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Emily "Emmy" Pritsch was outdoorsy; loving water sports and hiking. She enjoyed music, art, and walking her dog Sparkles. She was a 2018 Temple University graduate who was passionate about her job teaching theater to students in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood through the non-profit Playworks. She also liked spending time with her family, and making seemingly everyone who knew her feel like her best friend, according to posts in the Emily Rocks! Facebook group.
But then she made a connection on Tinder, texted, and agreed to meet Cody Allen Gerber, then 29, of Dillsburg, at a local bar around 5 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2020, police explain.
She probably didn't realize he already had a criminal record for stealing from cars 10 years prior (for which he served one year of probation), a felony charge for manufacturing drugs (he served three years of probation), and a misdemeanor for criminal trespass (one year of probation), all in Cumberland, York and Dauphin counties, according to court documents.
Police confirmed the text communications following a forensic analysis of Gerber’s phone which was found at his home in the 800 block of Baltimore Road in Franklin Township, York County.
That's when things got really disturbing.
***Warning, the following details may be disturbing to some readers***
Further review of Gerber’s cell phone unearthed several videos of Pritsch "naked and seemingly unconscious, and in the apparent 'fetal” position'" on a loveseat in his basement, the first video was from just after midnight on Oct. 4, and it was filmed by Gerber, police allege.
Gerber described this scene to officers in his initial statement, according to the police release.
More videos were taken over the next few hours, but at 4:39 a.m. her face is shown to the camera and she "appears to be wearing a shirt and is presumably deceased. There is also a caption attached to the video stating God had taken an angel," police say.
Sometime after that, her body was moved to her vehicle, a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta in Harrisburg, where Gerber got into the car, and called 911 to report the death of "a 24-year-old female" around 7 a.m., and just waited in the car with her dead body until the police arrived, as stated in the release.
Pennsylvania state police in Carlise arrived and he told them that he had been with the woman since the night before, and he was then taken to Harrisburg City police headquarters for an interview, while Pritch was transported from the scene to the Dauphin County morgue and her car was impounded, according to the release.
Around 2 p.m. that day, Northern York County Regional police department was contacted by PSP about the investigation.
An autopsy was performed on October 6th, 2020 at 7:45 a.m. at the Dauphin County Forensic Science Center with Forensic Pathologist Dr. Wayne K. Ross presiding.
Pritsch's body "had numerous contusions to her head and neck, chest, abdomen and back, along with abrasions on her back and lower extremities. Grassy debris was also found in her hair and legs. The injuries to the abdomen are consistent with repeated kicks, knees or stomping and are not consistent with accidental causes," as stated in the release.
Her manner of death was later ruled as a homicide, citing multiple traumatic injuries and fentanyl toxicity as the cause, police explained in the release.
The reason the charges took two years is supposedly because of the extensive forensic pathology review and police investigation, plus the forensic pathologist only issued the final opinions on the injuries on September 28, 2022.
That final opinion revealed that Pritsch had been injured "in as little as 5 to 15 minutes up to a few hours before death" based on "white blood cells, presence of hemorrhage and congestion taken in conjunction with the injuries documented in the autopsy," the police stated in the release.
Gerber, now 31, was arrested on Oct. 4, 2022, and charged with felony Murder Of The Third Degree, as well as three misdemeanors for Involuntary Manslaughter, Abuse Of Corpse, and Tampering With Or Fabricating Physical Evidence, the police say and court records confirm.
He's been held in the York County Prison after being denied bail due to the nature of the charges.
His preliminary hearing in connection with the charges related to Pritsch killing has been scheduled before Magisterial District Judge Richard T. Thomas on Oct. 31 at 11 a.m., according to his latest court docket.
Since Pritsch's death Gerber has had a series of traffic and drug-related offenses filed against him in York, Cumberland, and Dauphin counties, where he still had active cases at the time of the arrest in connection with her killing, court records show.
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