Pennsylvania man found with bones and skulls in backseat, later linked to theft of over 100 skeletons from local cemetery

Pennsylvania has been dealing with a real-life tomb raider who has been breaking into mausoleums to steal human remains. After an extensive investigation, the Yeadon Borough Police Department recently arrested Jonathan Gerlach, 34. He has since been charged with 100 counts of abuse of a corpse, 100 counts of receiving stolen property, 26 counts of burglary, 26 counts of criminal trespass, and 26 counts of intentional desecration of public monuments.

There have been more than a comfortable number of stories lately involving people and human remains. Toward the tail end of 2025, there were reports of a family that believed their father had abandoned them, only to later find his bones in the backyard. In another case, someone showed up at an airport in Tampa with a bag full of human remains. Even so, this case out of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, still stands out as the most disturbing.

It began with criminal complaints filed between Nov. 7, 2025, and Jan. 6, 2026, involving Mount Moriah Cemetery and another cemetery in Plains Township, Luzerne County. In total, 26 mausoleums and underground burial sites were desecrated, with human remains reported missing upon later review.

As the scope of the incidents became clear, police departments in Plains Township, Yeadon, and Lancaster were alerted and placed on high alert. Lancaster City Police Department was the first to receive an anonymous tip identifying Jonathan Gerlach as a possible suspect in the crimes.

According to that tip, witnesses had allegedly seen a “partially decomposed body” hanging in the basement of Gerlach’s home in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. The same tipster also claimed that Gerlach’s Instagram featured posts exploring taxidermy, skeleton collecting, bone museums, and even discussions about selling bones. Still, a fascination with bones alone was not enough to build a case — after all, it’s a topic that spawned 12 seasons of a hit TV show.

However, his social media activity gave investigators reason to take a closer look. As they dug deeper, more details began to point in his direction. Even his Cash App profile reportedly featured an image of a man holding a skull.

On Tuesday, Jan. 6, detectives conducting late-night surveillance in the Philadelphia section of Mount Moriah Cemetery spotted a vehicle with multiple bones and skulls in the backseat. The driver was identified as Gerlach. He was also found with a burlap bag and a crowbar.

According to NBC, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said, “Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life the other night, guys. This is an unbelievable scene that no one involved — from myself to the detectives to the medical examiners now trying to piece together what they are looking at — quite literally, none of them have ever seen anything like this before.”

Gerlach is currently being held at Delaware County Prison on $1 million bail. He has not yet secured an attorney to speak on his behalf, so his motives remain unclear. The case has since evolved, with investigators uncovering a Facebook group with over 5,000 followers dedicated to buying and selling human bones.