A Philadelphia man who goes by the alias “YP SlumBoy” was arrested Thursday by U.S. Marshals and charged with killing the mother of his child, tampering with evidence and other crimes.
Quamir Jones, 25, is accused of fatally shooting 23-year-old Siani Smith early in the morning of Oct. 12, according to an affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
Investigators say Smith was in the passenger seat of a vehicle with another man on the 7400 block of Dicks Avenue in the city’s Eastwick neighborhood when Jones pulled up in a car shortly after 5 a.m.
Jones approached the front driver side of the vehicle,the affidavit says. The other man, surprised at Jones’ presence, asked whether he was blocking the driveway.
After a short exchange between the two men, Jones drew a gun, stuck it inside the vehicle and fired once. As the vehicle sped off, Jones fired the weapon again, according to the affidavit.
Finding Smith had been struck, the man drove her to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead around 5:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, Jones called Smith’s mother, police said. He told the woman that a group of men had been outside her home, and that she needed to go outside and pick up shell casings they left behind.
Jones told Smith’s mother that the casings would lead back to a gun registered in his name, but she did not find any casings outside, according to the affidavit.
Smith’s mother later told investigators she was asleep during the shooting but was awoken when she heard “five to six gunshots outside.”
The last time Smith’s mother had seen her daughter was earlier that evening, when Smith arrived home after a night out.
Smith’s mother said she had heard her daughter talking to the child she shared with Jones, according to the affidavit. Siani Smith and the child had moved back into the home two weeks prior.
The woman told police Jones was known to carry guns, and investigators later learned Jones had a valid permit to carry a concealed firearm, a Glock 9mm pistol that was registered in his name in Delaware County.
Jones had two prior arrests for gun crimes in 2022, according to the affidavit. One of those cases was dropped for reasons that were not immediately clear, and the other was dismissed for lack of evidence.
On Thursday, Marshals arrested Jones on the 200 block of E. Mermaid Lane in Chestnut Hill, nearly three months after Smith’s death. It was not immediately clear where Jones resided during that time.
In a post on X, the U.S. Marshals of Eastern Pennsylvania alleged Jones is a member of the city’s “Blumberg” gang.
@USMS_Philly@PhillyPolice@PAAttorneyGen agents, arrested Quamir Jones, 25, in the 200 block of E. Mermaid Lane. On Oct 12 Jones aka "YP Slumboy" allegedly shot and killed his child's mother in the 7300 block of Dicks Ave. Jones is a member of the "Blumberg" gang in North Phila. pic.twitter.com/fkcU9305A4
— U.S. Marshals Service Philadelphia (@USMS_Philly) January 7, 2026
In addition to murder, prosecutors charged Jones with possessing an instrument of crime, criminal solicitation, recklessly endangering another person, and tampering with evidence.
He is being held at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility and was denied bail, court records show. He is represented by a court-appointed defense attorney.
Philadelphia police confirmed Friday that Jones went by the alias “YP SlumBoy,” a rap name that has garnered a modest following on social media.
The Eagles have listed Lane Johnson, who suffered a Lisfranc foot injury in Week 11, as questionable to play in Sunday’s wild-card game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Johnson, the 35-year-old right tackle, was a limited participant in all three practices this week. He hadn’t practiced since mid-November, as he missed the last seven games of the regular season after his injury against the Detroit Lions.
“Obviously, Lane’s a phenomenal football player, so anytime he’s on the field, you are pumped about that,” Nick Sirianni said of Johnson’s participation in practice. “He’s continuing to grind through and he’s a warrior. He does everything he can possibly do to be out there with us. It’s always good to have him back on the field.”
Johnson’s potential return could provide a boost to an Eagles offense that has been plagued by inconsistency this season. In his seven-game absence, the Eagles went 3-4. The team has a 18-28 record in games in which Johnson does not play during his 13 seasons with the team.
Johnson has missed just one career playoff game, that coming as a result of a high-ankle sprain in the Eagles’ 2019 wild-card loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Otherwise, the two-time All-Pro right tackle has suited up for 15 postseason games.
If Johnson plays, the Eagles could have 21 of their 22 starters active against the 49ers. The lone player missing is rookie safety Drew Mukuba, who injured his ankle in the Week 12 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
In addition to Johnson, the Eagles listed Brett Toth (concussion) and Azeez Ojulari (hamstring; injured reserve) as questionable to play against the 49ers. Toth was a limited participant in Friday’s practice after sitting out on Wednesday and Thursday.
Everyone else on the Eagles’ active roster is available to play, including Grant Calcaterra (ankle), Jalen Carter (hip), Nakobe Dean (hamstring), Landon Dickerson (rest), Marcus Epps (concussion), Dallas Goedert (knee), and Jaelan Phillips (ankle).
Dean, the 25-year-old inside linebacker, is set to suit up for his first game in three weeks. He was sidelined for the final two games of the season with a hamstring injury he suffered in Week 16 against the Washington Commanders.
Dean revealed his intention to play against the 49ers earlier in the week. Dean last appeared in the postseason last season in the wild-card round win over the Green Bay Packers, when he tore the patellar tendon in his knee.
“I never lost faith in [the fact that] everything would be great,” Dean said of his yearlong journey on Wednesday. “My prayer, everything, I never lost faith. I never lost confidence in myself. I knew I put in the work and just take it a day at a time.”
The 49ers are listing five starters as questionable, including left tackle Trent Williams (hamstring), wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (knee/ankle), inside linebacker Dee Winters (ankle), outside linebacker Luke Gifford (quadricep), and cornerback Renardo Green (foot).
Williams, the three-time All-Pro tackle, was a limited participant in practice all week. Pearsall did not practice, but head coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday that he could still play. Green had not been listed on the injury report going into Friday’s practice.
Depth players defensive lineman Keion White (groin/hamstring) and Jacob Cowing (hamstring; injured reserve)are also questionable to play.
It’s January, and that means one of Pennsylvania’s grandest spectacles is back again: the annual Farm Show butter sculpture.
Every year, in Harrisburg, a new 1,000-pound sculpture is unveiled to the public at the Farm Show Complex, a 1-million-square-foot event space that hosts the long-running show. Some years, the sculpture features mascots, like Gritty. This year’s sculpture is titled, “A Toast to Our Nation’s 250th Anniversary: Inspired by Founders. Grown by Farmers” in honor of America’s Semiquincentennial.
“The butter sculpture is a people-pleasing favorite every year at the Pennsylvania Farm Show,” Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said in a news release. “In this America250 year, it takes on a deeper meaning reflecting how agriculture has been the roots of our nation’s growth and prosperity for 250 years, and how Pennsylvania farmers will continue to lead us forward.”
The completed butter sculpture crafted from 1,000 pounds of butter over 14 days by Jim Victor and Marie Pelton at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025.
The show began on Friday and runs daily through Saturday. The butter sculpture, which has been part of the Farm Show for over half a century, is enclosed in a large, refrigerated case.
This year’s sculpture is a 1776 Philadelphia tableau, featuring Benjamin Franklin and the Founding Fathers at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, complete with a celebratory toast with milk. The Liberty Bell and Betsy Ross make an appearance, too.
Like most years, the butter sculpture was created by Conshohocken artists Jim Victor and Marie Pelton. They’ve worked with chocolate, cheese, and ice over their careers, but butter’s brought them the most acclaim.
The butter is often donated by large national producers like Land O Lakes or Keller’s, and no, it can’t be melted and drizzled on popcorn.
“It’s waste butter we get from plants,” Pelton told The Inquirer in 2020. ”It’s stuff that’s been extruded or cleaned out, or stuff that’s been damaged, or generally can’t be sold to the public.”
According to the Department of Agriculture, the Pennsylvania Farm Show is the largest indoor agricultural expo in the nation, featuring nearly 5,000 animals, 12,000-plus competitive entries from more than 4,600 competitors, plus more than 250 commercial exhibits, and hundreds of educational and entertaining events. Admission is free. Parking is $15 per vehicle. Farming, according to the Department of Agriculture, provides 593,000 Pennsylvania jobs and contributes $132.5 billion to the state’s economy each year.
Marie Pelton and Jim Victor with the mascot-themed butter sculpture they created for the 104th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg in January 2020.
Philadelphia is cleaning up before the company gets here.
Work is underway for a $11.5 million beautification and anti-graffiti project ahead of Philly’s coming summer of major events.
The initiative will focus on major transportation gateways to the city. Each location will receive graffiti removal, new landscaping, fresh murals, and enhanced maintenance before visitors flock to Philly for the World Cup, the nation’s semiquincentennial, and the MLB All-Star Game.
“We are ensuring that Philadelphia makes the right first impression as we prepare to welcome the nation and the world,” said Mayor Cherelle L. Parker at an event announcing the Gateways to Philadelphia initiative Friday.
Traffic on Interstate I-76 (Schuylkill Expressway) in Philadelphia Oct. 26, 2025. The Gateways to Philadelphia initiative will target several high traffic areas along the roadway.
“This is our moment to make Philadelphia shine on the world’s biggest stage,” said Carlton Williams, director of the city’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives.
The project is led by a partnership between the city, Mural Arts Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. It is funded by $6.5 million from the city, $3.5 million from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, private donations, and philanthropy.
The beautification work will focus on seven locations in its first phase, including:
26th Street at Penrose Avenue
South Street Bridge and ramps
30th Street Station’s “honeycomb wall” and medians
I-76 and I-676 interchange at 15th and 16th Streets/Vine Street
I-76 and I-676 interchange at Sixth and Eighth Streets/Callowhill Street
I-76 and I-95 interchange at Second and Third Streets at Callowhill Street
CSX/Amtrak wall at Spring Garden Street
Parker said that similar projects would be rolled out to other locations in the future. Work began in the fall, including the planting of 95,000 bulbs in the green spaces alongside roadways that are normally barren or filled with weeds. The project uses gold ribbons as a theme and color palette, with matching flowers and repainted walls.
“This project is about elevating people’s experience, perception and expectations of Philadelphia, whether they live here or whether they’ve visiting for the first time,” said Pennsylvania Horticultural Society President Matt Rader.
Mural Arts Philadelphia’s work will range from smaller murals of flowers on the blank walls hugging the interstate, to a wide Philadelphia landmark-themed mural on the CSX/Amtrak wall. Much of the mural construction will take place at night to avoid travel interruptions, but there could be some shutdowns coming on the Amtrak corridor to accommodate work, according to executive director Jane Golden.
“Creativity belongs in public life, and even the most utilitarian of spaces can reflect care, dignity and imagination… it makes the shared spaces of our city feel alive with hope, with possibility and with beauty,” she said.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Jane Golden, Executive Director of Mural Arts Philadelphia, reveal a mockup for a new Philadelphia themed mural design coming to the CSX/Amtrak wall at Spring Garden Street. Their pasteboard shows a current look at the wall, which is filled with graffiti.
While the project is happening largely because of visitors, speakers said they understood the need to maintain these new features for the city after the events end. PennDot’s $3.5 million contribution is meant to cover long-term maintenance.
“As much as we want to welcome… the folks that visit Pennsylvania in 2026, it’s as much about that as it is about the folks that live in Fishtown and in South Philly,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Michael B. Carroll.
“This is about Philadelphia remembering who we are and getting our own house in order and making sure that it stays in order even after the company leaves,” Parker said.
Parker said she intends for this initiative to have an impact on shaking what has become maybe Philadelphia’s most infamous nickname.
“I’m unapologetic about this — we’re going to get rid of that ugly moniker ‘Filthadelphia,’“ she said.
A common refrain from the NovaCare Complex during the Eagles’ up-and-down 2025 regular season has been that finding ways to win, regardless of style or circumstance, is the team’s greatest strength. Based on the group’s track record, especially the past two years, the claim would be hard to dismiss. The Eagles’ belief in themselves, however, will be put to the test this weekend, when the playoffs begin Sunday with a Wild Card matchup against the San Francisco 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles might not be entering the postseason looking like the world-beaters that romped in last year’s Super Bowl, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of pulling off another title run. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane shares his reasons for hope and doubt for the possibility of a repeat.
00:00 Which version of the Eagles will show up Sunday? 02:22 Top reason for hope: Uncle Vic
09:06 Could Jalen Hurts run more?
13:05 The Lane Johnson effect
18:17 The biggest reason for concern…
27:43 About Kevin Patullo, and his future
unCovering the Birds is a production of The Philadelphia Inquirer and KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts. Look for new episodes throughout the season, including day-after-game reactions.
South Carolina’s measles outbreak exploded into one of the worst in the U.S., with state health officials confirming 99 new cases in the past three days.
The outbreak centered in Spartanburg County grew to 310 cases over the holidays, and spawned cases in North Carolina and Ohio among families who traveled to the outbreak area in the northwestern part of the state.
State health officials acknowledged the spike in cases had been expected following holiday travel and family gatherings during the school break. A growing number of public exposures and low vaccination rates in the area are driving the surge, they said. As of Friday, 200 people were in quarantine and nine in isolation, state health department data shows.
“The number of those in quarantine does not reflect the number actually exposed,” said Dr. Linda Bell, who leads the state health department’s outbreak response. “An increasing number of public exposure sites are being identified with likely hundreds more people exposed who are not aware they should be in quarantine if they are not immune to measles.”
Since the outbreak started in October, Bell has warned that the virus was spreading undetected in the area. Hundreds of school children have been quarantined from school, some more than once.
South Carolina is one of two active hot spots for measles. The other outbreak is on the Arizona-Utah border, where 337 people have gotten measles since August.
Last year was the nation’s worst year for measles spread since 1991, end-of-year data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. The U.S. confirmed 2,144 cases across 44 states.
And as the one-year anniversary of the Texas-New Mexico-Oklahoma outbreak approaches — which sickened at least 900 people and killed three — health experts say the vaccine-preventable virus is on the verge of making a lasting comeback in the U.S.
At that point, the U.S. would lose its status of having eliminated local spread of the virus, as Canada did in November. International health experts say the same strain of measles is spreading across the Americas.
Kenneth W. Ford, 99, of Gwynedd, Montgomery County, theoretical physicist who helped develop the hydrogen bomb in 1952, university president, college professor, executive director, award-winning author, and Navy veteran, died Friday, Dec. 5, of pneumonia at Foulkeways at Gwynedd retirement community.
Dr. Ford was a 24-year-old physics graduate student at Princeton University in 1950 when he was recruited by a colleague to help other scientists covertly build a hydrogen bomb. “I was told if we don’t do it, the Soviet Union will,” Dr. Ford told The Inquirer in 2023, “and the world will become a much more dangerous place.”
So he spent one year at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and another back at Princeton, creating calculations on the burning of the fuel that ignited the bomb and theorizing about nuclear fission and fusion. The H-bomb was tested in 1952.
Dr. Ford’s expertise was in nuclear structure and particle and mathematical physics. He and Albert Einstein attended the same lecture when he was young, and he knew Robert Oppenheimer, Fredrick Reines, John Wheeler, and dozens of other accomplished scientists and professors over his long career.
He came to Philadelphia from the University System of Maryland in 1983 to be president of a startup biotech firm. He joined the American Physical Society as an education officer in 1986 and was named executive director of the American Institute of Physics in 1987.
“He always seemed to be the head of something,” his son Jason said.
He retired from the AIP in 1993 but kept busy as a consultant for the California-based Packard Foundation and physics teacher at Germantown Academy and Germantown Friends School. Michael Moloney, current chief executive of the AIP, praised Dr. Ford’s “steady and transformative leadership” in a tribute. He said: “His career in research, education, and global scientific collaboration puts him among the giants.”
As president of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology from 1975 to 1982, Dr. Ford oversaw improvements in the school’s enrollment, faculty, budget, and facilities. He “was an accomplished researcher, scholar and teacher,” Michael Jackson, interim president of New Mexico Tech, said in a tribute, “a techie through and through.”
Dr. Ford wrote “Building the H Bomb,” and it was published in 2015.
Before Philadelphia, he spent a year as executive vice president of the University System of Maryland. Earlier, from 1953 to 1975, he was a researcher at Indiana University, physics professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts and the University of Massachusetts, and founding chair of the department of physics at the University of California, Irvine.
Officials at UC Irvine said in a tribute: Dr. Ford “leaves an enduring legacy as a scientist, educator, and institution builder. … The School of Physical Sciences honors his foundational role in our history and celebrates the broad impact of his distinguished life.”
He told The Inquirer that he hung out at the local library as he grew up in a Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati and read every book he could find about “biology, chemistry, geology, you name it.” He went on to write 11 books about physics, flying, and building the H-bomb.
Two of his books won awards, and 2015’s Building the H Bomb: A Personal History became a hit when the Department of Energy unsuccessfully tried to edit out some of his best material. His research papers on particle scattering, the nuclear transparency of neutrons, and other topics are cited in hundreds of publications.
Dr. Ford was a popular professor because he created interesting demonstrations of physics for his students.
In 1976, he earned a distinguished service citation from the American Association of Physics Teachers. In 2006, he earned an AAPT medal for notable contributions to the teaching of physics.
He was the valedictorian at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire in 1944. He served two years in the Navy and earned a summa cum laude bachelor’s degree in physics at Harvard University and his doctorate at Princeton in 1953.
In 1968, he was so opposed to the Vietnam War that he publicly declined to ever again work in secret or on weapons. “It was a statement of principle,” he told The Inquirer.
Kenneth William Ford was born May 1, 1926, in West Palm Beach, Fla. He married Karin Stehnike in 1953, and they had a son, Paul, and a daughter, Sarah. After a divorce, he married Joanne Baumunk, and they had daughters Caroline and Star, and sons Adam and Jason. His wife and former wife died earlier.
This photo shows Dr. Ford (center) and other students listening to former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt speak in 1944.
Dr. Ford lived in University City, Germantown, and Mount Airy before moving to Foulkeways in 2019. He was an avid pilot and glider for decades. He enjoyed folk dancing, followed the Eagles closely, and excelled at Scrabble and other word games.
He loved ice cream, coffee, and bad puns. He became a Quaker and wore a peace sign button for years. Ever the writer, he edited the Foulkeways newsletter.
In 2023, he said: “I spent my whole life looking for new challenges.” His son Jason said. “He found connections between things. He had an active mind that went in all different directions.”
In addition to his children, Dr. Ford is survived by 14 grandchildren, a great-grandson, a sister, a stepdaughter, Nina, and other relatives.
Services are to be from 2 to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 24, at Foulkeways at Gwynedd, 1120 Meetinghouse Rd., Gwynedd, Pa. 19436.
Dr. Ford and his son JasonDr. Ford wore a peace sign button for years.
NEW YORK — Free agent and recent Phillies outfielder Max Kepler was suspended for 80 games on Friday following a positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s drug program.
Kepler tested positive for Epitrenbolone, a substance that led to a suspension in 2018 for boxer Manuel Charr. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced the following year that a positive test for the substance caused it to disqualify 90-year-old cyclist Carl Grove from a world record he had set at the 2018 Masters Track National Championship.
Epitrenbolone is a metabolite of Trenbolone, which is contained in some products used in body-building stores and had been used in products to promote cattle growth. Kepler is the first player suspended by MLB for the substance since public announcements of the penalty details began in 2005.
Phillies left fielder Max Kepler catches Dodgers Tommy Edman line drive during the second inning of Game 4 of baseball’s NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Los Angeles.
There was no immediate comment from the players’ association or his agency.
Kepler accepted the suspension without contesting the discipline in a grievance, a person familiar with the process told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because that detail was not announced.
Kepler, who turns 33 next month, is an 11-year major league veteran who spent last season with the Phillies after playing his first 10 seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He became a free agent after the World Series.
Even if Kepler doesn’t have a contract by opening day in March, MLB and the union usually allow a suspended free agent to serve his penalty as long as he is attempting to reach a deal with teams.
Kepler hit .216 with 18 homers and 52 RBIs last year after agreeing to a $10 million, one-year contract. He was slowed in 2024 by left patellar tendinitis and had core surgery after the season to repair a sports hernia.
Kepler grew up in Germany and signed with the Twins at age 16 in 2009. He has a .235 average with 179 homers and 560 RBIs in his big league career.
A longtime Philadelphia resident who was arrested by ICE at a routine immigration appointment has been deported to Indonesia, his family said.
Rian Andrianzah, 46, walked into a Philadelphia office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Oct. 16, expecting to be fingerprinted and photographed and sent home, but instead was taken into custody and placed in detention.
On Christmas night he was flown to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, leaving behind his wife, also of Indonesia, and two children who are American citizens.
The case angered the city’s Indonesian community ― and placed Andrianzah among a growing number of immigrants who have shown up for routine immigration appointments or check-ins, only to be handcuffed and taken into detention.
Green-card applicants, asylum-seekers, and others who have ongoing legal or visa cases have been unexpectedly detained in what lawyers and advocates say is a Trump administration strategy to boost arrests and deportations.
“It’s frustrating, because we’re going to be able to bring him back in the next few months,” said Philadelphia immigration attorney Christopher Casazza, who represents Andrianzah and his family. “They deported him simply [to gain] a statistic.”
He expects Andrianzah could be able to return to the United States in the summer, via a legal process that could grant status to his wife and, through her, to him.
Andrianzah’s wife, Siti Rahayu, 44, has a strong case to be awarded a T visa, the family’s lawyer said. That visa offers permission to live in the U.S. and a path to permanent residency and citizenship. As her husband, Andrianzah would receive those same benefits under her visa, said Casazza, of the Philadelphia firm Palladino, Isbell & Casazza LLC.
Rahayu said in a text message that she was distressed and not up to discussing her husband’s deportation. Others said his removal hurts the family and the community.
“Rian’s absence means a family without their father and our community without a friend,” said Kintan Silvany, the civic-engagement coordinator at Gapura, which works to empower local Indonesian Americans. “A warm, friendly face will no longer be seen at our annual festivals and cultural events. ICE has taken a beloved member who helped us and the folks around him.”
Andrianzah, meanwhile, like other deportees faces a return to a homeland transformed by time, where family ties have dwindled and emotional and financial hardship looms, his lawyer said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were unable to immediately reply to a request for comment.
A T visa can be available to people who have been victims of human trafficking. It offers a near-blanket waiver on past immigration violations. Authorities say the issuance of T visas offer protection to victims while enhancing the ability of law-enforcement agencies to detect and prosecute human trafficking.
Andrianzah legally entered the United States on a visitor’s visa in February 2000, but did not return to Indonesia before it expired. He was placed in removal proceedings in 2003, and a judge issued a final order of deportation in November 2006. His appeal was denied two years later.
The removal order was never enforced, as had been common for those the government then saw as low-priority immigration violators. Some people with final orders have lived in the U.S. for decades.
Since then Andrianzah worked factory and warehouse jobs, and married. He and his wife made a home in South Philadelphia and became parents of a son, age 8, and a daughter, 15, both U.S. citizens.
Andrianzah and his wife went to USCIS that October day as part of her T-visa application. In an interview with The Inquirer, Rahayu said she was sent to the U.S. in 2001 by relatives who saw her as a means to pay off a debt, delivering her to an underground organization that puts people in low-paying jobs, then keeps them working indefinitely. Her work would help pay the debt owed by her relatives.
Rahayu said that on Oct. 16, she completed her own biometrics appointment, then grew concerned when her husband did not appear. She soon learned he had been arrested.
Some immigrants are required to appear every couple of weeks, some once a month, others once a year. The appointments help immigration officials keep track of people who in the past have been low priorities for deportation.
Biometrics appointments are usually brief sessions at which the government captures fingerprints, a passport-style photo, and a signature. The immigrant may also be asked to provide information like height and weight.
Despite the fresh risk of being arrested on the spot, immigrants have little option except to show up. Many types of immigration applications require in-person appearances. And failure to appear for a required ICE appointment can by itself result in an order for removal.
Documents released Friday offer new detail on how investigators assembled their striking case against Jonathan Christian Gerlach, who authorities say desecrated dozens of graves to steal human remains.
Gerlach, 34, who is charged with stealing more than 100 skulls, bones, and body parts from Mount Moriah Cemetery, also posted dozens of photos of human remains on social media, records show, and authorities are investigating whether he may have offered to sell them.
The investigation into Gerlach, who lives in Ephrata, spans multiple counties and law enforcement agencies. The historic cemetery stretches across Philadelphia and Yeadon, Delaware County, where officials charged Gerlach on Thursday.
Gerlach’s lawyer, Anna Hinchman, declined to comment Friday, citing the pending criminal case.
In all, Gerlach faces more than 500 counts of burglary, criminal trespassing, abuse of a corpse, theft, and related crimes.
“After 30 years, I can say this is probably the most horrific thing that I’ve seen,” said Yeadon Police Chief Henry Giammarco, whose department was involved in the investigation.
A few Mausoleum’s that Jonathan Gerlach broke into at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia.
Grave sites damaged, remains stolen
Detectives were first dispatched to the burial ground on Nov. 7, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Gerlach’s arrest. There, a board member of the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery — the group that helps to maintain the burial ground — led the investigators to a mausoleum where a hole in protective cinder blocks revealed a damaged marble floor, 10 feet underground. A white rope, which detectives believe the thief used to rappel into the mausoleum, hung nearby.
They discovered other disturbed burial sites, both that afternoon and weeks later, according to the affidavit: a crypt with its marble entrance stone ripped off, whatever was inside stolen; a damaged, empty casket inside a mausoleum; a clear plastic tarp covering human remains discarded on the ground of the cemetery.
Investigators collected clues, including the rope, a “Monster” energy drink can, and a partially smoked Marlboro Menthol cigarette. Each will be sent for DNA testing, the affidavit said.
On Dec. 23, the document shows, police received a tip pointing to Gerlach. “Look into Jonathan Gerlach,” the tipster said, according to the affidavit. “I know someone who’s friends with his family, and they mentioned that they recently discovered a partially decomposed corpse hanging in his basement, but were afraid to tell police.”
The tipster also pointed investigators to Instagram. “You’ll see he follows accounts in taxidermy, skeleton collecting and sales,” the tipster said.
Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse speaks to reporters on Thursday about Jonathan Gerlach, who is charged with burglary, abuse of corpse and desecration, and theft or sale of venerated objects for allegedly stealing from graves.
An Instagram trail
The last post on the Instagram account that Delaware County authorities have linked to Gerlach appeared on Tuesday, the day that detectives took him into custody, after they say they witnessed him carrying a burlap sack filled with human remains out of the cemetery.
A partial skull — its surface darkened and pitted with age, mounted upright like an artifact — appears in the post. Staged against a floral backdrop, the photo is paired with a caption that reads: “if you know, you know. skulls/bones available. dm to inquire.”
The post and dozens of others like it on the account suggest that Gerlach may have been part of a largely unregulated and little-known marketplace in which human bones and remains are bought and sold online and in specialty shops. It’s a trade that can be legal under certain circumstances in a number of states, including Pennsylvania, and one that records suggest Gerlach may have engaged with — though investigators have not confirmed he ever successfully made a sale.
Authorities say the investigation is continuing.
Gerlach is charged with crimes associated with how authorities say he acquired the bones: by breaking into the cemetery’s mausoleums and underground vaults and stealing the remains.
Investigators tied Gerlach’s vehicle to license plate readers near Mount Moriah, they said, and his cell phone to the area. A search of his recent purchases revealed trips to a hardware store to buy items that matched those that detectives had also recovered at damaged grave sites, including a stake.
When detectives executed a search warrant at Gerlach’s home, in the 100 block of Washington Avenue, they said they found skulls arranged on shelves, and a collection of other bones, skeletons and mummified body parts, including feet and hands. They also found a torso hanging from the ceiling, said Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse.
Potential sales, and a call for change
Rouse and Detective Christopher Karr said law enforcement officials are aware of social media accounts associated with Gerlach and are investigating what, if any, connection they may have to his alleged crimes.
Rouse said accounts linked to Gerlach “certainly seemed to indicate” that Gerlach had attempted to sell the remains. “But whether that was real or not — whether a sale had ever been consummated — we can’t say for sure,” he said.
The Instagram account, which dates back to 2023, includes images of human remains arranged on shelves and tables, or held in a man’s hands. Its posts raise questions about whether Gerlach’s alleged activity extended beyond what authorities have detailed so far.
Investigators are working to determine when and where the images were taken and whether any of the items pictured were stolen from Mount Moriah, Rouse said.
In addition to a curator and potential salesperson, the Instagram account presents Gerlach as a forensic practitioner and professional.
In a recent post that pictured Gerlach holding a skull fragment beneath his heavily tattooed neck, the account’s operator wrote that he was completing a certification in forensic and osteological analysis, and planned to offer analysis through a planned company — describing services that would assess human remains using academic and forensic standards.
Gerlach is being held in the Delaware County jail in lieu of $1 million bail.
The investigation into Gerlach remains ongoing, Yeadon Borough Mayor Rohan Hepkins said Friday. Gerlach is suspected of burglarizing additional cemeteries, including in Ephrata, said Hepkins, who also sits on the board of the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery and said he helped to bring the case to police.
In a written statement, the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery thanked law enforcement officials but declined to comment.
Hepkins expressed dismay that the legal trade of human remains is even possible, and called for reform. “People never conceived that people would be stealing bones from graves and selling them in the market,” he said. “Politicians need to understand there is a type of individual out there — or a market out there — where legislation has to catch up with what’s happening out there.
“It’s a bad situation but a lot of good, preventive maintenance could come out of it,” he added.
