MEDIA, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The preliminary hearing for the man accused of stealing more than 100 skeletal remains from area cemeteries was postponed on Friday.
Jonathan Gerlach, 34, was not in court for his scheduled preliminary hearing at the Delaware County Courthouse. His defense requested and received a continuance.
Gerlach was arrested in January near the historic Mount Moriah Cemetery, which is in both Delaware County and Southwest Philadelphia. Police said Gerlach had human skulls and bones in the back seat of his car.
In a search of his Ephrata, Lancaster County, home, investigators found more than 100 sets of human remains, plus eight more in a storage locker. Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse described it as a "horror movie come to life."
Authorities said Gerlach got the bones by breaking into mausoleums and large gravesites at Mount Moriah as well as a cemetery in Luzerne County. He posted about collecting and selling skeletons on Instagram, investigators said.
Despite the postponement of the hearing, several relatives of the victims were at the courthouse.
"Who on God's green Earth would do something like that?" said Judy Prichard McCleary.
The mausoleum of her great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Prichard, was one of the ones broken into at Mount Moriah. Her great-great-aunt's remains were taken.
"He built this mausoleum because he wanted to keep his family together, and all his children are buried in Mount Moriah," she said. "I think the best thing that can be done to this man is community service, so he has to think about what he's done. But I don't know if he has a heart, if it would make any difference or not."
Gerlach is facing a litany of charges, including burglary, abuse of a corpse, and theft.
Neither the prosecution nor the defense talked with the press after the canceled hearing. There is currently no new date for the preliminary hearing.
Yeadon Police Chief Henry Giammarco said they are continuing their investigation. "We're hoping this case gets resolved and we can get some closure for the families that have been involved in this case."
