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Philadelphia police continue to probe a home in the city’s Olney neighborhood that is linked to at least five women who are presumed dead, with the investigation into their disappearances centering around a father-son duo who lived in the house.
Inside the home, authorities said they recovered a trove of digital images and found a so-called “laboratory” of chemicals and a small marijuana grow operation. Eugene Horsch, who owns the home, was arrested in June and is facing firearms and drug charges. His father, R.C. Horsch, had also lived in the home before he died last year.
Here’s what we know about the investigation.
Eugene Horsch arrested in June
Eugene Horsch was initially arrested in June when a park ranger saw him illegally parked near Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, according to a criminal complaint. When the ranger went to confront 44-year-old Eugene Horsch, he saw that there was also a woman in the car. When he asked for their identification, the woman’s documents were those of another woman who had been missing since 2023: Blair Tonzelli.
While searching Eugene Horsch and his car, the park ranger found a switchblade, two guns, drug paraphernalia and forged documents identifying Horsch as a DEA agent, the criminal complaint alleges. Eugene Horsch was arrested and is facing charges related to the alleged forged documents, in addition to the drugs and firearms charges.
Search of Olney home
Law enforcement later in June searched Eugene Horsch’s home in the Olney neighborhood.
A search of the home revealed hidden spaces containing dangerous chemicals, a 55-gallon drum connected to hoses and other piping, a small marijuana operation and what authorities described as 120 pieces of ballistic evidence.
Searches of the home have also uncovered “over 1 million digital images,” which include “tons of pictures of lots of people, women, posed in different positions within that house,” Philadelphia Police Department Deputy Commissioner of Investigations Frank Vanore said Wednesday. Police have said the images appear to show multiple women who have been reported missing and were last seen with Eugene Horsch. Several of the videos also appear to feature R.C. Horsch, while none reviewed so far include Eugene Horsch, police said.
Investigators have identified 58 people in the recovered images. Of those 58, 16 have been found alive but are not cooperating with police. Another 25 have been found alive and have interviews scheduled. Five women are seen on videos and in photos where they appear to be injured, and at least one person appears to be dead. Of those five, police believe they know the identities of four of them.
Police also found five urns that they believe contain human remains. Police said they believe one of the urns contained the remains of R.C. Horsch, another contains his sister’s ashes and a third is the remains of a friend.
As of Wednesday, however, no human remains have been confirmed at the house, including any possible victims of crimes.
At least five missing women linked to Olney home
Police have said at least five women who have been missing for years are believed to be connected to the Olney home. They have been identified as Gabrielle Amarando, Maribel Fresses, Nicole Fusaro, Amy McHale and Tonzelli.
Amarando, 27, has been missing since 2012 and is one of the women seen in the images dated to 2017 that were recovered from the home, police said. Fresses, 26, was also seen in the images, also dated to 2017.
McHale, who has been missing since 2016, left her daughter a voicemail the night she went missing, saying that she was at the Olney home with R.C. Horsch, her family has said. According to her daughter, Amanda Stofer, McHale and R.C. Horsch met in the 1990s, married and eventually divorced, but remained friends. She went to his house that night following an argument with her mother, the family said.
In one of the videos recovered from the house, again from 2017, R.C. Horsch and a woman are seen naked. At one point, R.C. Horsch is seen handcuffing the woman to the bed, police said.
“He puts a zip tie around her neck, and she becomes unconscious on that video. Appeared to be lifeless at that time, but it’s just appearing that way. I have to caution you, and emphasize, we never recovered a body here,” Vanore said.
“We still need to find evidence to corroborate what appears to have happened in this video,” he said.
Vanore said they believe some of the videos involved include “play-acting” while other events “could be real.”
