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POLICE investigating repeated break-ins at an abandoned cemetery on the outskirts of Philadelphia have arrested a 34-year-old man after discovering a basement filled with more than 100 human skeletons, skulls, and body parts, authorities said.
The arrest follows a monthslong probe into burglaries at Mount Moriah Cemetery, where at least 26 mausoleums and vaults were forced open since early November.
AP reported that Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said the remains were found in various states of preservation.
"Some of them were hanging, as it were. Some of them were pieced together, some were just skulls on a shelf," he told reporters.
“Most were recovered from the basement of the suspect’s home and storage unit, along with jewellery believed to have been taken from graves. In one case, a pacemaker was still attached to a skeleton.
Police said Jonathan Christ Gerlach, 34, targeted mausoleums and underground vaults at Mount Moriah, the country’s largest abandoned burial ground, which covers 160 acres and contains an estimated 150,000 grave sites.
Authorities said he had repeatedly been near Yeadon, where the cemetery is located, during the period the break-ins occurred.
Gerlach was arrested after officers spotted him returning to his vehicle carrying a crowbar and a burlap bag containing mummified remains of two small children, three skulls, and other bones.
Investigators said Gerlach admitted taking about 30 sets of human remains and showed police the graves he had stolen from.
"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 said.
Gerlach has been 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 is being held on $1 million bail. No lawyer was listed in court records, and authorities have been unable to reach him for comment. - January 11, 2026