Retired Georgia minister is found not guilty in the 1975 killing of a girl in Pennsylvania A retired minister from Georgia was found not guilty Friday in the killing of an 8-year-old girl whose remains were found in a southeastern Pennsylvania park almost a half-century ago.
Zandstra was charged in the summer of 2023 with kidnapping and killing Gretchen Harrington, who disappeared in 1975 while walking alone to a Bible camp at a chapel where Zandstra was a pastor.
Prosecutors said Zandstra had confessed to the killing after investigators received new information and then interviewed the retired minister.
Defense attorney Christopher Boggs told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Zandstra’s family was glad he could come home after 18 months in custody.
Defense attorneys said there was no physical evidence linking the retired minister to the girl's death and that police had investigated other suspects who were more likely to be the killer.
