{"id":98220,"date":"2026-01-27T21:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T21:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/98220\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T21:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T21:11:09","slug":"pennsylvania-grave-robber-accused-of-stashing-skulls-bones-and-rotting-corpses-at-his-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/98220\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Grave Robber Accused of Stashing Skulls, Bones and Rotting Corpses at His Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

A depraved Pennsylvania man squirreled away a sickening trove of more than 100 human skulls as well as infant remains, mummified feet and rotting corpses, police say.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Gerlach\u2019s home was \u201ca horror movie come to life,\u201d authorities say according to NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Jonathan Gerlach \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old is accused of robbing dozens of graves in a historic cemetery near Philadelphia, even rappelling into mausoleums and prying open underground vaults before making off with a cornucopia of body parts.<\/p>\n

The alleged tomb raider has been charged with 300 counts of theft, receiving stolen property and abuse of a corpse.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

NBC10 Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Gerlach was caught after repeated break-ins at the Mount Moriah Cemetery in Yeadon. In early November, the volunteer group that maintains the final resting place for thousands alerted police about extensive damage to a mausoleum.<\/p>\n

Multiple other graves were reported desecrated and robbed over the next two months.<\/p>\n

In December, investigators received a tip alleging a partially decomposed corpse was hanging in Gerlach\u2019s basement and that the death merchant had been \u201cin Chicago selling a human skull,\u201d per 6ABC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

NBC10 Philadelphia<\/p>\n

They also discovered he\u2019d posted in an online \u201cHuman Bones and Skull selling group.\u201d One of his apparent customers thanked him for mailing \u201ca possible teen\u201d and \u201ca baboon and a monkey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The accused corpse klepto was arrested on Jan. 6 when he was spotted leaving Mount Moriah with a burlap bag and a crowbar, according to the probable cause affidavit. Officers allege bones and skulls were visible in his vehicle.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

NBC10 Philadelphia<\/p>\n

After obtaining search warrants for his Lancaster County home and a storage unit, investigators discovered what they believe are dozens of sets of human remains, as well as ashes, jewelry and clothing also believed stolen from graves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my 30-year career, [this was] probably one of the most horrific things,\u201d said Yeadon Borough Police Chief Henry Giammarco. \u201cThere was an infant, and unfortunately, to see that being a father and a grandfather, it truly tears your heart up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerlach is being held in lieu of $1 million cash bail.<\/p>\n

This story Pennsylvania Grave Robber Accused of Stashing Skulls, Bones and Rotting Corpses at His Home<\/a> first appeared on Globe<\/a>. Add Globe as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A depraved Pennsylvania man squirreled away a sickening trove of more than 100 human skulls as well as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48095,212,48096,41649,41647,41356,15619,28,30,29,69,18433,48094],"class_list":["post-98220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-decomposed-corpse","tag-delaware-county","tag-human-bones","tag-human-skulls","tag-jonathan-gerlach","tag-mount-moriah-cemetery","tag-nbc10-philadelphia","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-philadelphia","tag-receiving-stolen-property","tag-rotting-corpses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}