After Pennsylvania grave robbery, loved ones worried final resting place of family members was disturbed
The abandoned, historic Mount Moriah Cemetery in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, is the final resting place for thousands. Many have been interred here since the 1800s.
The cemetery has been thrust into the spotlight after a Lancaster County man was accused of harvesting sets of human remains in the middle of the night, hoarding skulls, bones, and corpses, and then offering some of them for sale on his social media accounts.
Police are confident they've taken inventory of all the disturbed graves, but they've received plenty of calls from people worried that their loved one's final resting place was disturbed.
"We are still out there with the Friends of Mount Moriah just checking to make sure," Yeadon Police Chief Henry Giammarco said.
Jonathan Gerlach's alleged crimes at Mount Moriah are incredibly disturbing, according to longtime investigators.
Police said they have since uncovered more than 100 sets of human skeletons and bones at Gerlach's Ephrata home, and added that more bones and several corpses were found in a storage unit.
Detectives said after receiving a tip in November, they allegedly caught Gerlach in the act and then backtracked, following a path of energy drink cans and discarded cigarette butts — leading police to mausoleums and crypts they say Gerlach burglarized.
A message left for Gerlach's public defender was not returned Monday.
Since the story broke last week — police have received dozens and dozens of inquiries from people with family buried at Mount Moriah, more than 80 in just two days.
"They're worried about their loved ones," Giammarco said. "Were they disturbed? Were they moved?"