MEDIA, Pa. (WPVI) -- 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.
A jury acquitted David Zandstra, 84, of the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, after deliberating for an hour following a four-day trial.
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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. Her body was found two months later by a jogger in Ridley Creek State Park in Media, Pennsylvania.
Harrington was offered a ride by Zandstra the day she disappeared, the Delaware County district attorney said when the charges were filed. Prosecutors said Zandstra had confessed to the killing after investigators received new information and then interviewed the retired minister.
His attorney, Mark Much, told jurors that detectives pressured and tricked Zandstra into confessing to a crime he didn't commit. 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.
Defense attorney Christopher Boggs, who served as co-counsel, released the following statement to Action News on the acquittal:
"David Zandstra maintained his innocence for 48 years and as Mr. Much said in his closing, he maintained his innocence for most of his interview, and he maintains his innocence to this day. Our firm and Mr. Zandstra's family are very proud and grateful of Mr. Much's efforts and we are happy to have Mr. Zandstra returned to his family. 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 Associated Press contributed to this report.