This image is the cover for the book Marple’s Gretchen Harrington Tragedy, True Crime

Marple’s Gretchen Harrington Tragedy, True Crime

Friday, Aug. 15, 1975 began as a typical summer day in the suburbs. Young children played with their friends, adults prepared for work or planned for their vacation at the Jersey Shore...

That all changed in the hours before noon, when Gretchen Harrington, the 8-year-old daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, was kidnapped while walking to a vacation Bible school less than a quarter-mile from her house. Her body was found by a jogger in a state park nearly two months later.

The crime forever changed the lives of the children who were near Gretchen's age and their parents, many of whom chose to live in Marple Township because they considered it a safe refuge from the crime-ridden streets of Philadelphia.

Journalists Mike Mathis and Joanna Falcone Sullivan examine the kidnapping, murder and the nearly five-decade long investigation through rare access to police files in what is still considered an open investigation.

Mike Mathis, Joanna Falcone Sullivan

Mike Mathis and Joanna Falcone Sullivan grew up in Marple Township and vividly recall the kidnapping and murder of Gretchen Harrington and its effect on their community. Like with the people interviewed in this book, the tragedy was forever seared in their memory. Both authors started their journalism careers at the Paxon Hollow Junior High School newspaper, the Hollow Log, and have worked for decades in the newspaper and communications industry. As adults, they long talked about writing this book and finally saw an opportunity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The History Press