How a 1975 Cold Case Was SOLVED by a 10 Year Old’s Diary

In August 1975, eight-year-old Gretchen Harrington disappeared while walking to Bible school in Broomall, Pennsylvania, and her remains were discovered in a nearby state park two months later. Decades later, a childhood diary entry from 1975 written by a ten-year-old girl reignited the investigation by pointing suspicion toward David Zandstra, a local pastor and family acquaintance. Zandstra subsequently confessed to the kidnapping and murder during a 2023 police interrogation, revealing intimate details about the crime. Despite this confession, a jury acquitted him in January 2025 after just one hour of deliberation, largely due to arguments concerning his declining health and coercive interrogation tactics, leaving Gretchen's murder unsolved with unidentified DNA remaining at the crime scene.

Content Warning: This podcast contains discussions of homicide, violence, abuse, and other graphic themes related to real-life criminal events. It is intended for mature audiences and listener discretion is advised.

This episode includes AI-generated content.