Testimony in the David Zandstra trial concluded Thursday after defense attorney Mark Much spent most of the day cross-examining Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Andrew Martin. Zandstra, 84, of Marietta, Ga., is facing murder and kidnapping charges in the 1975 abduction and death of 8-year-old Marple resident Gretchen Harrington. Gretchen disappeared on the morning of Aug. 15, 1975, while walking to a summer Bible school at Trinity Chapel Christian Reform Church at 140 Lawrence Road, where Zandstra served as minister. Gretchen Harrington Her remains were discovered by a jogger in Ridley Creek State Park on Oct. 14, 1975, along with several items of her clothing. Her skull had been fractured in two places. Martin said current map data put the location of her remains about 10 to 13 minutes from where she was last seen. Martin described working the cold case beginning in 2017 during direct examination with Deputy District Attorney Geoff Paine Wednesday. He said a woman had shown him a diary from 1975 accusing Zandstra of molesting her, which led Martin to interviewing Zandstra in July 2023. David Zandstra mugshot upon his extradition to Delaware County in summer 2023. Zandstra confessed to kidnapping and killing Gretchen during that recorded interview, the entire 3½ hours of which was played for the jury Wednesday evening. During cross-examination Thursday, Much pointed to areas in the interview where Martin was less than truthful in what he told Zandstra about the case and evidence against him, including that he would send his DNA across the country to other states where he had ministered and that there were rocks with blood on them taken from the scene. “I was being deceptive,” Martin said. “You were lying,” Much replied. “I was being deceptive,” Martin reiterated. Much noted that Zandstra in the first half of the interview denied seeing Gretchen at all that day. Martin agreed it was only after he began discussing DNA in earnest that Zandstra’s recollection began to vary, though Much still counted numerous instances of the defendant using phrases like “I guess,” or “it’s possible” or that he “must have” done something. Much also pointed to statements by two teachers at Trinity who said they saw Zandstra there for opening ceremonies, though Martin said at least one of these was suspect because it put the time for ceremonies around 10:00-10:15 a.m., when others interviewed had indicated the school began around 9:30 a.m. Much additionally pointed to a July 2023 letter from a woman who said she was at Trinity that day and that the events of Aug. 15 had been burned into her mind due to Gretchen’s disappearance. By her recollection, Zandstra was present at Trinity by 9:30 a.m. and only left to assist Gretchen’s father, Harold, after he came in to inquire about his daughter’s whereabouts around 11 a.m., after she should have gone with classmates to the Reformed Presbyterian Church at 144 Lawrence Road, where Harold was the reverend. She said Zandstra did not seem to be upset or disturbed that morning prior to Harold Harrington’s arrival and there was nothing unusual in his behavior. Martin agreed with Much that one item of Gretchen’s clothing had DNA from an unknown female on it and that Zandstra had been excluded as a contributor to DNA found on two rocks and a soda can collected from the area. Martin also said Zandstra’s wife had not told him during a phone conversation involved in setting up the interview with the troopers that her husband had suffered a stroke and that his health was in decline. But Martin agreed that she told him she wanted to be present for her husband’s interview. Martin said he intended to interview Zandstra’s wife as well, but preferred to question everyone on their own. He said he told Zandstra he was free to not answer questions and could stop the interview at any time. Martin and fellow Trooper Eugene Trey never did interview Zandstra’s wife following the confession. Much additionally noted that a witness claimed to have seen Gretchen that day at Lawrence Road and Sussex Boulevard at 9:25 a.m., essentially at the end of the half-mile walk along Lawrence from her home to the church. Much estimated that walk would have taken about 7 minutes. The area of the churches in Broomall in 1975. (COURTESY OF THE DELAWARE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE) Though that was a busy intersection in the morning hours, Martin agreed the only witness who reported anything about a child and a car involved a younger man chasing a child into a white vehicle, not a green Rambler, as Zandstra drove at the time. There was a report by one person of a child being approached by either a green car or a white-topped, dark-bodied Cadillac, but that witness said it happened around 8:30 a.m., an hour before Gretchen even left the house. The case file also included a profile for another man who Martin said was a focal point of the original investigation due to his history of child abduction and sexual assault. Though Martin conceded hair found in that man’s truck was described as having “similar characteristics” to Gretchen’s, his DNA had never been compared to items found at the scene, and he later died in prison. Zoe Harrington, Gretchen’s older sister, had also claimed in 2021 to have been taken to a wooded area the night of her sister’s disappearance and was told by her father and other men in robes and masks to kill Gretchen with a rock, or they would kill her. Martin said that confession of a cultish gathering had several elements that made it unbelievable, however, and that Zoe suffered from mental health issues, including delusional paranoia. Much pointed out that Zoe’s DNA was never sent out to a crime lab and that she had said she was able to see that night by the light of the moon. Historical records Much provided indicated it was two-thirds of a full moon that night. Martin had also processed an affidavit of probable cause for a consensual wiretap so Zoe could call her father about the story, though he said Zoe backed out before that call was ever made. Paine and Much are expected to give their closing arguments Friday morning.