Daijiworld Media Network - Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania, Jan 9: In a shocking case that authorities described as “a horror movie come to life”, a 34-year-old man from Pennsylvania has been charged with hundreds of criminal counts after police recovered a large number of human remains from his residence and storage unit.

Jonathan Gerlach has been charged with nearly 300 counts, including theft, receiving stolen property and abuse of a corpse, after investigators discovered more than 100 human skulls, along with long bones, mummified feet, decomposing torsos and other remains at his home in Ephrata. Officials said additional sets of human remains were also found at his storage locker.

Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said most of the remains were recovered from Gerlach’s basement, with eight more sets found elsewhere. “Detectives have recovered an awful lot of bones, and we are still trying to piece together who they are, where they are from and how many we are looking at,” he said, adding that the process could take considerable time.

Authorities said some of the remains appear to be hundreds of years old, while others are more recent. One set was found with a pacemaker, and officials also believe that remains of infants, possibly only months old, were among those recovered. “I grieve for families who are now trying to determine whether these remains belong to their loved ones,” Rouse said.

Gerlach was arrested on Tuesday while leaving Mount Moriah Cemetery, a historic burial ground spanning parts of Philadelphia and Yeadon. According to investigators, he admitted to stealing around 30 sets of human remains from the cemetery.

Between November 7 and the day of his arrest, at least 26 underground vaults and mausoleums at Mount Moriah were broken into or damaged, most of them more than a century old. Surveillance teams later observed Gerlach leaving the cemetery carrying a burlap bag, which allegedly contained mummified remains of two small children, three skulls and other bones.

Yeadon Mayor Rohan Hepkins said the cemetery, which has no perimeter fence and multiple access points, was an “inviting target”. He noted that historic figures such as Betsy Ross were once interred there and that soldiers from every major US war are buried at the site.

Officials believe the remains found at Gerlach’s home may have originated from multiple cemeteries, not just Mount Moriah. Gerlach is currently being held on $1 million cash bail. Court records do not list a lawyer representing him.

A nonprofit group working to preserve Mount Moriah Cemetery thanked law enforcement agencies for their efforts, stating that their cooperation was key in bringing the case to light.