Church ‘shocked and horrified’ by former pastor’s arrest

By Orko Manna

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    FAIRFIELD, California (KCRA) — A Fairfield church where David Zandstra used to be a pastor is condemning his alleged actions after he was arrested in connection with the murder of a young girl in Pennsylvania.

Zandstra, 83, is accused of kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington in 1975 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Zandstra was a pastor for Trinity Church Chapel at the time, where Harrington attended Bible school.

Due to Zandstra’s role as a pastor for congregations across the country, police are now checking other communities for potential victims. That includes Fairfield, California.

KCRA 3 has learned that Zandstra was a pastor for the Fairfield Christian Reformed Church from 1990 through 2005.

In response to the Pennsylvania case, church officials sent KCRA 3 the following statement:

“The members of our church are shocked and horrified that any person, much less a pastor, could commit such crimes and conceal this evil for close to five decades. May God in His mercy comfort all of those who have been affected by these heinous acts.” KCRA 3’s Orko Manna also spoke to a long-time parishioner of the church over the phone who said they knew Zandstra. That parishioner said that he is “super disheartened” to learn about the charges against Zandstra. He also said he feels sorry for any other potential victims, and added, “We trust that justice will prevail.”

“He was running the Bible school that Gretchen was going to, and she was on her way that day to his Bible school and never made it,” Sullivan said.

In the book, Zandstra said that “he notified police that Gretchen was missing.” And although Zandstra was not named as a suspect during the initial investigation, Sullivan said something seemed off during the interview for the book.

“His recollection of the day was kind of fuzzy, and we chalked it up to age,” Sullivan said.

Fast forward to 2023: Zandstra is arrested in connection with Harrington’s murder.

Sullivan said she is already hearing from people in Pennsylvania who think Zandstra might have victimized them, and she said she believes Fairfield could see the same thing.

“He was a trusted church leader in the community and in many communities, but I think there are people who must know things that happened at the time that they need to bring up, and that’s what happened in [the Pennsylvania] case. Somebody finally decided, ‘I need to come forward and talk about what happened to me.’ And I hope that that’s the case in other jurisdictions,” Sullivan said.

Fairfield police say they are reaching out to law enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where Zandstra currently lives and where he was arrested, to gather more information.

Fairfield police told KCRA 3 that they are trying to see if Zandstra could be connected to a 1991 missing child case out of Fairfield. A 4-year-old girl disappeared while riding a bike to a friend’s house. Right now, police said that the investigation is still in its early stages.

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