He worked as a minister in Texas and authorities said they were concerned about potentially more victims:
A retired minister in Georgia has been charged with murder in the slaying of an 8-year-old girl whose remains were found in southeastern Pennsylvania almost a half-century ago. David Zandstra, 83, of the Atlanta suburb of Marietta is charged with criminal homicide, first--, second- and third-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor and a related count in the 1975 death of Gretchen Harrington in Delaware County.
DNA from the defendant will be compared to material from open cases in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, authorities said. Having killed a child who knew and trusted him, he then “acted as if he was their family friend, not only during her burial and the period after that but for years,” the district attorney said.
Over ensuing days, hundreds of people searched nearby wooded areas, and authorities distributed more than 2,000 leaflets and set up a 24-hour hotline that took hundreds of calls, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. When the girl’s body was found in mid-October 1975, her clothing was “folded and in a neat pile” near her body with her underwear hanging from a tree branch “like a flag ... as if to call attention to the place,” the Inquirer reported at the time.
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Former reverend charged for 1975 murder of 8-year-old parishionerAWFUL! On August 15, 1975, 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington was walking to bible camp when she was picked up by David Zandstra, who served as a Reverend at the church the young girl attended.
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Former pastor arrested in 1975 murder of young girl walking to his churchThe murder of 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington shook Marple Township, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. Authorities say the man recently confessed.
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Former pastor, 83, charged with murder in 1975 death of 8-year-old girlPolice have arrested an 83-year-old former pastor on murder charges nearly 50 years after he allegedly abducted and killed 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington in Pennsylvania, officials said Monday.
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