Investigators returned this week to the backyard of a Philadelphia home at the center of a sprawling investigation into the disappearances of at least seven women, bringing in an excavator and setting up tents as the search continued for a third time in recent weeks.
Photos from the scene show police in hazmat suits, face masks, rubber gloves and protective booties moving in and out of the property, which is ringed with yellow police tape and watched by uniformed officers. One crime scene investigator was seen wearing what appeared to be a chemical-spraying backpack, and a crime scene photographer was also on site Wednesday.
The home was previously owned by Raymond “RC” Horsch, a producer of BDSM-themed pornography and books who died last year at 82. Police began searching the property after his 44-year-old son, Eugene Horsch, was arrested in June. He was taken into custody in a car alongside a woman who was carrying an ID belonging to one of the seven missing women now linked to the case. Eugene Horsch has not been charged in connection with the disappearances, and police say his arrest was unrelated to what was later found at the house.
Earlier searches of the property turned up images and videos that investigators say show four of the seven missing women, along with a drum of chemicals connected to the home’s water system. Police have also removed boxes of evidence, including one marked “glass vials,” and have excavated underground pipes. No bodies have been found.
A Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson would not detail this week’s activity, citing the ongoing investigation. “Investigators continue to examine evidence and pursue all available leads,” the spokesperson said. “At this time, we are unable to provide specific details regarding investigative activities at the property, any potential findings, or the status of efforts to authenticate the previously recovered images and videos.”
Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD cold case sergeant and adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the number of personnel cycling through the property is unusual. “The sheer number of crime scene technicians that are going in and out of this house — usually you try to keep it to a minimum because you don’t want people trampling on things and stuff like that,” he said. “I just think that there’s so many different nooks and crannies that they have to cover that they need this many people. So, I mean, we’re not talking three or four, we’re talking 10, 12, or 14 people going in and out of this place at one time.”
James Gagliano, a retired FBI supervisory agent, said repeated visits are not unusual in investigations built on forensic evidence. “Investigations predicated on forensic evidence can sometimes result in repeated trips back to a crime scene,” he said. “You find something that initiates a search into a different area.”
Only some of the seven missing women have been identified publicly. Philadelphia police have named Maribel Fresses, 26, who disappeared in 2018, and Gabrielle Amarando, 27. The woman found with Eugene Horsch at his arrest was carrying an ID belonging to Blair Tonzelli, 38, who was last seen in Philadelphia in February 2023, police told Fox News Digital in September.
Two other women have been identified through local reporting and are listed as missing persons in the National Missing and Unidentified Person System. One is Horsch’s ex-wife, Amy McHale, who was 44 when she was last seen on June 13, 2016, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The other is Nicole “Nikki” Fusaro, who was 27 when she vanished near Kensington and Allegheny avenues in July 2019, according to CBS’s Philadelphia affiliate, citing police sources.
Investigators say they have identified dozens of other people appearing in the recovered images, but no arrests have been made in connection with the women’s disappearances as the investigation continues.
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