Delco Cemetery Stewards Doing All They Can After Grave Robberies

YEADON, PA — "It was not the first thing I thought could happen here," John Schmehl Jr. said of the damage incurred at Mount Moriah Cemetery in late 2025.

Schmehl is the President of the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery Board of Managers. The small group of all volunteers oversees the historic cemetery, which was founded in 1855 as part of the rural cemetery movement. The cemetery lies in both Yeadon and Philadelphia.

"I have several family members who are interred on both the Yeadon and Philadelphia sides," Schmehl said. "My great-grandfather was one of the original caretakers of Mount Moriah, right around the turn of the century."

His grandfather then worked at Mount Moriah and St. James Cemetery in Philadelphia, and his father also worked at St. James.

"I showed up in December of 2019," he said. "Where my great-grandfather was buried, there was a tree behind the headstone that was actually forcing it over."

He reached out to the Friends of Mount Moriah to see if he could take care of the tree, and they gave him the go-ahead.

"As they say, the rest is history."

He ended up clearing three sections of the cemetery on the Yeadon side, where his uncle and his father's uncles were buried, and also helped reset the headstones in those sections.

Since then, Schmehl has a large part of the cemetery's stewardship.

Needless to say, the damage caused to the cemetery and the remains there being disturbed recently was shocking. Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Lancaster County, is accused of breaking into more than two dozen burial vaults and mausoleums to steal human remains. He is charged with hundreds of counts related to grave robbing.

"It's angering," he said of the alleged crimes committed by Gerlach. "If I could think of a better word at the moment, I would say something different, but that's the more encompassing term."

The past several weeks have been angering for many people with connections to the historic cemetery.

It was the original burial place of American Revolution icon Betsy Ross, where she laid for about 120 years until her remains were relocated to Philadelphia in 1975 as part of the nation's bicentennial celebration the following year.

Other notable Philadelphia-area figures are interred there, and they are searchable online here. But the alleged actions of Gerlach are affecting regular folks, Schmehl said.

"We've received dozens of emails, if not hundreds of emails, over the last week regarding people who have loved ones buried at Mount Moriah," he said. "We are doing out best to get back to them and keep them as informed and updated as much as possible."

He said while some people are showing grace to the core group of volunteers — the board consists of 11 people who are all volunteers — others have asked how this could happen or how could the alleges crimes go unnoticed.

"That's not the case," he said. "We fixed fences, we put up 10 cameras on the property in various locations to try to figure out what was going on and to assist the best we could. We weren't sitting on our hands."

Schmehl said game cameras that were previously installed without his involvement were stolen from the cemetery. But the new cameras set up are wrapped in a locked steel cage and attached to a tree.

Members have been working to address the damage incurred to the burial sites, which included pry marks on the targeted burial vaults, which had the lids left off, and bashed in doorways to sealed mausoleums.

No traditional burial sites were affected by Gerlach's alleged actions.

While some repairs have been made, such as sealing up the targeted burial sites, Schmehl said the board is avoiding major repairs as Delaware and Lancaster county authorities further investigate the grave robberies.

"We don't want to do anything permanent that we're going to have to undo if we can avoid it," he said. "We will do the best of our ability when it comes to restoring honor and dignity to the impacted areas."

Those looking to support the cemetery can do so in a few ways.

One is to contribute to the cemetery's GoFundMe campaign, which has raised $6,088 of the $100,000 goal. Another is to made direct donations online here. Funds raised will be used to replace old fencing, install new fencing, and install active monitoring cameras throughout the cemetery.

Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery will soon be hosting some volunteer opportunities. A clearing event is planned for March 8, weather depending, and that area happens to be Ross's former resting place. There will also be grass cutting events May through October, and days during which new fencing will be installed and other work will be done.

Schmehl said volunteer numbers have dwindled in the past several years, and that recent grass cutting events saw only one or two volunteers outside the core group participating.

While the alleges crimes that occurred at the cemetery are horrific, the hope is the renewed attention on Mount Moriah leads to more community members stepping in to support it in various ways.

"We are definitely in need of an influx of volunteers," Schmehl said. "We can use all the help we can get."

Anyone who believes their loved ones' burial sites were impacted is encouraged to contact the cemetery online here to begin the process of identifying and returning potentially stolen remains.

Burial sites are searchable via this online database.

Learn more about the effort to return stolen remains online here.