Law enforcement officials can sometimes grapple with the most abhorrent and horrific side of humanity.
Even so, authorities in Pennsylvania recently stumbled on a scene that even they could barely fathom.
According to Fox News, a Pennsylvania man has been charged with a staggering number of offenses after investigators say they uncovered more than 100 full or partial sets of human and skeletal remains inside his residence and a nearby storage facility.
Authorities identified the suspect as 34-year-old Jonathan Gerlach of Ephrata, Pennsylvania. Prosecutors say the remains were recovered during the execution of search warrants tied to an ongoing investigation into stolen human remains.
The case began as an inquiry into repeated reports of vandalized graves and disturbed mausoleums at Mount Moriah Cemetery, located just outside Philadelphia. Law enforcement officials believe Gerlach is connected to a series of burglaries targeting burial sites at the historic cemetery.
According to the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, evidence gathered during that investigation ultimately led police to Gerlach’s home and a storage unit, where the remains were allegedly found.
Gerlach is now facing over 500 charges, including 100 charges each of abuse of corpse, theft by unlawful taking, and receiving stolen property.
District Attorney Tanner Rouse didn’t mince words when describing the scene during a Thursday news conference. --->READ MORE HERE
Jonathan Gerlach was allegedly caught as he was leaving Mount Moriah Cemetery with a burlap bag and a crowbar, prosecutors say
A Pennsylvania man is facing hundreds of charges after "over 100 full or partial sets of human and skeletal remains" were allegedly found in his home and a storage unit in a scene a district attorney described as a "horror movie come to life."
Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pa., was arrested this week by police who were investigating a string of burglarized graves and mausoleums at the Mount Moriah Cemetery on the outskirts of Philadelphia, according to the Delaware County District Attorney's Office.
"Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life... This is an unbelievable scene that no one involved, from myself, to the detectives to the medical examiners that are now trying to piece together what they are looking at — quite literally — none of them have ever seen anything like this before," District Attorney Tanner Rouse said Thursday.
"Detectives have recovered an awful lot of bones at this point, and we are still trying to piece together who they are, where they are from and how many we are looking at, and it’s going to be quite some time before we have a final answer," Rouse added, noting that some of the remains were months-old infants, while others were hundreds of years old.
The Delaware County District Attorney's Office said around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, police were conducting surveillance of Mount Moriah Cemetery "when they observed the suspect’s car with numerous bones and skulls in plain view in the back seat of the vehicle." --->READ MORE HERE
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