{"id":497278,"date":"2026-01-09T21:51:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T01:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/man-steals-more-than-100-skeletons-from-cemeteries-in-pennsylvania\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T21:51:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T01:51:30","slug":"man-steals-more-than-100-skeletons-from-cemeteries-in-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/man-steals-more-than-100-skeletons-from-cemeteries-in-pennsylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Man steals more than 100 skeletons from cemeteries in Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"A Pennsylvania man is accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from cemeteries in Delaware County, Philadelphia, and Luzerne County.\n\nJonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, is charged with 26 counts of theft, 26 counts of criminal trespass, 100 counts of abuse of a corpse, 100 counts of receiving stolen property, 26 counts of intentional desecration of a public monument, and other related offenses.\n\n\n

How the police identified Jonathan Gerlach as a suspect<\/h2>\n\n\nCourt documents obtained by NBC10 revealed details about the robberies and how investigators identified Gerlach as the suspect.\n\nAccording to the criminal complaint, the thefts occurred between November 7, 2025, and January 6, 2026, in the Delaware County and Philadelphia sections of Mount Moriah Cemetery, as well as in a cemetery in Plains Township, Luzerne County.\n\nIn total, 26 mausoleums and underground burial sites were robbed or desecrated at Mount Moriah Cemetery, investigators said.\n\n\n
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You may be interested in: Skeletons of rats discovered found on a ship that sank 1,400 years ago<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n Robos en Mausoleos<\/title>\n \n body {\n font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\n background-color: #f4f4f4;\n margin: 40px;\n color: #333;\n }\n h1, h2 {\n color: #2c3e50;\n }\n .container {\n background: #ffffff;\n padding: 25px;\n border-radius: 8px;\n box-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);\n }\n ul {\n line-height: 1.8;\n }\n \n\n\n\n<div class=\"container\">\n <h1>Investigaci\u00f3n por Robos en Mausoleos<\/h1>\n\n <p>\n Las autoridades investigan una serie de robos en los que un individuo irrumpi\u00f3 en mausoleos y sustrajo restos humanos.\n De acuerdo con los investigadores, los restos robados corresponden a las siguientes personas:\n <\/p>\n\n <h2>Restos humanos sustra\u00eddos<\/h2>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Martha Hunter<\/strong> (1854 \u2013 1869)<\/li>\n <li><strong>Mary Prichard Steigleman<\/strong> (1878 \u2013 1940)<\/li>\n <li><strong>Mary Cappelini Paga<\/strong> (1898 \u2013 1981)<\/li>\n <li><strong>Leo Terence<\/strong> (1928 \u2013 1981)<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n\n <h2>B\u00f3vedas familiares afectadas<\/h2>\n <ul>\n <li>Familia Allabauch<\/li>\n <li>Familia Baker<\/li>\n <li>Familia Blakeney<\/li>\n <li>Familia del Capit\u00e1n Gain<\/li>\n <li>Familia Charlton<\/li>\n <li>Familia DeHaven<\/li>\n <li>Familia Dieterich<\/li>\n <li>Familia Forshee<\/li>\n <li>Familia Hurst<\/li>\n <li>Familia Louder<\/li>\n <li>Familia Marshall<\/li>\n <li>Familia McCullough<\/li>\n <li>Familia McGroughty<\/li>\n <li>Familia Ogden<\/li>\n <li>Familia Prichard<\/li>\n <li>Familia Slack<\/li>\n <li>Familia Steele<\/li>\n <li>Familia Ziegler<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThroughout their investigation, the detectives collected numerous pieces of evidence from the crime scenes, including energy drink cans, cigarettes, a pair of glasses, a zip tie, and tools.\n\nIn late December, as the investigation continued, Plains Township and Yeadon police learned of a lead that had been sent to the Lancaster City Police Department.\n\nThe tip, which was sent on December 20, 2025, identified Jonathan Gerlach as a possible suspect in the robbery of the Luzerne County mausoleum.\n\nAccording to the informant, witnesses had seen a partially decomposed corpse hanging in the basement of Gerlach's house in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. The informant also posted Gerlach's Instagram account, which, according to investigators, included posts about taxidermy, collecting and selling skeletons, oddities, and bone museums.\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>You can also read: <a href=\"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/internacionales\/0-nuevas-especies\/\">Scientists from the American Museum of Natural History discover 70 new species in 2025<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\nThe police also identified Gerlach as the suspect in a robbery at a hardware store in East Earl Township, Pennsylvania, in which a headlamp, a rechargeable LED light bar, gloves, and tools commonly used in robberies were stolen.\n\nThe researchers also determined that <a href=\"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/internacionales\/0-nuevas-especies\/\">Gerlach <\/a>was a member of a \"Sale of human bones and skulls\" group on Facebook and saw a post in which a member thanked him for selling him an item.\n\nPolice also searched Gerlach's CashApp account, which displayed a photo of a person holding what appeared to be a human skull in front of their face, and identified Gerlach's vehicle, which they said was circulating near the locations and on the dates of the cemetery robberies reported, according to the criminal complaint.\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Arrest of Jonathan Gerlach<\/h2>\n\n\nOn Tuesday, January 6, around 8 p.m., detectives were conducting surveillance in the Philadelphia section of Mount Moriah Cemetery, at the intersection of Cemetery and Chester avenues, when they spotted a vehicle with numerous bones and skulls in the back seat, according to authorities. The driver, later identified as Jonathan Gerlach, was seen leaving the cemetery with a burlap bag, a crowbar, and other objects, police reported.\n\nThe investigators apprehended Gerlach. Then, he allegedly admitted to stealing about 30 sets of human remains.\n\nThen, investigators executed a search warrant at his home on Washington Avenue in Ephrata and recovered 100 human skeletons, as well as eight more human remains inside a warehouse that Gerlach owned on East Main Street in Ephrata, according to the criminal complaint.\n\n\"The other night, detectives encountered a horror movie that came to life,\" said Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse during a press conference on Thursday. \"This is an incredible scene that none of those involved \u2014 from me to the detectives and the forensic doctors who are now trying to reconstruct what they are seeing, literally \u2014 had ever seen.\"\n\nRouse said that some of the stolen skeletons are hundreds of years old.\n\n\"We are trying to determine exactly what we are seeing,\" Rouse said. \"Simply put, at this moment we cannot date or identify them all.\"\n\nRouse also said that some of the skeletons are of babies and children.\n\n\"It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrible,\" Rouse said. \"I feel sorry for those who are distressed by this and who are going through this, trying to find out if it's their loved one or their child, because we found remains that we believe correspond to babies of months among those he had collected. We sympathize with each family affected by this.\"\n\nGerlach is currently being held at Delaware County Prison after failing to post a $1 million bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 20, 2026.\n\nOnline court records do not include a lawyer who can speak on your behalf.\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is it illegal to buy or sell human bones?<\/h2>\n\n\nIn Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, it is not illegal to buy or sell human bones.\n\nWhat is illegal is the theft and looting of graves, as well as the interstate trafficking of stolen goods.\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>You can read: <a href=\"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/nacionales\/hallazgo-de-restos-oseos-en-la-zona-colonial\/\">Discovery of bone remains in front of church surprises in the Colonial Zone<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\nSo, what would someone want to do with another person's bones? Well, there's a whole market for them.\n\nNBC10 investigators looked into the business.\n\nAlthough court documents show that most of the business is done online, investigators found that a Facebook group has more than 5,300 people following it.\n\nPeople send messages from all over the world and the items usually cost a few hundred dollars.\n\nThere are also shops where human bones can be bought and where complete skeletons can cost up to $7,000.\n\nWhile Gerlach is in custody, the investigation continues. Anyone with information about the robberies should contact Detective Leah Cesanek at 610-623-1500 or Detective Chris Karr at 610-891-4700.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Pennsylvania man is accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from cemeteries in Delaware County, Philadelphia, and Luzerne County. Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, is charged with 26 counts of theft, 26 counts of criminal trespass, 100 counts of abuse of a corpse, 100 counts of receiving stolen property, 26 counts of intentional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-497278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","dum_api":{"author_name":"Ana Laura L\u00f3pez","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2025-01-29-at-1.45.56-PM-96x96.jpeg","categories_name":["Uncategorized"],"featured_media_url":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}