foreign [Music] Gretchen Eleanor Harrington was born on June 13 1967 in the quiet town of Marple Township Pennsylvania she was the Beloved daughter of Harold Boyd Harrington and Ina cover Harrington Gretchen had three sisters Zoe Anne and Jessica the girls grew up in a household filled with love and sibling companionship their close Bond and support undoubtedly played a crucial role in shaping Gretchen's character and forming cherished memories her father Harold Harrington was a pastor and dedicated his life to serving various congregations of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America on the morning of August 15 1975 eight-year-old Gretchen Harrington left her home on 27 Lawrence Road in Broomall Pennsylvania with her Bible in one hand she was on her way to go to summer Bible School camp at the Trinity Church Chapel Christian reform church on 140 Lawrence Road this was the premises of two local churches Gretchen's father was the pastor of the one church and David zanstra was the pastor of the secondary Church she was eager to attend Bible School usually she walked a half mile with her older sister Zoe and Harriet but on this particular day though her mom Ina was bringing home her newborn baby Jessica Zoe and Harriet preferred to stay home and wait for their arrival Pastor Harrington encouraged Gretchen to go to Bible School to keep up her perfect attendance record therefore Gretchen was all alone as her father waved goodbye to her she began her stroll up the hill to the church just after 9 A. M a child walking alone on a sunny summer day in a place like Marple was hardly unusual it was not regarded as dangerous or risky this was the 1970s in a leafy suburb kids played various games outside till all hours they played on the streets in the dark and in the woods they cooled off in Darby Creek which ran behind Gretchen's home without a care in the world kids walked to their friends houses blocks away no cell phones or GPS watches to tether them to their parents Marple was as safe as safe could be at around 9 to 9 30 a. m the children arrived at the camp and the first activity on the agenda was a morning exercise session led by David zonster the other pastor at approximately 10 a.
m half of the children were then transported to the Reformed Presbyterian church for the remainder of the day zanstro was one of the people responsible for transporting the children at 10 30 Gretchen's father became concerned when she had not arrived yet at the second Church where he was waiting Harold began searching Lawrence Road to see if maybe Gretchen had wandered off or went home when he could not find Gretchen Harold contacted sandstra's wife Margaret who was at the Trinity Church to find out if Gretchen was still there and if David zohnstra perhaps knew if she was transported to the other Church Margaret told Harold that her husband returned to Trinity Chapel after transporting children he was somewhere on the property of the church and had not seen Gretchen that day the harringtons and zamstress knew each other well the two families lived close to one another both dads were in the same line of work and both moms filled the stereotypical role of pastor's wife one of zanstra's daughters was Gretchen's best friend when David zanstra learned that Gretchen's father was looking for her he called the Marple Township Police Department at Harold Harrington's request and reported Gretchen missing the call was made at 11 23 am and sandstra described Gretchen to the police as an eight-year-old girl with blonde hair in pigtails three feet six inches tall 50 pounds wearing dark blue shorts with a zipper and snap in the front pockets on each side of the front and no visible buttons and a white top quite a detailed description for someone who apparently did not see Gretchen on that day as the sun set that day just before 8 PM there was still no sign of Gretchen Margaret sandstra brought supper to the Harrington home where Ina Gretchen's mother seemed resigned to the fact that she would never see her daughter alive again Margaret commented she was just kind of accepting the fact that Gretchen was gone I do not know whether she was just putting on a brave face I think she was in shock Gretchen's disappearance sent shockwaves through Broomall and Marple Township the people went into full-blown panic mode by Saturday hundreds of people were involved in the search for Gretchen a Pennsylvania State Police Helicopter searched the area continuously from above friends and family members began handing out flyers to passing motorists in the area the Flyers showed Gretchen in her most recent school photo sporting a missing tooth and a childish grin there was a lot of speculation so many unanswered questions had she run away did she drown in a creek did a stranger kidnap her was it somebody she knew people and church members who searched for a little eight-year-old Gretchen said her disappearance destroyed the belief that their Community was safe Karen Frank Zetterberg was a Bible School classmate of Gretchen they were the same age and lived in the same tightly knit community after Gretchen's disappearance Karen's mom took her to the hairdresser to cut her hair real short in order for her to look like a boy she did not want her daughter to stand out with her long hair Karen was also not allowed to walk alone to her piano lessons and to the swim club anymore Paul Barton who lived in nearby Newton Square heard about the search on his police scanner while he was relaxing in his backyard pool he soon drove down to Darby Creek to join a search team his group combed a grassy Hill Barton recalled there was just this very solemn feeling amongst all of us who were out there searching we went out there not knowing what to expect what we might find we were looking for something anything but we found nothing nobody did that Sunday just two days after Gretchen's disappearance police called off the large-scale search operation investigators had little to go on the police chief told a local newspaper we haven't got a clue no useful clues of any kind were found by the search parties in the weeks that followed the police spoke with several people to piece together what had happened to Gretchen on August 17 1975 the interviews began for the investigation Witnesses Camp teachers students and parents were interviewed by police providing various important facts for the case The crucial pieces of information were the observation of either a green station wagon or light top dark bottom Cadillac stopping to talk to a girl near the church another fact that was brought up was that the Camp's daily routine was broken on August 15th because the group at Trinity Church stayed 45 to 50 minutes longer than usual the investigation took a turn on August 19th when a small pair of shorts were found on a fence post in West Chester Pennsylvania David zandtra was called in to talk to police based around the fact that he provided such a specific description of Gretchen shorts although according to him he never saw her that day since she never arrived to camp the shorts found in Westchester ultimately ended up not being Gretchen's but investigators were still left questioning how zanstra knew such specific details about her shorts when investigators interviewed sand straw on August 19th he told them that he had picked up some children and driven them to the church the day Gretchen went missing he still denied having seen her that day on October 14th two months after Gretchen disappeared a jogger in Ridley Creek State Park about 20 minutes from Gretchen's home stumbled on human remains at first he was not sure what he had found until he saw what was clearly a fingernail he ran to fetch a park ranger Gretchen's parents confirmed that the distinctive clothing found with the remains was hers Ina made the girls clothes by hand the remains found were of a small human body which the autopsy later revealed was indeed Gretchen Harrington's dental records were used for identification purposes DrHalbert philinger performed the autopsy he found a cranial cerebral injury and stated that Gretchen had suffered two or more blunt impacts to her skull leaving her with a depressed skull fracture police suspected that she had been assaulted as well though the autopsy revealed no evidence of that the heart-wrenching discovery left everyone mourning the loss of a promising Young Life the Sunday after Gretchen's body was found her father Harold delivered a sermon at church Gretchen with her simple faith in Christ is free he declared but the perpetrator is in terrible bondage the world is filled with unspeakable evil because of the wickedness of the human who knows the truth but will not accept it the discovery in the woods led to a new frenzy of activity in the case Witnesses came forward with reports of men of various descriptions they had seen in the area where Gretchen was found police received numerous tips some sounding very promising some completely frivolous on October 30th 1975 David zanstow was called back to the police station for a further interview about the morning of August 15th zanstra told police that he started picking up children for the opening session at 9 10 a. m and was finished with the pickups and back at Trinity Chapel by 9 30 A. M he denied ever seeing Gretchen and told police that he was unaware she was even missing until he was called to the Reformed Church at 11 05 am by Harold Harrington Gretchen's father investigators looked into a series of potential suspects including several known offenders of assault living in the area nothing led to an arrest what happened to Gretchen became a mystery for decades no one knew who took her life the case went cold Joanna Falcon Sullivan was only nine years old in 1975 when Gretchen slaying took place she was born and stayed in Broomall Delaware County at the time the case had always haunted Sullivan she became a veteran journalist and wrote A True Crime book detailing the ongoing investigation in Gretchen's case Sullivan said I had wanted to write this story for decades I grew up in Broomall my co-author Mike Mathis grew up in Broomall as well he grew up in Lawrence Park where this happened it affected both of us as kids and it affected a lot of kids our age Sullivan started the book during the pandemic and marples Gretchen Harrington tragedy was released in October 2022.
the novel was Sullivan's first book but she said she does plan to revise this true crime book to reflect any updated information about this case as it unfolds naturally when detectives retire or pass away other investigators inherit their cold cases in the case of Gretchen Sergeant coffin became the head investigator when a woman called Marple police and wanted to talk to somebody about Gretchen her message went to coffin's phone he was sitting at Marple Township Police Headquarters when he heard the voicemail the woman said she thought she knew who was responsible for what happened to Gretchen and talked about an attempted kidnapping around the same time she also mentioned that she kept a diary in the 1970s in which she recorded some of this information when she was a 10 year old girl living in Havertown about three miles east of Marple the woman still had the diarrhea in her possession after all these years Sergeant coffin got in touch with Pennsylvania State Police though the case remained open with the Marple cops because Gretchen had last been seen in their jurisdiction the state police technically became the lead investigatory agency once the remains were found in the State Park coffin noted besides I have four detectives in my division the state police have so many more resources state troopers scheduled an interview with the woman she is designated in court documents only by her initials SF and c i number one the terminology used for confidential informant the interview would turn out to be a Monumental development in a cold case that had been unsolved for nearly half a century and Monumental developments in decades-old cold cases do not happen that often the woman told the state troopers on January 2nd 2023 that she had been childhood friends with Gretchen and Zoe Harrington one of Gretchen's sisters she was also friends with David zanstra's daughters Mara and Kristen and that she would often play at the zanstra home she frequently slept over at their house during one of these sleepovers when she was 10 she told the Troopers she awoke in the middle of the night to find Pastor zanstra touching her inappropriately she shifted her position and he immediately hurried from the room the next night he touched her again she said when the girls woke up the following morning the woman said she mentioned David zanstra's odd behavior to Mara his one daughter and then Mara told her something to the effect of he does that sometimes and sometimes I hear my sister crying in the middle of the night when the girl related the incidents to her parents they told her she was not allowed to sleep over at the zanstra house anymore notably police believed the incident in question occurred exactly one week before Gretchen vanished a short time afterwards the zanstra's moved to Plano Texas a Dallas suburb the confidential informant also told State Police about another child in the neighborhood with whom she was friends a girl named Holly according to her somebody had attempted to kidnap Holly she wrote The Following entry in her diary which she turned over to the state troopers in one entry dated September 15 1975 She Wrote guess what a man tried to kidnap Holly twice it is a secret so I cannot tell anyone but I think he might be the one who kidnapped Gretchen I think it was MrZ she confirmed to the Troopers that the Z stood for a zanstra local police had questioned sandstra twice back in 1975 along with many other people some witnesses had said they saw Gretchen outside a car talking to someone sitting inside on the morning she disappeared some of the descriptions of the car matched one of zanstra's but zanstra always insisted he had not seen Gretchen on the day in question bizarrely though as you the viewer would already have noted there was an investigatory Gap never explained by Marple police zanstra was able to give an accurate and detailed description of the homemade shorts Gretchen was wearing that day even though he supposedly had not seen her sadly the original Marple detective in her case passed away in June of 2020 and therefore there is no explanation for the investigatory Gap in June 2023 state troopers tracked zanstra down to a Lakefront home in Marietta Georgia he and his wife had moved there sandstra agreed to meet the troopers at the headquarters of the Cobb County Police Department on July 17 2023 the Troopers questioned zanstra about Gretchen's disappearance and he denied any involvement then they revealed the newest allegations to him that the pastor had assaulted his own daughters and a best friend David sandstra then finally came clean to investigators on what really occurred on the morning of August 15 1975. Jack stahlsteimer the Delaware County District Attorney outlined zanstra's confession about what happened once Gretchen was out of her father's view zanstra then invited her into his green AMC Rambler station wagon instead of driving her to church he drove her to a secure wooded area parked the car and asked her to take off her clothes she refused and responded that she wanted to go home he struck Gretchen with his fist and she began bleeding from her head after feeling her pulse and her appearing lifeless he carried her out of the car and attempted to cover her body with sticks he then left and went on with his day due to the nature of the close relationship the harringtons had with the zansters investigators determined that zanstra had the means motive and opportunity to take Gretchen's life David zanstra was taken into custody in Georgia on July 17 2023 he is currently being held in Cobb County where he has been denied bail a DNA sample was collected from zenstra that would be compared to DNA collected in other open cases in Pennsylvania and across the country investigators believe that it is unlikely zanstra is not involved in other crimes considering he worked with children for decades Phil Stoddard a detective in Marietta Georgia who sat in on the zanstra interview told a TV news crew there that zanstra was emotionless during his confession to the Troopers Trooper Eugene tray conducted the interview afterwards Trey said I do not know if he is sorry for what he did but this is a weight off his shoulders for sure on Monday 24th July 2023 Delco officials announced the arrest of 83-year-old David zanstra in connection with Gretchen's kidnapping and slaying zanstra was born in May 1940. he was still working as a pastor in Georgia at the time of his arrest Delaware County district attorney Jack stolsteimer said he is every parent's worst nightmare this heinous act left a family and a community forever changed at long last I can announce today that David zanstra had admitted to this crime justice has been a long time coming but we are proud and grateful to finally be able to give the community an answer we have to realize that most people in this world are good and that most pastors especially people who claim to be men of God are good people but there have always been people and there always will be people or this cold-hearted remorseless and just evil thank God there is law enforcement here to hold them accountable and however long this takes we are going to do it because this young lady should be alive what happened to her is just horrendous stolsteimer added that zanstra was fighting extradition to Pennsylvania and that his office was seeking a Governor's warrant to bring zanstra to Delaware County the District Attorney's office will submit a petition for requisition once approved Arrangements will be made to have representatives from the Delaware County Sheriff's Office pick up Sandstone bring him to Pennsylvania the process could take as long as two months stolsteimer added we are going to try him we are going to convict him and he is going to stay in jail for the rest of his life then he is going to have to find out what the God he professes to believe in holds for those who are this evil to our children he slayed with his bare hands this poor young girl and then lied about it for 48 years he ended this girl's life that he knew and who trusted him and then he acted as if he was a family friend not only during her burial and funeral but for years Chief Graf of the police department in Marple Township said during Monday's press conference if you are a Praying person you can certainly pray for Gretchen and I do not think she needs it she is in God's hands you can certainly pray for the evil man responsible for this because he is going to need it the charges filed against sandstra have brought a sense of closure to Broomall Pennsylvania which has been haunted by Gretchen's case for nearly 48 years Gretchen's demise had transformed this community pre-august 1975 it was any Town USA post that day it changed everything for the kids for the parents for the families for everybody because nobody could do anything anymore in the Innocence that they used to do it before this happened Jim cristaldi Who as a youth delivered newspapers to the harringtons spoke fondly of a pre-disappearance childhood in which he and his friends would spend countless hours building forts in the woods with only the light of the Moon but right after Gretchen vanished cristaldi a teenager at the time found himself in search parties in those same Woods looking for Gretchen or anything that might have led to her whereabouts we were innocent and this absolutely shattered our innocence Pennsylvania State Police Lieutenant Jonathan Sunderland said in a statement Justice does not have an expiration date whether a crime happened 50 years ago or five minutes ago the residents of the Commonwealth can have confidence that law enforcement will not rest until Justice is served this case has been investigated by generations of detectives and they all are what a debt of gratitude for never giving up particular recognition is due today to Corporal Andrew Martin of the criminal investigation assessment unit and missing persons unit his determination to build upon the work of his predecessors and his belief that the case could still be solved Have Been instrumental in getting us to today's announcement Michelle Delon president and CEO of the national Center for missing and exploited children said today's announcement is a testament to the power of perseverance and a family and community's commitment to Justice regardless of how much time has passed we know answers can be found as we mark this achievement we applaud the incredible efforts of the Delaware County District Attorney's Office the Pennsylvania State Police the Marple Township Police and their partner law enforcement agencies and the Cobb County Police Department for their unwavering dedication in this case days like today fuel our ongoing passion to protect children and we're keeping Gretchen's family in our thoughts as well as the many other families out there who are still searching for answers David zanstra has been charged with taking Gretchen's life in the first second and third degree as well as kidnapping of a minor and the possession of an instrument of crime the website of the Christian Reformed Church lists zanstra as a retired Minister and said he was ordained on September 20th 1965.
in addition to the Trinity Chapel Christian Reformed Church in Broomall zanstra also served at churches in New Jersey California and Texas between 1965 and 2005. the Christian Reformed Church said in a statement on Monday that it wanted to extend their condolences to the family of Gretchen Harrington we are additionally grieved to hear that a CRC Pastor has been arrested in the case we recognize that we live in a broken and sinful world where violence can happen anywhere by anyone even within our churches and by leaders we hold to the highest standards David zanstra's wife Margaret sandstra did not immediately respond to a request for comment after her husband's arrest while the Marple Community now has most of the answers it had been seeking for all these decades many of the residents had not found peace in the shocking turn of events it was much easier to believe that some Outsider had done this some deranged itinerant offender who had somehow wandered into town snatched up a young girl and then disappeared just as quickly taking his evil with him to whatever unfortunate place he landed next instead it was a respected member of their Community a religious leader with a wife and young girls of his own a wife who had brought supper to the family of the girl he's confessed to slay Karen Frank Zetterberg Gretchen's Bible School classmate observed back then everybody was surprised that Gretchen would get into a car with a stranger and now to find out that this monster was hiding amongst us in plain sight all the time it is just sickening we were always taught in church that evil exists in the world but you do not really understand evil until something like this happens we were far too young to learn about evil the way we did Sullivan who wrote the book on Gretchen's case said after the announcement I was stunned the fact that this case is finally potentially coming to a close it is very exciting to hear this news it is still very sad you know we cannot change what happened I interviewed zanstra his wife and his daughter when doing research from my book zanstra had a murky recollection of the day Gretchen went missing there was a sense of fear and apprehension in Broomall I remember seeing a helicopter flying over our neighborhood in a search effort for Gretchen that image stayed with me for the rest of my life Sullivan's book was just released last year and CBS News Philadelphia talked to her about whether she believed it may have led to a break in this case Sullivan replied we started interviewing people we went to Marple police department and were able to comb through the cold case files kept by Chief Brandon Graf who never gave up on this unsolved case Marple police encouraged our research and said that we somehow contributed I think we got people talking again Reverend zanstra took our calls he answered questions about that day there's a lot of relief and disbelief that it is actually happening David zanstra's Neighbors in Georgia also reacted after learning about the charges against him Karen hallsdorf said it is shocking I had no idea they have just always been very nice people Aaron Christian said friendly guy I talked to him a few times I see him walking around with his Cane the family of Gretchen Harrington released the following statement with today's announcement of an arrest we were extremely hopeful that the person who is responsible for the heinous crime that was committed against our Gretchen will be held accountable it is difficult to express the emotions that we are feeling as we take one step closer to Justice Gretchen was only eight years old when she was suddenly taken away from us on her way to church on Friday August 15 1975. if you met Gretchen you are 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 eight years old she had a lifelong impact on those around her the kidnapping and demise of Gretchen has forever altered our family and we miss her every single day we are grateful for the continual pursuit of Justice by law enforcement and we want to thank the Pennsylvania State Police for never stopping in their constant search for answers we would not be here today if it was not for them as a family we ask for privacy at this time as we continue to digest this information thank you for your understanding love and continued support it means the world to us Gretchen's parents were married for an impressive 59 years a father passed away in 2021 at the remarkable age of 94.
