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5 missing women are linked to Olney home in Philadelphia. Here's what we know.

CBS News ·
5 missing women are linked to Olney home in Philadelphia. Here's what we know.

Philadelphia police continue to probe a home in the city's Olney neighborhood that is linked to at least five women who are presumed dead , with the investigation into their disappearances centering around a father-son duo who lived in the house.

Inside the home, authorities said they recovered a trove of digital images and found a so-called "laboratory" of chemicals and a small marijuana grow operation. Eugene Horsch, who owns the home, was arrested in June and is facing firearms and drug charges. His father, R.C. Horsch, had also lived in the home before he died last year.

Eugene Horsch was initially arrested in June when a park ranger saw him illegally parked near Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, according to a criminal complaint. When the ranger went to confront 44-year-old Eugene Horsch, he saw that there was also a woman in the car. When he asked for their identification, the woman's documents were those of another woman who had been missing since 2023: Blair Tonzelli.

While searching Eugene Horsch and his car, the park ranger found a switchblade, two guns, drug paraphernalia and forged documents identifying Horsch as a DEA agent, the criminal complaint alleges. Eugene Horsch was arrested and is facing charges related to the alleged forged documents, in addition to the drugs and firearms charges.

Law enforcement later in June searched Eugene Horsch's home in the Olney neighborhood.

A search of the home revealed hidden spaces containing dangerous chemicals, a 55-gallon drum connected to hoses and other piping, a small marijuana operation and what authorities described as 120 pieces of ballistic evidence.

Searches of the home have also uncovered "over 1 million digital images," which include "tons of pictures of lots of people, women, posed in different positions within that house," Philadelphia Police Department Deputy Commissioner of Investigations Frank Vanore said Wednesday. Police have said the images appear to show multiple women who have been reported missing and were last seen with Eugene Horsch. Several of the videos also appear to feature R.C. Horsch, while none reviewed so far include Eugene Horsch, police said.

Investigators have identified 58 people in the recovered images. Of those 58, 16 have been found alive but are not cooperating with police. Another 25 have been found alive and have interviews scheduled. Five women are seen on videos and in photos where they appear to be injured, and at least one person appears to be dead. Of those five, police believe they know the identities of four of them.

Police also found five urns that they believe contain human remains. Police said they believe one of the urns contained the remains of R.C. Horsch, another contains his sister's ashes and a third is the remains of a friend.

As of Wednesday, however, no human remains have been confirmed at the house, including any possible victims of crimes.

Police have said at least five women who have been missing for years are believed to be connected to the Olney home.

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5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.cbsnews.com — the content belongs to CBS News.

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