PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
———————————————————
But the 8-year-old Marple Township girl never made it to class, Deputy District Attorney Geoff Paine said Tuesday at the start of the murder trial for the man accused of killing her.
Gretchen, he said, died at the hands of her pastor, David Zandstra, head of the Bible school at Trinity Chapel, a friend of her family, and a man she trusted. Zandstra, the prosecutor said, abducted the child on that summer day, then forced her to undress and beat her to death in Ridley Creek State Park.
“We were always looking for the boogeyman, always looking for the stranger,” Paine said. “We know now that’s not usually the case.”
Zandstra, 84, denies any role in the crime and disputes the murder confession authorities say he gave during a four-hour interview with Pennsylvania State Police detectives in 2023 at his home in Georgia, miles and years removed from the Marple Township church where he first befriended the child and her family.
Gretchen went missing after leaving to make the short walk from her home to Trinity Chapel, according to testimony Tuesday. Police, neighbors, and friends scoured the area for weeks, desperate to find her.
In October 1975, a hiker found her decomposing remains in Ridley Creek State Park, next to her clothing, which had been left neatly folded. The makeshift grave was 2½ miles from where she was last seen.
An autopsy later revealed Gretchen had been killed by blunt-force trauma to the head, according to police.
Zandstra, the prosecutor said, told authorities he was not attracted to little girls “anymore,” but said that like King David, his namesake, he would confess and be forgiven.
In court Tuesday, Paine said the crime deserved punishment, not forgiveness.
“Just because he confessed doesn’t mean he’s free of consequences,” Paine told the jurors. “And the consequence will be carried out by you.”
He told jurors that Zandstra, while in custody awaiting trial, had told his cellmate what he had done. The cellmate was so disturbed by the details, Paine said, that he sought counseling and asked to be moved to a different cell.
But Zandstra’s attorney, Mark Much, said his client was innocent and the prosecution’s case was “riddled with reasonable doubt.” He said state police detectives, eager to make an arrest, had tricked a confused old man into making a false confession while ignoring other, more promising leads.
“These are policemen, people he trusts,” Much said. “If they have evidence, as they say, then he must’ve done it. So what do you do as a religious person? You confess.”
Trooper Andrew Martin, the lead detective, had lied to Zandstra, telling him forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts linked him to Gretchen’s disappearance, according to Much.
In fact, Much said, Zandstra’s DNA did not match the DNA found on Gretchen’s clothing, and he was excluded from being even a potential contributor.
Much told the jury that investigators had considered other suspects, including Gretchen’s older sister, Zoe, who he said confessed to the crime in 2021. But she was never charged, and in testimony Tuesday, Gretchen’s other sister, Harriet Anne Myers, said Zoe had a history of mental health issues.
After years of investigating these and other potential leads, detectives identified Zandstra as a suspect in Gretchen’s death in late 2022, according to Paine.
A woman who had been a friend of one of Zandstra’s daughters came forward to say the pastor had sexually assaulted her when she was a child, at a sleepover at his house a week before Gretchen went missing. Zandstra, she said, had come into the room where she was sleeping and groped her. She told investigators that led her to wonder whether the pastor may have had something to do with Gretchen’s murder.
Zandstra was never charged in connection with the alleged sexual assault, but after speaking with the woman, detectives set up the interview with him in which they said he confessed to abducting and killing Gretchen.
In court Tuesday, Zandstra’s lawyer questioned the woman’s account.
The trial is expected to last through Friday before Delaware County Court Judge Anthony Scanlon."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/news/content/ar-BB1rsmf9?ocid=sapphireappsharePUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
———————————————————————————————
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
—————————————————————————————————
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
-------------------------------------------------------------------