stop in their pursuit of answers, and we pray that the truth for Gretchen and any other survivors of abuse or violence will continue to come to light. We also commit to continue striving for our congregations to be places of peace, welcome, hospitality, and safety for all who attend and visit.
As a denomination, we work hard to help our congregations be safe places that actively prevent abuse in all its forms. We encourage all congregations to have safe church policies and procedures in place to help prevent abuse.
We have also adopted a code of conduct for all ministry leaders at all levels of the denomination. And we encourage all congregations to undergo training in how to respond to reports of abuse.
Despite these systems, we know – and have seen in Gretchen Harrington's case – that sometimes our best efforts fail. For this we lament, and we commit to continuing working for a church culture in which abuse in all its forms will not be tolerated.