Philadelphia home linked to 7 missing women, late resident’s ‘serial killer’ memoir under investigation

Philadelphia police have linked seven missing women to a home where investigators recovered more than 1 million images and videos and also found five urns believed to contain human ashes, authorities said this week.

Initial analysis of the images showed two missing women — 27-year-old Gabrielle Amarando and 26-year-old Maribel 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 was occupied by Eugene Horsch, the son of deceased pornographer Raymond "R.C." Horsch. 

The investigation began after Eugene Horsch was arrested in June. 

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Fox News has learned that R.C. Horsch wrote a book titled "Empathy: The Memoir of an Empathetic Serial Killer." 

The book, which is for sale on Amazon and was published back in 2014, bills itself as the "autobiographical memoir of a caring, empathetic serial killer."

In the book, Horsch writes about strangling a woman he calls "Krista" — then describes buying 100 pounds of sodium hydroxide and using lye in a basement bathtub to dissolve her body. But Horsch was known to mix real details of his life with violent fiction, making it unclear what, if anything, actually happened.

The Philadelphia Police Department said investigators are "aware of the memoir, and it is being reviewed as part of the ongoing investigation." 

On June 19, a park ranger encountered Eugene Horsch, 44, 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 false identification using the name Blair Tonzelli, a woman who has been missing since 2023, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital.

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The true identity of the woman in the vehicle has not been released. Tonzelli's whereabouts remain unknown.

After obtaining a warrant, investigators conducted a search of the Chew Avenue home and 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."

Amarando and Fresses remain missing, and no DNA evidence or physical remains connected to them have been recovered.

Of the seven missing women, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office reviewed evidence showing four of them, police said in a statement issued after Wednesday’s press conference.

The medical examiner’s office advised that, "provided the recordings are authentic and unaltered, the women depicted appear to be deceased," the police department said. "However, because their bodies or remains have not been recovered, they cannot be conclusively declared deceased, and no cause or manner of death can be determined." 

"Two additional women are reported missing but have not been observed in the evidence reviewed by investigators," the department added. "The identity and circumstances surrounding the seventh woman remain under investigation."

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One video reportedly shows R.C. Horsch handcuffing a woman to a bed and zip-tying her neck until she became unconscious. Investigators believe this woman is Nicole Fusaro, according to FOX 29 Philadelphia. Police have not conclusively confirmed the identification. 

Another missing woman reportedly connected to the home is R.C. Horsch's ex-wife, Amy McHale, who has been missing since 2016, FOX 29 reported.

"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.

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