Pennsylvania authorities made a gruesome discovery after finding more than 100 sets of human remains in a home and a storage unit, calling the discovery a “horror movie come to life.”
Thirty-four-year-old Jonathan Gerlach of Ephrata, PA, is facing more than 500 charges after the Delaware County District Attorney’s office said police “observed the suspect’s car with numerous bones and skulls in plain view in the back seat of the vehicle” at the Mount Moriah Cemetery on the outskirts of Philadelphia.
The authorities said they were there investigating a string of burglaries of graves and mausoleums from a PA cemetery.
A local man making headlines for allegedly housing over one hundred stolen human remains at his Ephrata home also admitted to selling some of them online, according to search warrants obtained by CBS 21.
— CBS 21 News (@CBS21NEWS) January 9, 2026
READ MORE: https://t.co/LgLyDnqc72 pic.twitter.com/ZtyH4omtH8
"Gerlach was then seen exiting the cemetery holding a burlap bag, crowbar, and other assorted items,” a press release read. "The offender was brought into custody where he admitted to stealing approximately 30 sets of human remains. Through investigation it is believed that over 100 full or partial sets of human and skeletal remains have been recovered from Gerlach’s home and storage unit in Ephrata, PA."
"Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life... This is an unbelievable scene that no one involved, from myself, to the detectives, to the medical examiners that are now trying to piece together what they are looking at — quite literally — none of them have ever seen anything like this before," District Attorney Tanner Rouse said.
🦴🏚️ The discovery of over 100 skeletons in a Pennsylvania home was likened to a "horror movie come to life" by the Delaware County district attorney. Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, was caught robbing a grave in Mount Moriah Cemetery. He now faces multiple… pic.twitter.com/NrFEr8cOHT
— LynneP (@LynneBP_294) January 10, 2026
"Detectives have recovered an awful lot of bones at this point, and we are still trying to piece together who they are, where they are from, and how many we are looking at, and it’s going to be quite some time before we have a final answer," Rouse added.
Local PA CBS affiliate 21 (WHP) reported on what search warrants connected to the case read:
CBS 21 obtained search warrants Friday that reveal more about how authorities were able to identify Gerlach as a suspect, along with what was found inside his home and storage facility during searches earlier this week and what he was doing with the stolen remains.
In the warrant, it revealed that police received a tip to look into Gerlach about a mausoleum robbery in Luzerne County, the outlet reported.
The tipster told police they know someone who’d recently been in Gerlach’s home and saw a “partially decomposed corpse” hanging in his basement.
The tipster said this happened around the same time the Luzerne County mausoleum was robbed in November, and that Gerlach had also recently been charged with retail thefts in East Earl Township.
The press release noted some of the Items seized from Gerlach's home.
It included the following:
Over 100 human skulls
Numerous human long bones
Mummified human feet and hands
Two decomposing human torsos
Other assorted skeletal items
Gerlach has been charged with more than “450 counts, including 100 counts each of abuse of corpse, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property,” the Fox News story, linked above, reported. The investigation is ongoing.
He remains behind bars with bail set at $1,000,000, and an arraignment hearing is set for January 20.
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