David Zandstra has been extradited to Delaware County in the 1975 slaying of Gretchen Harrington

A former minister at a Broomall church accused of killing an 8-year-old girl in a cold case that confounded detectives for half a century was extradited to Delaware County on Thursday afternoon.

David Zandstra, 83, was charged in July with first-, second- and third-degree murder, as well as kidnapping, in the 1975 death of Gretchen Harrington. Gretchen was a student at Bible study group that split time between Reformed Presbyterian Church, where her father, Harold, was a pastor, and Trinity Church Chapel Christian Reform Church, which was overseen by Zandstra.

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Zandstra confessed to the killing Gretchen and burying her body in a nearby state park during an interview with Pennsylvania State Police detectives. They had elicited that confession, they later said, by confronting him with new evidence that he had molested another girl not long before Gretchen went missing, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed for his arrest.

Lawyers for Zandstra, who retired to Marietta, Ga., in the intervening years, initially fought extradition. But prosecutors led by Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer lobbied help from Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office to bring the confessed killer back to Pennsylvania.

Speaking Thursday afternoon outside of the Delaware County Courthouse in Media, Stollsteimer credited the state police’s cold case unit, saying their efforts were “policework 101.”

“And now, [Zandstra] will begin the process of facing justice for the horrible, evil thing he did to this poor little girl who trusted him because he was a pastor and a family friend,” Stollsteimer said. “And she made the mistake of getting into the car with this man, this monster.”

Stollsteimer said that Gretchen’s abduction and murder have distressed Zandstra’s former congregation, which the district attorney said is likely to close later this year.

Investigators in other jurisdictions are also looking for Zandstra’s potential involvement in other unsolved murders, Stollsteimer said. In Fairfield, Calif., for example, police are now investigating whether Zandstra might be connected to the 1991 disappearance of 4-year-old Nikki Campbell.

Gretchen vanished on Aug. 15, 1975, leaving her neighbors and police without any leads. Two months later, a hiker discovered skeletal remains in Ridley Creek State Park in Edgmont Township that were later identified as Gretchen’s. Her makeshift grave was 2½ miles from where she was last seen.

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An autopsy revealed that she had been killed by blunt-force trauma to the head, according to police. Her clothes had been neatly folded and piled near her body, her underwear hung from a nearby tree, as if signaling bystanders to her remains.

The case languished for years, as local and state police detectives desperately tried to drum up clues, forming search parties to comb through wooded areas, flooding the region with fliers, and even consulting with a psychic, according to news reports at the time.

Most of the original detectives who handled her disappearance have since retired or died. But the catalyst for Zandstra’s arrest came in 2021, when two Marple Township residents, Mike Mathis and Joanna Sullivan, contacted current Police Chief Brandon Graeff and asked for the original case files for a book they were writing about Gretchen’s disappearance, investigators said.

After the book published in 2022, a woman approached the authors and said she had new information.

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The woman, who has not been identified by police, provided police with her childhood diary, in which she detailed Zandstra molesting her during two sleepovers at his home just days before Gretchen vanished, the affidavit said.

She also wrote that shortly after Gretchen’s abduction, another girl she was friends with was nearly kidnapped. In the diary, the woman, who was close friends with Zandstra’s daughters, wrote she believed that the attempted kidnapper was “Mr. Z,” the same person who had taken Gretchen, according to the affidavit.

Armed with that evidence, detectives traveled to Georgia to speak with the former minister.

After some initial hesitance, Zandstra confessed to killing Gretchen, police said. He told the detectives he had lured her into his vehicle, and then drove to Ridley Creek State Park. In a secluded area, he demanded she undress. When she refused, he struck her in the head with a rock and covered her half-naked body with leaves and other debris.

“We asked and he spoke,” said Trooper Eugene Tray, one of the detectives who interviewed Zandstra. “He was presented with things I don’t think he expected to be presented with. Then, I think he started to think more on it. I think he just wanted his sick, twisted version of redemption, and to come clean.”

Zandstra was taken to the state police barracks in Media for his arraignment, and then transported to George W. Hill Correctional Facility, Delaware County’s jail. His preliminary hearing will be scheduled in the coming days.