Pennsylvania, United States. A 34 year old man, Jonathan Gerlach, has been arrested and charged following a disturbing discovery of human remains, including more than 100 skulls, decomposing torsos, and mummified body parts, found inside his residence and a separate storage facility.
Gerlach was taken into custody on Tuesday night after police reportedly spotted him leaving Mount Moriah Cemetery in Yeadon, just outside Philadelphia, carrying a crowbar and walking toward his vehicle. His arrest followed weeks of investigation into repeated reports of grave desecration and vandalism at the historic cemetery.
According to Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse, investigators uncovered bones, skulls, mummified hands and feet, and partial skeletons stored in Gerlach’s basement and an off site storage unit. Authorities described the discovery as deeply unsettling and unlike anything they had encountered before.
“They were in various states,” Rouse said. “Some of them were hanging. Some were pieced together. Some were just skulls on a shelf. Detectives walked into what looked like a horror movie come to life.”
Mount Moriah Cemetery covers approximately 160 acres and is the final resting place of an estimated 150,000 people, some buried as far back as the 1800s. Investigators believe Gerlach targeted the cemetery, forcibly opening at least 26 mausoleums and burial vaults. Authorities are still working to determine how long the alleged grave robberies continued and how many graves were disturbed.
Officials revealed that some of the remains recovered are believed to be hundreds of years old, while others appear to be significantly more recent. Among the remains were those believed to belong to children, including infants who were only a few months old at the time of death. Investigators also recovered jewellery believed to have been taken from graves at the cemetery, as well as a body fitted with a pacemaker, suggesting a modern burial had been violated.
“Very simply, detectives have recovered an awful lot of bones at this point, and we are still trying to piece together who they are, where they are from, and how many we are dealing with,” Rouse said. “It is going to be quite some time before we have a final answer.”
The district attorney also expressed sympathy for grieving families who may now fear their loved ones were among the disturbed remains.
“I grieve for those who are upset by this and trying to figure out if it is, in fact, their loved one or their child,” he said.
The investigation reportedly began around Halloween, after cemetery officials noticed widespread damage and signs of forced entry across multiple vaults and mausoleums. Surveillance efforts and increased patrols eventually led to Gerlach being identified as a suspect.
Court records show that Gerlach now faces more than 500 criminal charges, including 300 counts of theft, receiving stolen property, abuse of a corpse, desecration of a historic burial place, and desecration of a public monument. Authorities say additional charges could be filed as the investigation continues.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that efforts are ongoing to identify the recovered remains and ensure they are respectfully returned or reinterred, while also providing answers to affected families. The case has sent shockwaves through the local community and raised renewed concerns about security at historic cemeteries across the region.
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