Police: 100 skulls and body parts found in Pennsylvania grave theft case

Delaware County prosecutors said investigators found more than 100 skulls and other mummified human remains in connection with a grave-robbery investigation that culminated in the arrest of Jonathan Christ Gerlach, 34, near Philadelphia’s western suburbs. Authorities said the case traced to break-ins at Mount Moriah Cemetery, an abandoned burial ground in Yeadon where a maintenance group estimates there are about 150,000 grave sites.

Prosecutors said the discovery began after police spotted bones and skulls visible in the back seat of a car near an abandoned cemetery on the city’s outskirts. Police said that evidence led them to a basement filled with body parts that authorities said were hoarded by Gerlach.

Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse described what investigators saw in the evidence. “They were in various states. Some of them were hanging, as it were. Some of them were pieced together, some were just skulls on a shelf,” Rouse said.

Police said the remains and related evidence were found during a search of Gerlach’s Ephrata home and storage unit. Authorities said officers recovered more than 100 human skulls, long bones, mummified hands and feet, and two decomposing torsos, along with other skeletal items.

In addition to the remains, prosecutors said investigators recovered jewelry believed to be linked to graves. Police said that in at least one case, a pacemaker was still attached.

Authorities said the break-ins at Mount Moriah Cemetery targeted mausoleums and underground vaults at the 1855 cemetery, with at least 26 mausoleums and vaults forced open since early November. Police said the entries focused on sealed vaults and mausoleums containing older burials, which they said were smashed open or damaged through stonework to reach remains inside.

Police said a monthslong investigation ended Tuesday night with the arrest of Gerlach as he walked back toward his car with a crowbar. Police said officers found a burlap bag containing mummified remains of two small children, three skulls and other bones.

Investigators said they had been looking into a string of burglaries when an investigator checked Gerlach’s vehicle plates and found he had been near Yeadon repeatedly during the period when the burglaries occurred. Police said Gerlach then told investigators he took about 30 sets of human remains and showed them the graves he stole from.

Rouse said prosecutors are still determining how to fully characterize what happened. “Given the enormity of what we are looking at and the sheer, utter lack of reasonable explanation, it’s difficult to say right now, at this juncture, exactly what took place. We’re trying to figure it out,” Rouse told reporters.

Gerlach was charged with 100 counts each of abuse of a corpse and receiving stolen property, along with multiple counts of desecrating a public monument, desecrating a venerated object, desecrating a historic burial place, burglary, trespassing and theft. He was jailed on $1 million bond, and no lawyer was listed in court records. A message seeking comment was texted to a cellphone linked to him.