PHILADELPHIA – Police found multiple body parts at separate crime scenes Thursday.
Philadelphia police officers first found a dismembered body in a trash bag in the back of a U-Haul around 9 a.m., WPVI reported.
A neighbor called police to report a burglary in progress at a neighbor’s house and a U-Haul truck that then left. When responding officers pulled over the U-Haul, the driver jumped out and told officers, “I don’t want anything to do with this. There’s a body in the back.”
The driver and passenger were taken into custody. Investigators also found a weapon in the back of the truck. They have not been charged.
Later Thursday night, officers found a leg and a hand in a trash bin behind a Wawa about a third of a mile from the first crime scene. Investigators believe the body parts could be from the same victim.
Police were first called Wednesday to conduct a welfare check at the address. Officers noticed nothing out of place when they walked around the property. Peter Gerold owns the home and operated “Kneading You Therapy” from it. Police have not identified the victim as Gerold. Later, investigators found partially burned body parts in an unattached garage behind the home, WPVI reported.
Neighbors said Gerold was helpful, and kind, but might have been too trusting.
“We figured he was always helping (people) do something, you know…I guess this is his payback for doing something nice,” neighbor Linda Xander told WPVI.
