NEWYou can now listen to articles!
Philadelphia police found images of seven missing women, including two who appear unconscious and injured, while searching more than 1 million images recovered from a home where investigators also found five urns believed to contain human ashes, authorities said Wednesday.
Initial analysis of the images showed two missing women – 27-year-old Gabrielle Armando and 26-year-old Marabel Fresses – lying unconscious in the Chew Avenue home with apparent injuries, Philadelphia Police Department Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said in the press conference.
Metadata from the images show they were taken in 2017. “Both women remain missing and have not been seen,” Vanore said, adding “to date, neither their bodies nor any DNA evidence have been recovered.”
The home belonged to deceased pornographer Raymond “R.C.” Horsch and was occupied by his son, Eugene Horsch, whose June arrest sparked the investigation.
CALIFORNIA AUTHORITIES IDENTIFY FINAL UNKNOWN VICTIM OF ‘HAPPY FACE KILLER’ KEITH JESPERSON AFTER 34 YEARS
R.C. Horsch seen in a 1999 mugshot. (S. E. Stokowski/Wikimedia Creative Commons)
On June 19, a Federal Park Ranger arrested Eugene Horsch, 44, after investigating him and a female passenger sitting in a BMW outside of Philadelphia’s Independence Mall, Vanore explained.
“During the course of that investigation, officers recovered two firearms, narcotics, and identification impersonating a federal law enforcement officer, and he was charged. Task force officers from the DEA were able to develop probable cause that same day and serve a warrant on Mr. Horsch’s residence,” Vanore said.
The female passenger presented police with a false identification using the name Blair Tonzelli, a woman who has been missing since 2023, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed to Digital.
FOUL ODOR AT NYC SCHOOL LEADS POLICE TO BODY HIDDEN IN CHIMNEY
A photo of Blair Tonzelli, who went missing in February 2023. (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NAMUS))
The true identity of the woman in the vehicle has not been released. Tonzelli’s whereabouts remain unknown.
After obtaining a warrant, investigators found “a homemade laboratory of some kind in the basement area, five urns believed to contain human ashes, and a large amount of digital evidence — including computers, hard drives, flash drives, DVRs, cameras, and phones,” Vanore said during the press conference.
Investigators have identified 58 total people in the videos and images they found in the home. Vanore said “four of those identified appear lifeless, with video depicting what may have happened to one of them.”
NEW CALIFORNIA LAW EXPANDS DNA TOOLS FOR MISSING PERSONS INVESTIGATIONS
Eugene Horsch’s mugshot. (FOX 29 Philadelphia)
One video shows R.C. Horsch handcuffing a woman to a bed and zip-tying her neck until she became unconscious. Police identified this woman as Nicole Fusaro, according to FOX 29 Philadelphia.
Another missing woman connected to the home is R.C. Horsch’s ex-wife, Amy McHale, who has been missing since 2016, FOX 29 reported.
Two other missing women have been connected to the home. Police identified one as a 25-year-old woman but did not name her, and the other has yet to be identified, according to FOX 29.
Image of Marabel Fresses, who went missing in 2018. (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NAMUS))
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APP
“We have only processed a small fraction of the total media. Thousands of videos remain to be analyzed. We are working to corroborate what we see and gather physical evidence to prove our findings, supported throughout by the FBI as we determine our next steps,” Vanore concluded Wednesday.
