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<\/p>\nBones and skulls visible in the back seat of a car near an abandoned cemetery on Philadelphia\u2019s outskirts led police to a basement filled with body parts, which authorities say were horded by a man now accused of stealing about 100 sets of human remains.<\/p>\n
Officers say a Tuesday night arrest culminated a monthslong investigation into break-ins at Mount Moriah Cemetery, where at least 26 mausoleums and vaults had been forced open since early November.<\/p>\n
Investigators later searched the Ephrata home and storage unit of Jonathan Christ Gerlach, 34, and reported finding more than 100 human skulls, long bones, mummified hands and feet, two decomposing torsos and other skeletal items.<\/p>\n
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Stolen Graveyard Bones This undated photo released by the Delaware County District Attorneys\u2019 Office shows Jonathan Gerlach. (Delaware County District Attorneys\u2019 Office via AP) (AP)<\/p>\n
\u201cThey 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,\u201d Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said.<\/p>\n
Most were in the basement, authorities said, and they also recovered jewelry believed to be linked to the graves. In one case, a pacemaker was still attached.<\/p>\n
Police say Gerlach targeted mausoleums and underground vaults at the 1855 cemetery. It\u2019s considered the country\u2019s largest abandoned burial ground, according to Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery, which helps maintain the 160-acre landmark<\/a> in Yeadon that\u2019s home to an estimated 150,000 grave sites.<\/p>\n Police had been looking into the string of burglaries when an investigator checked Gerlach\u2019s vehicle plates and found he had been near Yeadon repeatedly during the period when the burglaries occurred. Police say the break-ins centered on sealed vaults and mausoleums containing older burials, which had been smashed open or had stonework damaged to reach the remains inside.<\/p>\n He was arrested as he walked back toward his car with a crowbar, police said, and a burlap bag in which officers found the mummified remains of two small children, three skulls and other bones.<\/p>\n Gerlach told investigators he took about 30 sets of human remains and showed them the graves he stole from, police said.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the enormity of what we are looking at and the sheer, utter lack of reasonable explanation, it\u2019s difficult to say right now, at this juncture, exactly what took place. We\u2019re trying to figure it out,\u201d Rouse told reporters.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n He is jailed on $1 million bond. No lawyer was listed in court records. A message seeking comment was texted to a cellphone linked to him.<\/p>\n Download the FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. | Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n