8-year-old Gretchen Harrington lived in Marple Township, Pennsylvania, with her parents, Harold and Ena, and her three sisters. One grim, summer morning the unthinkable happened, changing the Harrington family forever.
On August 15, 1975, at 9:20 am, Gretchen left her home and embarked on a 7-minute walk to Trinity Church for her last day of bible camp.
Pastor David Zanstra taught the first hour of bible camp at Trinity Church while Gretchen’s father Harold taught the remainder at Reformed Presbyterian Church. Gretchen never made it to either of the churches, and she was never seen alive again.
At 10:30 am, Harold enlisted the help of David Zanstra and they began searching for his daughter. Unfortunately, the second grader was nowhere to be found. She was reported missing at 11.
A large-scale search was conducted and K9 dogs were deployed, to no avail. The Harringtons pleaded with the public to help them find their little girl. Answers finally came two excruciating months later when a jogger found Gretchen’s remains at Ridley Creek State Park.
An autopsy determined that Gretchen had been bludgeoned over the head. The cause of death was blunt force injuries. Her underwear was hanging from a tree near her remains, as though the killer wanted her to be found.
Investigators were immediately suspicious of David, who knew exactly what Gretchen was wearing despite claiming she never made it to Trinity Church. Several witnesses also reported that they saw Gretchen speaking with a man in a green station wagon. David drove a green station wagon but denied seeing Gretchen that day. A few months later, he quit the church and abruptly moved to Plano, Texas, with his wife.
47 years went by and no one was ever charged with Gretchen’s murder — until now.
In January 2023, a woman who was best friends with David’s daughter in 1975 bravely came forward. She told investigators that David molested her twice in 1975. Fortunately, she documented the assaults in her diary when she was 10 years old and held on to it for decades. In one entry, the woman wrote that when she confided in David’s daughter about the sexual assault, David’s daughter responded, “Yeah, he does that sometimes.”
The woman also wrote that a man tried to kidnap a classmate named Holly twice after Gretchen went missing and that she believed it was pastor David.
Investigators found David living in Marietta, Georgia. When confronted with the diary entries on July 17, 2023, David, now 83, finally confessed.
David admitted he offered Gretchen a ride to her father’s church but took her to nearby Ridley Creek State Park instead and dragged her into the woods. When she refused to take off her clothes, David punched her in the head multiple times, hid her body under leaves and branches, and took off.
District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer referred to David as a “remorseless child predator who acted as if he was a friend, a neighbor and a man of God” who murdered a poor little girl and, “acted as if he was their family friend, not only during her burial and the period after that but for years.”
David has been charged with criminal homicide, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, third-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor, and possession of an instrument of crime. He has been denied bail and is currently awaiting extradition while incarcerated in Cobb County, Georgia.
Investigators believe that David Zanstra may have other victims. They collected his DNA and will be comparing it to suspects in other cold cases.
After nearly 5 decades, Gretchen Harrington can finally rest in her peace.
“If you met Gretchen, you were instantly her friend. She exuded kindness to all and was sweet and gentle. Even now, when people share their memories of her, the first thing they talk about is how amazing she was and still is…at just 8 years old, she had a lifelong impact on those around her. The abduction and murder of Gretchen has forever altered our family and we miss her every single day.” — Loved ones of Gretchen Harrington