MEDIA, Pa. — Judy Prichard McCleary believes her ancestors have gone to the afterlife, and that solely their our bodies are buried at the household mausoleum in a sprawling Philadelphia-area cemetery.
Yet she stays rattled by the discovery that 5 of their 9 crypts had been disturbed – and the stays of a great-great-great aunt stolen – in a bizarre string of crimes involving the theft of greater than 100 our bodies from Pennsylvania cemeteries.
“I believe their souls are in heaven. I still think it’s disruptive,” McCleary mentioned Friday after a transient court docket listening to in which the defendant waived his proper to an evidentiary listening to. Jonathan Gerlach, 34, is charged with two dozen housebreaking counts after authorities mentioned he stole human stays from gravesites in a number of counties, together with scores of different expenses.
The macabre nature of the crime has captured the public creativeness and prompted a wave of information protection. McCleary is aware of that police could have extra pressing instances to handle than crimes in opposition to the useless. But she and a relative available Friday mentioned it is nonetheless not a victimless crime. She hopes it’ll encourage lawmakers to do extra to cease the sale of body parts on-line, one of the potential motives in the case.
“To be able to sell body parts on the internet, just appalls me. I think it should be stopped,” she mentioned.
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Gerlach, of Lancaster County, was arrested in January near Mount Moriah Cemetery, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Police mentioned they might see bones and skulls in the again seat of his automotive, main them to look his dwelling and a storage unit in Ephrata. They mentioned they discovered greater than 100 human skulls, mummified arms and ft and related objects.
They additionally recovered jewellery believed to be linked to the graves and a pacemaker nonetheless connected to a body. Gerlach’s arraignment is June 3, though his lawyer, who declined to touch upon the case, mentioned he was unlikely to look.
Gerlach, who stays in custody, sported glasses and a tight bun in court docket Friday, and had a collar-sized tattoo round his neck, as he politely answered routine questions from the decide.
This undated photograph launched by the Delaware County District Attorneys’ Office exhibits Jonathan Gerlach.
(Delaware County District Attorneys’ Office by way of AP)
He was arrested in January as he walked again from Mount Moriah Cemetery towards his automotive with a crowbar, police mentioned. They mentioned they discovered the mummified stays of two young children, three skulls and different bones in a burlap bag. Gerlach informed investigators he took about 30 units of human stays and confirmed them the graves he stole from, they mentioned.
Mount Moriah, which dates to 1855, is a 160-acre landmark on the Philadelphia-Yeadon borough line with about 150,000 grave sites.
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The Prichard household mausoleum was constructed there in the early 1900s by McCleary’s great-great- grandfather, Jonathan Prichard, who got here to the U.S. from Ireland and have become a grocer. Some kin say he invented the first paper bag, however there is no patent on file, so it stays solely a quaint half of the household lore.
Prichard moved the our bodies of two youngsters who had died earlier into the mausoleum, earlier than he and different kin joined them there upon their deaths.
“It just made me sick to my stomach that anybody would want to do that,” McCleary mentioned of the crimes. “I think the man needs help.”
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