PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia police have identified two missing women who are linked to a house in Olney at the center of what police are calling a death investigation. Officials believe the women are deceased but cannot officially confirm, as there are no bodies.
The investigation started back in June. Police excavated a pipe at the Chew Avenue property — owned by Eugene Horsch — and have served more than 95 search warrants to date.
On Wednesday, authorities revealed what they found: more than 600,000 images, 70,000 videos, and 10,000 manuscripts and drawings depicting extremely “dark and disturbing” scenes. They also found five urns containing cremated remains.
Detectives believe two missing women were alive in some of those videos, but they were later shown dead. The women were identified as Gabrielle Amarando and Maribel Fresses.
Fresses was last seen in February 2018. Amarando was last seen in September 2012. They were both born in 1990.
Maribel Fresses (left) and Gabrielle AmarandoNamUs; Facebook
Horsch at center of case
Eugene Horsch Philadelphia Police Department
The investigation started on June 19 at Sixth and Market streets, where 44-year-old driver Horsch was pulled over by police. A woman in the passenger seat identified herself with a fake ID with the name Blair Tonzelli — a woman who has been missing since 2023.
During the course of the vehicle stop, police recovered two illegal handguns, about $8,000 worth of illegal drugs, and a credentialed DEA badge with Horsch’s picture on it.
Police and the DEA issued a search warrant for Horsch’s home, 417 Chew Ave., and recovered another illegal gun and an FBI badge with his photo on it, as well as a marijuana operation with a street value worth more than $280,000.
In the days that followed, homicide and special victims teams searched the property thoroughly. They found a home lab in the basement with “various containers” of an “unknown oily substance,” as well as dozens of electronic devices.
They also found five urns containing cremated remains.
Inspector Ray Evers would not get into the exact details of what the investigation has revealed so far, only that it was extremely “dark.”
Mountain of evidence
Investigators have only gone through about 5% of the mountain of evidence so far, and the death investigation will continue. Evers said it will take some time due to all the evidence recovered from inside the home.
“The amount of information and digital evidence that we got is astonishing,” he said. “The investigators in that investigative group, we have to look over 600,000 images, 70,000 videos, and over 10,000 pages of writings and manuscripts. We have to review and organize those.”
Police officials said this may be one of the biggest death investigations that the Philadelphia Homicide Unit has seen.
“Usually when we have a homicide investigation, we have a body, we have body parts. This time, we do not,” Evers said. “This has turned into a death investigation. … If the images in the video are real and not altered in any way, then based on their review, the [medical examiner] would believe the individuals depicted in the images are deceased. However, without having an actual body or body parts to physically examine, the ME cannot conclusively declare them deceased.”
Police are asking for the public’s help — anyone who may know anything about this house, these women or other victims is asked to call them at 215-686-TIPS or 215-686-3334.
