Not Guilty Verdict for Former Pastor Charged with 1975 Murder

David Zandstra, a retired minister in the Christian Reformed Church who was ordained in 1965, was acquitted in a jury trial of all charges he faced stemming from his arrest in July 2023. Prosecutors alleged he confessed in a 2023 interview to murdering Gretchen Harrington, an 8-year-old girl who went missing from Broomall, Penn., in 1975 and whose body was found two months later in Ridley Creek State Park.

At the time of her disappearance Harrington was expected to be attending vacation Bible school at Trinity Church Chapel CRC (later, Trinity CRC), the church where Zandstra served. Zandstra’s lawyers, who The Banner did not hear back from in time for publication, told other media sources Zandstra always maintained his innocence. A statement given after the trial by lawyer Chris Boggs was quoted in The New York Times: “We are happy to have Mr. Zandstra returned to his family,” he said. “Criminal trials in this country are amazing things, and we thank the jury for their hard work this week. Our hearts along with all of Delaware County still break for the Harrington family who deserve an end to the nightmare of losing a family member.” The Delaware County Daily Times also quoted Boggs: “David Zandstra maintained his innocence for 48 years and as (fellow defence attorney) Mr. (Mark) Much said in his closing, he maintained his innocence for most of his (police) interview, and he maintains his innocence to this day.”

Before trial Zandstra was denied bail, which deputy district attorney Geoffrey Paine said is standard for people facing a first-degree murder charge in Pennsylvania. Zandstra’s son-in-law, Jeff Berends of Marietta, Ga., said the now 84-year-old spent 550 days in jail. He said the family was relieved to have Zandstra released to them by 8 or 9 pm the day the trial concluded, Jan. 17, but he was in “pretty poor condition” as the jail he’d been kept in “was not equipped to care for octogenarians.” Berends said the family—three daughters and their husbands and Zandstra’s wife, Margy, 83—was able to return with Zandstra to Georgia on Sunday after rearranging travel that had been set with a two-week trial in mind. The trial ran for four days and jury deliberation only one hour, according to reports.

While Zandstra was awaiting trial, the council of Fairfield (Calif.) CRC, the last congregation Zandstra had served and which still held his ministerial credentials, “suspended the honor, title, and authority to perform official acts of ministry from Minister-Emeritus David G. Zandstra, according to Church Order Articles 82-84, until they (the council) receive more clarity from a court judgment.” Classis Central California concurred with this decision and documented it in its Oct. 3, 2023, meeting minutes. Reached for comment Jan. 20, 2025, the pastor of Fairfield CRC, Nicholas Blystra, confirmed that Zandstra’s status as a minister emeritus had been suspended, not removed.

“I am unable to comment more as we have just begun to process the news of his verdict,” Blystra said. According to Church Order Art. 84 and supplements, a suspension can be lifted by the same assembly that imposed it, with the concurrence of synodical deputies.

Berends said he contacted the stated clerk of Classis Central California to make certain the classis had heard of the not guilty verdict. He also contacted CRCNA communications, which updated a statement they had released soon after Zandstra’s 2023 arrest. Berends said he was making those contacts “not just for the CRC” but for other outlets as well. “The good thing about a not guilty verdict is you get to clear your name.”

The trial’s conclusion came too late for Trinity CRC, which was still in ministry at the time of Zandstra’s arrest in 2023, and closed within three months of the news. Notes in the classis minutes describe what led to the closure: “The church had already been discussing its viability due to diminished active members, and, in view of the (alleged) confession of sex abuse, kidnapping and murder committed 48 years ago by a former pastor of the congregation they see no prospect of continued ministry in the local community.”

Asked about this impact, prosecutor Paine said reasons why a church might close could be many, and with the responsibility they have to the community “it’s not something that would have any bearing on us prosecuting a case.” Paine said his office “respects the jury’s decision” in this trial and that they consider the Harrington murder case “a closed investigation.”