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Philadelphia police suspect five women connected to a home at the center of a sprawling death investigation are deceased, while two other women tied to the home remain missing.
The investigation remains ongoing into the West Chew Avenue property as investigators continue to review more than one million digital images and videos connected to Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, who died in 2025 at age 82.
Despite months of searching the property, police said they have not recovered human remains or other physical evidence proving a homicide occurred inside the home.
R.C. Horsch produced violent fetish films and wrote erotic books with sadomasochistic themes.
During a Wednesday news conference, Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said investigators recovered more than one million digital images and videos from the Chew Avenue home depicting women in various poses.
“There is thousands and thousands of videos that need to be gone through,” Vanore said. “We need to corroborate what we see.”
Investigators said they have identified 58 people in the digital evidence:
- Five women appear in videos as lifeless or unconscious.
- Ten people reportedly overdosed after being seen in the videos and were found at locations away from the Chew Avenue house.
- Sixteen people were found alive but were “not very cooperative” and did not want to discuss what occurred in the home, according to investigators.
- Twenty-five others have been located, and investigators are working to interview them.
- Three others have refused to speak with investigators.
What led to the investigation on Chew Avenue?
The home came to the attention of police after a park ranger stopped a BMW along the 600 block of Market Street in Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood on June 19, 2026, where he encountered Raymond Horsch’s son, Eugene Horsch, 44, and a woman whom police have not publicly identified.
Officials said the park ranger found credentials on Eugene Horsch claiming he was a federal law enforcement officer and a DEA agent. Those credentials were later determined to be false.
The unidentified woman provided the identification of Blair Tonzelli, who disappeared in 2023, police said.
Inside the vehicle, the park ranger reported finding two handguns and approximately $8,000 worth of illegal drugs.
During the investigation, detectives learned that Eugene Horsch allegedly made a statement suggesting Tonzelli would “never be seen again,” according to court documents.
Federal officials search the Horsch home
Following that incident, officials conducted an initial search of the Chew Avenue home, where they found at least one additional illegal firearm, a marijuana grow operation, another fake FBI badge and five urns containing cremated remains, investigators said.
Then, on June 25, members of the Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit, ATF agents and a bomb disposal unit executed another search warrant. Investigators reported finding computer parts and what appeared to be a home laboratory containing various containers of an unknown oily substance.
On Aug. 12, police said video evidence recovered from a hard drive found in the home led investigators to believe two missing women were no longer alive.
Who are the women tied to this property?
Investigators said the home is connected to the cases of at least seven missing women, five of whom are believed to be dead. Officials have not recovered the bodies of any of the women.
One of the women tied to the home is Blair Tonzelli. She disappeared in 2023 and, officials said, her identification was found on the woman arrested with Eugene Horsch in June 2026.
Another woman was identified as R.C. Horsch’s ex-wife, Amy McHale, who disappeared in June 2016.
Investigators also found evidence they believe shows R.C. Horsch strangling Nicole Fusaro, who disappeared in 2018 at age 27.
In August, police said video evidence from a hard drive found in the home that led them to believe two missing women, Maribel Fresses and Gabrielle Amarando, are deceased.
Fresses was last seen in 2018, while Amarando disappeared in 2012.
Vanore said images and videos recovered inside the house depict both Fresses and Amarando lying unconscious with injuries to their bodies. Investigators said the files were dated to 2017. No other traces of DNA connected to either woman have been found.
In another set of videos dated to 2017, a woman is seen with R.C. Horsch while both are nude, Vanore said. According to investigators, one camera appeared to be handheld by Horsch while a second camera was stationary.
During the videos, Vanore said the woman appears to use narcotics before Horsch hands her money, ties her to a bed with handcuffs and places a zip tie around her neck.
Vanore said the woman appears to lose consciousness, but detectives do not know whether she died as a result.
Investigators have not revealed whether they believe the woman is Fusaro.
Officials, instead, said the third woman — with the other being Fresses and Amarando — who appeared in videos found at the home is currently being considered as a Jane Doe.
In a statement, the Medical Examiner’s Office said it has “reviewed the images involving the three additional women and advised that, if the images are authentic and have not been altered, the women depicted appear to be deceased.”
Officials said they have reviewed about 30% of the digital evidence and still have hundreds of thousands of files left to examine.
Questions remain
Investigators are also awaiting the results of testing on chemicals discovered in the basement of the property.
Sources familiar with the investigation have told the NBC10 Investigators that authorities are trying to determine whether any of the chemicals could have been used to destroy evidence or dissolve human remains.
Police have not publicly discussed the results of that testing.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said investigators remain committed to finding answers for families connected to the case.
“We have a duty,” Bethel said. “We have a duty to those families who are all concerned about whether their loved one lost their lives in that house or maybe somewhere else.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Philadelphia police at 215-686-TIPS (8477). To speak directly with a homicide investigator, call 215-686-3334.
The NBC10 Investigators can be reached at david.charns@nbcuni.com and ali.ingersoll@nbcuni.com.
This story originally appeared on NBCPhiladelphia.com.
