SWARTHMORE, Pa. (WPVI) — Authorities are investigating a series of grave robberies at Mt. Moriah Cemetery after skeletal remains were discovered in the basement of a man’s home in Ephrata.
Police say 26 mausoleums at the historic cemetery were broken into, including one erected in 1912 bearing the name Jonathan Prichard. Investigators believe the Prichard mausoleum was among the targets.
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Jonathan Prichard IV, who still lives on one of the family’s original homesteads in Swarthmore, said he was shocked to learn his great-great-grandfather’s remains may have been stolen.
“I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if that’s the same cemetery,'” Prichard said. “I’m not real happy about it. That’s twisted. How would he feel if I went and dug his mother up or something?”
Prichard admitted he knows little about his ancestor, who was born in 1827.
“I’m embarrassed, I don’t know that much. I know he built a church in the city of Philadelphia,” he said. “We could have gone to college on his dime if we became ministers.”
Police say five of nine damaged crypts were missing remains, which may be among more than 100 sets of skeletal remains found in the home of Jonathan Gerlach. Investigators returned to Gerlach’s property on Thursday to remove additional bodies.
Authorities believe Gerlach was attempting to sell the skeletons. Posts on his social media accounts allegedly showed skulls and bones with captions offering them for sale and inviting direct messages.
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Gerlach was arrested Jan. 6 at Mt. Moriah Cemetery while police conducted surveillance in response to the break-ins.
Several notable Philadelphians are buried at the Yeadon cemetery, including John McCullough, a Shakespearean actor who rose to fame in the mid-1800s and performed at the Walnut Street Theatre. His family’s burial vault also shows signs of damage.
“He obviously spent a lot of money on that mausoleum and put his bones in there and wanted to be left alone, and he’s not,” Prichard said.
Prichard’s son, Jonathan Prichard V, has been donating to Friends of Mt. Moriah Cemetery, a group that helps maintain the site.
Yeadon police are asking anyone with family interred in the affected mausoleums to contact them.
