A Lancaster County man accused of stealing bodies from a Philadelphia-area cemetery and keeping human remains in his home also is being investigated in the theft of two bodies from a crumbling Luzerne County mausoleum, police said in court documents.
Police said Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, stole the remains of at least 30 people from Mount Moriah Cemetery, which straddles the Philadelphia-Delaware County border.
Delaware County investigators seeking to search Gerlach's home wrote in an affidavit that Lancaster City police received a Dec. 20 online tip titled "corpse in basement," which advised police to "[l]ook into Jonathan Gerlach for the Luzerne County mausoleum robbery."
Plains Township police initially announced in November that they were investigating the removal of two bodies from the condemned Good Shepherd Memorial Mausoleum on Westminster Road between Nov. 1 and 6.
The affidavit said detectives noticed similarities between the Southeastern Pennsylvania and Plains Twp. cases in the means of "gaining entry into the mausoleums and underground vaults and removing human remains."
One of the bodies removed from Good Shepherd was previously identified as Mary Cappellini Piga by her great-grandson, Plains Twp. Commissioner Peter Biscontini. A grandson, Vince Cappellini, also spoke about theft to Newsweek.
The affidavit identifies the other body stolen from Plains Twp. as Leo Terence.
Gerlach was charged with numerous counts of burglary, breaking and entering, abuse of a corpse and intentional desecration of a public monument in Lancaster and Delaware counties.
As of Friday online court records showed no charges in connection with the Good Shepherd theft.
Police: Family friend found corpse in basement
The affidavit stated the tipster said a family friend reported that members of the family told them they saw a partially decomposed corpse in Gerlach's basement, but were "afraid to tell the police."
"They suspect he may be behind the Luzerne County mausoleum robbery, which happened around the same time in early November," their online tip stated.
Police interviewed the tipster, who said members of Gerlach's family told them they saw a partially decomposed male body "hanging like a display" in Gerlach's basement.
The tip also states Gerlach "disappeared for a few days in November and mentioned that he had been 'in Chicago selling a human skull.'"
Alleged body parts sales
Police learned Gerlach was part of a Facebook Group called "Human Bones and Skull selling Group."
In a post related to Gerlach, a Facebook user wrote, "[m]ail call yet as always lol got a possible teen now in the collection and a baboon and monkey that was part a human skin bag thanks," according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also says police found Gerlach's CashApp account, which shows a profile picture of an unknown person holding a skull. CashApp is a digital platform allows users to send and receive money.
Police: Gerlach confessed to taking Mount Moriah bones
On Jan. 6 at around 10 p.m., police saw Gerlach's car parked adjacent to the cemetery, where there were numerous bones and skulls in the back seat of the car in plain view.
The affidavit states detectives later saw Gerlach exiting the cemetery and walking back towards his car carrying a burlap bag, crowbar and other assorted items.
He was taken into custody, where he stated "he removed the human bones from a grave within Mount Moriah Cemetery," police said. Gerlach admitted to stealing approximately 30 sets of human remains from the cemetery. He also admitted to selling "some" remains online, but "that the vast majority of them were in the basement of his current residence."
Police searching his home found over a hundred human skulls, bones, mummified human feet and hands, two decomposing human torsos and various jewelry and clothing items believed to be removed from the victims' graves. They also found additional human remains, including ashes, at a storage unit owned by Gerlach, according to the affidavit.
As part of the investigation, police said they took into evidence items found near the vandalized Mount Moriah graves, including rope, tools, energy drink cans and cigarette butts, which were sent to a state police lab for testing.
The affidavit says a Plains Twp. detective said that agency collected cigarette butts and energy cans from their crime scene at Good Shepherd, and those items also were sent to a state police lab for testing.
Gerlach is being held at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County in lieu of $1 million bail. A preliminary hearing is set for 10 a.m. Jan. 20 before Delaware County Magisterial District Judge W. Keith Williams II, court records show.
