Authorities in Pennsylvania have detailed a disturbing case involving a man accused of stealing human remains from a historic cemetery and selling them on the internet. The suspect, Jonathan Gerlach, 34, allegedly admitted to the crimes after being caught with skulls and bones in his car.
A tip-off leads to a grim discovery
According to search warrants, detectives were already probing cemetery burglaries when an online tip directed them to Gerlach. The informant claimed someone had seen a 'partially decomposed corpse' hanging in Gerlach's basement and that Gerlach had boasted of selling a human skull in Chicago.
Investigators examined Gerlach's social media, finding he followed groups dedicated to 'skeleton collecting and sales'. One user thanked him for a 'human skin bag', and his profile picture on a payment app showed a person holding what looked like a human skull.
From the cemetery to the car and home
Police linked Gerlach to thefts at the historic Mount Moriah cemetery in Yeadon, Philadelphia, after his Toyota Rav4 was repeatedly captured on licence plate readers near the site. His mobile phone records also placed him there during the burglaries.
On 6 January, Yeadon police said they saw Gerlach leaving the cemetery with a crowbar and a burlap sack. He was arrested near his car, where bones and skulls were visible in the back seat. The sack allegedly contained two children's mummified remains, three skulls, and several loose bones.
In a search warrant, Gerlach reportedly confessed 'that he sold some remains online but that the vast majority of them were in the basement' of his home in Ephrata, roughly 70 miles away. A search the following day revealed human remains on shelves, hanging from the ceiling, and in a storage locker.
Charges and consequences for a historic site
Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse described the scene as walking into 'a horror movie come to life'. Gerlach now faces nearly 575 charges, including over 100 counts of corpse abuse, theft, burglary, and desecration of burial places.
He remains in custody on $1m bail and is tentatively scheduled for a preliminary hearing on 20 January.
The case has highlighted the vulnerability of the 1855-established Mount Moriah cemetery, where notable figures like Betsy Ross were once interred and which contains remains from the American War of Independence. The site lacked a security fence and had multiple accessible entrances.
In response, the non-profit Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery is seeking public donations to fund urgent security upgrades, including new surveillance cameras, patrols, and a security fence.
