Kidnapping, Murder and Innocence Lost

Murder Most Foul

With 50-year-old cold murder cases there is rarely the opportunity to bring the perpetrator, even if identified, to justice. Odds are that he, or she, is long deceased. But not so in the case of 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington of Marple, PA, a quiet suburb of Philadelphia. In 1975 she was abducted on her way to Bible Camp, brutally murdered and her naked body dumped in Ridley State Park.

In 2022, authors Joanna Falcone Sullivan and Mike Mathis, who grew up in Marple and were childhood contemporaries of Gretchen, decided to write a book about the crime, its effect on the family of Gretchen and, for that matter, the entire town. They interviewed both state and town authorities and were even given access to investigation files. They sat down with Gretchen’s family and friends and unwittingly the murderer and his family as well.

Many folks credit the authors with revitalizing the investigation after 5 decades and, in no small part helping identify the murderer and bring him to justice.

Joanna Falcone Sullivan, one of the authors of Marple’s Gretchen Harrington Tragedy: Kidnapping, Murder and Innocence Lost in Suburban Philadelphia, joins us today on MURDER MOST FOUL.