Testimony underway in former minister’s trial in 1975 murder of Delco girl

MEDIA COURTHOUSE — Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of David Zandstra, a former Marple minister accused of abducting and killing 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington nearly 50 years ago.

Zandstra, 84, Marietta, Ga., is facing charges of kidnapping and first-, second- and third-degree murder for allegedly taking Gretchen off the street on the morning of Aug. 16, 1975, bringing her to Ridley Creek State Park, killing her with a blow to the head, then covering her body with tree branches and leaving the scene.

Gretchen was last seen by neighbors at 9:20 a.m. that morning as she made her way from her home on the first block of Lawrence Road in Marple Township to a summer Bible school at Trinity Chapel Christian Reform Church at 140 Lawrence Road, according to an affidavit of probable cause for Zandstra’s arrest written by Pennsylvania State Police troopers Andrew Martin and Eugene Tray.

Zandstra, who appeared to nod in and out of consciousness during court Tuesday, had served as minister at Trinity from 1969 through 1976.

Gretchen’s father, Harold, also served as the pastor of the nearby Reformed Presbyterian Church, at 144 Lawrence Road.

Gretchen’s sister, Harriett Anne Myers, testified Tuesday that Aug. 16 was the last day of a two-week vacation Bible school and that Gretchen wanted to go, so she could get perfect attendance.

Myers told Deputy District Attorney Geoff Paine that Gretchen had been walked to the school every day of the first week by one of her older sisters, but on the second week had walked by herself to the church at the top of the street and across Sussex Avenue.

Myers said their mother had brought their newborn sister home from the hospital the day before and they were all gathered together for breakfast before Gretchen left.

Bible school at Trinity began around 9:30 a.m. and about half of the 60 or so children would be transported to the Presbyterian Church at some point later in the morning.

A volunteer who worked at Trinity at the time testified that the children were typically transported by a station wagon or Volkswagen.

She was unclear Tuesday on a lot of details about that day, but had told detectives in 1975 that it was the last day of Bible school and the children were preparing for a presentation that evening.

She was unable to recall who had performed the opening ceremony that day, but said it was not Zandstra and that she did not recall him ever assisting the children with their presentation.

The volunteer said she did not see Gretchen that day and described the general tone as “spooky” due to high nerves.

Myers said she alerted her parents that something was wrong when she did not see Gretchen playing with other children outside the Presbyterian church later that morning.

Hazy recollections

Zandstra was the one who called Marple police at 11:23 a.m. to report Gretchen’s disappearance at the request of her father, the affidavit says, though Myers recalled that it was her father giving a description of her sister to police over the phone.

Defense attorney Mark Much had touched on prior confessions given by another of Gretchen’s sisters, Zoe Harrington, during his opening statement.

Paine also explored that with Myers, who said her sister sometimes “struggles” and is “not always with reality.”

According to Much, Zoe had told troopers she was brought to Ridley Creek State Park where her father and others were abusing Gretchen and that she struck her in the head with a rock.

But Myers said the family had spent the morning together.

Zandstra himself said in an interview at the time of Gretchen’s disappearance that he had been out picking up children for an earlier session that began at the church at 9:10 a.m. and that he had been back at Trinity Chapel by 9:30 a.m. but did not know of the disappearance until 11:05 a.m., when he met with Harold Harrington, according to the affidavit.

Zandstra said in 1975 that he had not seen Gretchen that morning.

An alleged molestation

Jurors also heard from a woman who served as the bridge between Gretchen’s disappearance in 1975 and Zandstra in 2023.

That woman told Paine that she had been best friends with one of Zandstra’s daughters and they slept over at each other’s homes several times a year.

She brought her diary to Martin in January 2023, in which she had written that Zandstra touched her in her groin area during two consecutive nights in August 1975 when she was 10 years old, shortly before Gretchen vanished.

She said she froze up during the first incident and she was not even sure it had happened or if she dreamed it the next day. The second night, she said, she was positive it was happening and rolled over or winced, and he suddenly withdrew from the room.

She later disclosed what had happened to her mother, who informed the leadership of their church in Philadelphia, she said.

The woman told Much that 1975 was the only year she kept a diary, which was a gift, but she didn’t like it and stopped using it, so it has only a few entries.

She said she brought the diary to Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Andrew Martin because she had written in September of that year that there was another attempted abduction of a girl and that she believed Zandstra was involved.

Much noted the facts of that case appeared to bear little resemblance to Gretchen’s, however, and may have been simply a leering accusation against a much younger man than Zandstra would have been at the time.

Zandstra is not charged with any sexual offenses, including those alleged by that witness.

Casting doubts

Though Zandstra did confess to the murder during a taped interview with Martin and Trooper Eugene Tray in July 2023, Much argued in his opening that he was coerced into giving a false and confused confession.

It is, Much said, the only thing really tying him to the case, aside from a diary entry made by a 10-year-old girl. Martin had previously identified that diary as the thing that pushed Zandstra to the fore of the investigation.

But there is no eyewitness or physical evidence, Much said, and Zandstra has been excluded as a contributor to DNA evidence associated with Gretchen’s clothing.

Much said there was a convicted child abductor who had been developed as a suspect and lived nearby, but who is now dead.

He added that it does not make sense for a 36-year-old married father with no prior or subsequent offenses to suddenly have an “insatiable urge” to snatch a girl off the street and take her to a public park 20 minutes away on an 88-degree Friday in the summer, where he then supposedly masturbated and punched the victim in the head, fracturing her skull.

The medical evidence also does not support the theory that a fist was used, said Much, but does support a rock as the murder weapon, which was what Zoe Harrington in her own confession said she used to kill her sister.

Prosecutor’s rebuttals

Much had made many of these points and others in a motion to quash last year.

While Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Scanlon ultimately denied that motion, Much was still able to use much of that information to carpet-bomb the jury with potential seeds of doubt.

Paine was more focused in his opening and said Much was pushing the narrative of a false confession because it is his only option.

Paine urged the juror to pay attention to Zandstra’s body language during the interview with troopers and how he appears to relax after confessing.

Zandstra’s additional statements that he no longer lusts after young girls and comparing himself to King David in the Bible — who had a murder on his own hands but was forgiven after his confession — were also telling, the prosecutor said.

More than that, Paine said Zandstra had also confessed to another inmate who the jury would also hear from, and who had to request a cell change because it was “too much” for him to handle.

That inmate is not receiving anything in exchange for his testimony, Paine noted.

The trial is expected to resume Wednesday morning.