A retired minister in Georgia has been charged with murder in the slaying of an eight-year-old girl - who vanished while heading to Bible school in Pennsylvania nearly a half-century ago.
David Zandstra, 83, of the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, was charged Monday 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.
Harrington, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, disappeared in mid-August 1975 while walking from her Marple Township home to Bible school at Trinity Church Chapel, where Zandstra was pastor.
Harrington was usually accompanied by her sisters to Bible school but was alone on the fateful day because of a recent birth in her family.
She was offered a ride by Zandstra, who was also the father of one of her best friends, Stollsteimer alleged.
'So when he offered her a ride in his car, of course she got in the car,' he said.
Zandstra took her to a wooded location and eventually struck her in the head and, believing her to be dead, tried to cover her body, authorities said.
Returning to his church, he 'tried to act like nothing had happened,' and when her father, pastor of the nearby Reformed Presbyterian Church, called seeking to find her, Zandstra was the one to call police, Stollsteimer alleged.
Over ensuing days, hundreds of people searched nearby woods, and authorities distributed more than 2,000 leaflets and set up a 24-hour hotline, 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.
Stollsteimer said new information from an unnamed friend of the victim led State Police to travel to Georgia and interview Zandstra, who authorities allege then confessed to the crime.
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Originally Posted by Nic B
