Retired Preacher, 83, Accused of Murder After Kidnapping 8-Year-Old Daughter of Minister Walking to Vacation Bible School: Officials
An 83-year-old retired minister living in Georgia was arrested in connection with the 1975 kidnapping and murder of an 8-year-old Pennsylvania girl, officals announced.
Online records show David Zandstra, 83, of Marietta faces multiple charges, including criminal homicide, murder in the first, second and third degree, kidnapping, and possessing an instrument of crime, the Delco Times reported.
Zandstra is accused of kidnapping 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington in Marple on Aug. 16, 1975, as she walked from her home to a nearby Vacation Bible School she was attending.
A jogger in a state park discovered the young girl’s body that October.
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The suspect reportedly worked from 1969 through 1976, a year after the murder, as a Christian Reformed Church minister in Broomall. He was also employed in California, Texas and New Jersey.
Zandstra retired from the ministry in 2005.
Police have not yet released further details about the cold case.
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