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93-3 WMMR Audio on Demand presents the Preston and Steve Show podcast.

Good morning in the news this morning authorities in Delaware County have charged a man

nearly 50 years after the abduction and murder of eight-year-old Gretchen Harrington.

83-year-old David Zanztra of Marrietta, Georgia is charged in the 1975 murder of Harrington

after an alleged confession to Pennsylvania State Police.

Trooper Eugene Trey conducted the interview. He was relieved. It was like a weight lifted off

of his shoulders. Trey said. Gretchen Harrington was abducted from Marple Township and her body was

found two months later at the Ridley Creek State Park. Since 1975, the case has stayed cold.

Zanztra said or has been charged with criminal homicide murder of the first second and third

degree as well as kidnapping of a minor and the possession of an instrument of crime. Back in the

1970s, he was a pastor at a local church where Harrington was headed to attend summer bible

school when she went missing. Harrington would typically walk to bible school with her sisters,

but on August 15, 1975, her youngest sister was just brought home from the hospital and Gretchen

walked to school alone. District Attorney Jack Stollzheimer outlined Zanztra's confession on

Monday. He got her in the car drove her to a secure location, asked her to take off her clothes.

She refused. He said he beat her to death with his hands. Things turned in the case when an

alleged victim of child sexual abuse at the hands of Zanztra came forward in January of 2023.

The criminal complaint outlines disturbing details from the alleged victim. It includes journal

entries detailing the abuse and alleging another classmate was nearly kidnapped days before

Harrington went missing. In it she wrote, I think he may be the one who kidnapped Gretchen.

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