“Graphic and dark” evidence found inside Olney home suggests 2 missing women are dead, Philadelphia police say
By Laura Fay, Joe Holden, Tom Gardiner, CBS News Philadelphia Staff
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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — Inside a house in Philadelphia’s Olney section, police have found evidence that at least two missing women have died, officials said Wednesday.
Police found more than 600,000 images, 70,000 videos and more than 10,000 pages of writings, manuscripts and drawings on various digital devices at the house in the 400 block of West Chew Avenue, Philadelphia Police Inspector Raymond Evers said during a press conference.
The house belongs to Eugene Horsch, 44. His father, Raymond Charles Horsch, also lived there before he died in 2025.
On the first hard drive, detectives found photos and videos shot inside the home in which two women — identified as Maribel Fresses and Gabrielle Amarando, both born in 1990 — appeared to be dead.
Investigators also found videos showing the women alive. The women’s bodies have not been located. Without the bodies, the medical examiner cannot issue a death certificate or determine the cause of death, Evers said, but investigators believe the women have died.
Police notified the women’s families Wednesday.
Fresses was last seen in February 2018, and Amarando has been missing since September 2012, Evers said.
Evers stressed this is a complex investigation that will take time to unfold. The materials detectives found are “graphic and dark,” he said. At this time, Evers said, detectives have gone through about 5% to 7% of the digital evidence found in the house.
The investigation began in June with a traffic stop near 6th and Market streets in Philadelphia. At that time, National Park police arrested Eugene Horsch, who was driving.
His passenger was carrying a fake ID with the name Blair Tonzelli, which matches the name of another missing woman.
Police recovered two illegal handguns, a fraudulent Drug Enforcement Administration badge with Eugene Horsch’s picture and thousands of dollars’ worth of illegal drugs during that stop.
Investigators learned through the debriefing process that “we may never see [Blair Tonzelli] again,” Evers said.
At the house, police also found another fake federal badge with Eugene Horsch’s photo, an illegal gun, gun parts, five urns that they believe contain cremated remains and a marijuana growing operation worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, Evers said.
More than 20 containers with unknown substances inside have been taken to a lab in Chicago for testing and analysis, Evers added.
A special investigative team from Philadelphia police is working with the FBI and other partners on this case. Police activity at the house will continue, Evers said. He also urged anyone who has information about Eugene Horsch and his father, the house or the case to contact police.
Melissa Fresses, Maribel’s sister, said she was devastated by the news. She said her family last heard from Maribel in 2018, when their father went to check on her in Kensington.
“I don’t know much information, so it just almost feels like it’s not real yet,” she said.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News Philadelphia they fear even more missing women could be connected to this house.
The Olney home is also the last known location of Amy McHale, who was previously married to Raymond Charles Horsch and disappeared in 2016.
Eugene Horsch has been behind bars since his arrest in June. CBS News Philadelphia has reached out to his attorney multiple times and has not heard back.
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