Eugene Horsch investigation: Images of 2 deceased women found in home, police say
Digital evidence recovered from Chew Ave. home appears to show 2 deceased women: Police
Philadelphia police have launched a death investigation after a search of Eugene Horsch's home on Chew Avenue led to the recovery of digital evidence that appeared to show two deceased women. Police have identified both women and notified their families.
PHILADELPHIA - Images recovered from a hard drive found during the search of 44-year-old Eugene Horsch's Chew Avenue home show what investigators believe are the bodies of two women.
Philadelphia police announced the latest development in their investigation during a Wednesday afternoon press conference.
What we know:
Philadelphia Police Inspector Ray Evers said investigators collected a massive amount of evidence during the nearly 100 search warrants executed on Horsch's Chew Avenue property.
Guns, gun parts, a marijuana grow lab, and a fake FBI badge with Horsch's picture on it were among the items found during an initial sweep of the home. Subsequent searches, however, uncovered even more, including three urns with remains.
While searching the first hard drive recovered from the home, Evers said investigators found images and videos depicting the bodies of two women.
They have been identified by police as Gabriella Armarando, 22, and 27-year-old Maribel Fresses. Amarando was last seen in 2018, and Fresses was last seen in 2012. Their bodies have not yet been recovered.
The images were presented to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office, who stated that if the images and evidence are real and unaltered, they believe the women depicted in the images are deceased. However, without having a body or body parts to examine, the medical examiner cannot conclusively declare them deceased or provide a death certificate or official cause of death.
The only entity that can declare the women deceased is the Philadelphia Orphan's Court, according to Evers.
The families of Fresses and Amarando have been notified of the findings.
Evers stressed that investigators are not done combing carefully through the Chew Avenue property, an investigation that has already included excavating the home's sewer pipe.
"Our work is not done there," said Evers, calling on anyone with information about Horsch or the Chew Avenue property to come forward.
Since June, Philadelphia police, DEA, FBI, and other agencies have executed more than 95 search warrants at the residence and on its contents, according to Evers. Authorities described finding a home laboratory in the basement with unknown chemicals and over 50 electronic devices. A certified K-9 team from the New Jersey State Police and the FBI Evidence Recovery Team assisted with further searches, including examining the sewer line and sending unknown substances to a Chicago lab for testing.
What they're saying:
"We will be transparent in this investigation... There will be times when we could say, we just don't know because we just don't know at that time, but we're going to strive to get the answers and justice for victims," said Inspector Ray Evers.
According to Evers, investigators have to sift through over 600,000 images, 70,000 videos, and over 10,000 pages of writings, manuscripts and drawings.
"We have to review and organize those. Why do I say this? This is what this investigation will take time. There's a lot of evidence to go through," said Evers. "This is new territory for the homicide unit in Philadelphia. Usually when we have a homicide investigation, we have a body, we have body parts. This time we do not... this has turned into a death investigation; again will be protracted."
"It's dark. It's real dark. But what we saw is these two girls alive. There's a period of time. And what appears to us that they're deceased, there's pieces of the video that we don't have yet, but again, we have 93 percent of more stuff to look at," said Evers.
Local perspective:
A spacious home with windows and skylights is what drew Danielle Goel and her family to their development in Wallace Township, but now it’s the reason she’s concerned for their safety and privacy.
She says neighbors on Whitetail Ridge have also reported drone sightings.
"It’s concerning on many levels for privacy but also I have two young children," she said. "I don’t know why our neighborhood specifically is isolated to this and in the evening it would seem impossible that they would be able to get photos or any kind of videos that would be beneficial other than something that’s inappropriate."
The backstory:
Horsch, 44, was arrested in Center City in June after officers found him and another woman inside a vehicle with drugs, two loaded guns, and a fake DEA badge. He was charged with drugs and weapons crimes.
The encounter led investigators to a home on Chew Avenue where they made several unsettling discoveries, including guns, ammunition, and drugs. A 55-gallon drum attached to water lines, and various chemicals in bottles were also found.
Agents also discovered fake federal identification, computers, and more than 120 pieces of so-called ballistic evidence. Authorities returned to the property over the last several weeks searching for evidence, including excavating part of the front yard.
Featured
'It's very unusual': 2 missing women linked to 'mysterious' investigation at Philadelphia home
As investigators continue to piece together a confusing and eerie crime scene at a property in Philadelphia, we're learning more about 44-year-old Eugene Horsch and his possible connection to at least two missing women.
Court documents obtained by FOX 29 News show Horsch was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and another count of possession of an unlawfully produced document and authentication feature.
As the investigation continued to unfold over the last several weeks, detectives began looking into Horsch's connection to two missing persons cases.
Amy McHale, who was previously married to Horsch's late father, has been missing since 2016. Blair Tonzelli, whose name appeared on the fake ID of the woman Horsch was stopped with in Center City, has been missing for several years.
What we don't know:
It remains unclear what the unknown chemicals found at the property are, as testing is still underway. Police have not found bodies for the two missing women and cannot confirm how or when they died or what role, if any, Hirsch may have played. Investigators say most of the digital evidence has not yet been reviewed, and the case is ongoing.
What's next:
Federal prosecutors recently took over the case, meaning state charges were dropped for federal prosecution.
Horsch has a court date scheduled for September, and he remains in federal custody, according to court documents.
Authorities said the investigation will continue and there will be increased police activity at the home. Forensic analysis is ongoing on both the chemicals and thousands of pieces of digital evidence, with only about 5 to 7% reviewed so far as of Wednesday afternoon.
What you can do:
Inspector Evers urged anyone who had been inside the house or had contact with Eugene Hirsch or Raymond Charles to contact police.
"We want to put this timeline together. We want to see all their interactions," said Evers.
If you want to speak directly to a homicide investigator working on this case, call (215) 686-3334.
To leave detectives a tip, call 215-686-TIPS.