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Authorities reportedly apprehended a man leaving a cemetery with tools used for grave robbing, while human skulls and bones were visibly seen in the back of his car.
WASHINGTON — “Detectives encountered a real-life horror scene in that residence,” was how Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse described what authorities discovered while investigating a Pennsylvania man suspected of taking human remains from a historic graveyard and keeping them at his home.
Jonathan Christ Gerlach, aged 34, from Ephrata, Pennsylvania, was taken into custody on January 6. He faces numerous charges related to a series of burglaries involving graves and mausoleums at Mount Moriah Cemetery, which lies across areas of Philadelphia and the neighboring Yeadon Borough, as reported by the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office.
Authorities claim that Gerlach repeatedly targeted the cemetery from November 7, 2025, to January 6, 2026. Detectives responded to multiple reports of tampered graves and mausoleums before initiating surveillance operations, according to officials.
On the night of January 6, detectives on surveillance duty noticed Gerlach’s vehicle parked within the cemetery grounds, with bones and skulls seemingly in plain sight in the back seat, according to the DA’s office. They observed Gerlach leaving the cemetery with a burlap bag, a crowbar, and other tools, at which point they arrested him.
On the evening of Jan. 6, detectives conducting surveillance spotted Gerlach’s vehicle inside the cemetery and observed what appeared to be bones and skulls in plain view in the back seat, the DA’s office said. Investigators then watched as Gerlach exited the cemetery carrying a burlap bag, a crowbar and other tools before taking him into custody.
Authorities say Gerlach admitted to stealing approximately 30 sets of human remains. A search warrant executed later that night at his home and a storage unit in Ephrata, which is about 70 miles west of Philadelphia, led to the recovery of more than 100 full or partial sets of human and skeletal remains. The investigation remains ongoing, and officials said additional remains could still be identified.
“It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific,” Rouse said during a press conference. “I grieve for those who are upset by this, who are going through this, who are trying to figure out if it is in fact one of their loved ones.”
Following a review of the evidence, prosecutors approved a sweeping list of charges against Gerlach, including 26 felony counts of burglary, dozens of criminal trespass counts, more than 100 separate counts of abuse of a corpse, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, and multiple counts related to desecration of burial places, public monuments and venerated objects. Prosecutors said in a statement that Gerlach faces a total of 500 separate charges.
Gerlach was arraigned and remanded to the George W. Hill Correctional Facility, where he remains held on $1 million cash bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Jan. 20. As of Jan. 8, no attorney was listed for him in court records.
