David Zandstra biography: 13 things about retired pastor from Marietta, Georgia

David G. Zandstra is a retired pastor from Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia, United States. He was a pastor at several of Christian Reformed Church in North America‘s churches in different parts of the U.S., including Solano County, California, USA. 

Zandstra is 2 years older than his wife Margaret A. Zandstra. They have three children together.

David previously lived in Plano, Texas, USA. He has lived in different parts of California including Spring Valley, Fairfield and San Diego and in different parts of Delaware, Pennsylvania, USA including Broomall and Chester.

Between 1965 and 2005, David served at churches in California, Texas and New Jersey, USA. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. From 1965 to 1969, he served in the Flanders Valley Christian Reformed Church in Flanders, New Jersey. On September 20, 1965, he became an ordained minister in New Jersey. From New Jersey, he later moved to Chester.
2. On August 6, 1966, he conducted worship services at Preakness Christian Reformed Church in New Jersey. As an associate pastor of the church, he was serving as a denominational home missionary in Chester, New Jersey and Flanders, New Jersey.
3. From 1969 to 1976, he served in the Trinity Christian Reformed Church in Broomall.
4. On August 15, 1975, he sexually assaulted and fatally beat Reformed Presbyterian Church reverend Harold Harrington‘s daughter Gretchen Harrington, 8, of Broomall inside his A.M.C. Rambler station wagon in Ridley Creek State Park in Edgmont Township, Delaware County.
5. On August 19, 1975, he told investigators he did not see Gretchen on August 15, 1975.
6. On October 14, 1975, Gretchen’s skeletal remains were found in Ridley Creek State Park. On October 30, 1975, investigators interviewed him again and he insisted that he did not see Gretchen on August 15, 1975.
7. From 1976 to 1983, he served in the Bethel Christian Reformed Church in Dallas, Texas.
8. From 1983 to 1990, he served in the Living Faith Community Christian Reformed Church in San Diego, California.
9. From 1990 to 2005, David served in the Fairfield Christian Reformed Church in Fairfield, California.
10. In the 2000s, he and Margaret retired to Marietta.
11. On January 2, 2023, a woman who was friends with one of his daughters told investigators that she was molested by him during two sleepovers in their house in Broomall when she was young, one of which happened about a week before Gretchen was reported missing on August 15, 1975.
12. On July 17, 2023, Pennsylvania State Police corporal Andrew J. Martin and trooper Eugene Tray interviewed him at the Cobb County Police Department headquarters in Marietta. He initially denied having seen Gretchen on August 15, 1975 but eventually confessed to sexually abusing and killing the girl that day.
13. He was 83 years old when he was arrested on July 17, 2023. He was charged with criminal homicide, kidnapping of a minor, possessing an instrument of crime and murder of the first, second and third degrees and is being held without bond at the Cobb County Jail in Marietta.