Accused Pennsylvania grave robber waives hearing ahead of grisly summer trial

MEDIA, Pa. (CN) — A Pennsylvania man accused of stealing more than 100 corpses and human remains waived his preliminary hearing Friday, setting the stage for a macabre trial this summer.

Jonathan Christian Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, announced his intent to waive the hearing at the Delaware County Courthouse Friday morning. Draped in a yellow jumpsuit and handcuffs, Gerlach appeared in front of Pennsylvania District Judge W. Keith Williams II for the first time since his Jan. 6 arrest.

Gerlach faces more than 500 state charges — varying from theft and burglary to abuse of a corpse and desecration of a public monument — after Yeadon police accused him of breaking into mausoleums and underground vaults at Mount Moriah Cemetery, a historic burial ground straddling Yeadon and southwest Philadelphia.

Defendants often waive preliminary hearings to negotiate reduced charges or a more favorable plea deal. Prosecutors dropped four burglary charges Friday related to Mount Moriah, but added two additional burglary charges from Lancaster and Luzerne County. Details on the new charges were not immediately made available.

According to police, more than 100 human skulls, bones and mummified hands and feet were found littered around Gerlach’s Ephrata home and nearby storage unit during execution of a search warrant. Ages of the deceased varied from children to adults, with some remains dated at least 200 years old.

“Very simply, detectives walked into a horror movie come to life,” Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said during a news conference following Gerlach’s arrest in January.

Police have additionally investigated Gerlach’s online presence, as since-deleted social media accounts appearing to be his were involved in groups for buying and selling human remains.

Initially scheduled for March 13, the since-waived hearing was postponed at the request of Gerlach’s attorney, Delaware County assistant public defender Anna Solveig Hinchman. Gerlach is being held on $1 million bail.

Family members speak out

As Gerlach waived his hearing in court, two family members of the disturbed sat watching in the gallery, seeking justice for the deceased.

Judy and Greg Prichard — of Bethel Township and Malvern, Pennsylvania, respectively — say they were informed by Yeadon police that one of the disturbed mausoleums at Mount Moriah belonged to their great-great grandfather, Jonathan Prichard. According to the Prichards, one of the remains interred in the mausoleum, Jonathan Prichard’s sister, was stolen from the premises.

Following the disturbance of their family’s burial site, Judy and Greg Prichard are now advocating for stronger restrictions on the sale of human remains.

“To be able to sell body parts on the internet just appalls me, and I think it should be stopped,” Judy Prichard said in front of the courthouse Friday. “There are legitimate reasons for having a corpse if you’re a learning institution, and in those cases, people choose to donate their body to science, and that’s their choice. My great-great grandfather wanted to be buried, and I’m assuming all his siblings did as well, because none of them donated their bodies to science.”

Judy Prichard continued, questioning how safe other remains at Mount Moriah — the burial site of veterans dating as far back as the French and Indian War and former burial site of Betsy Ross — are without additional legal protections.

“I just think the laws need to change,” she said. “If we just sweep it under the rug, it’s going to happen again in five years, or six years, or after I’m gone — and somebody’s going to say, ‘Why didn’t you do something?’ I’m a firm believer in, if you can do something, you should.”

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