FBI, Philadelphia Police Excavate Backyard in Potential Serial Killer Probe Tied to Seven Missing Women
PHILADELPHIA — The FBI and the Philadelphia Police Department have returned with heavy machinery to dig up the backyard of a North Philadelphia home at the center of a widening possible serial killer investigation — an escalation in a case that has already turned up alleged "snuff" films, urns filled with ashes, and evidence linked to at least seven missing women.
Images from the property show an excavator working in the backyard while investigators in hazmat suits, face masks, rubber gloves and protective booties move in and out of the home. Tents have been erected in the front and back, tarps cover sections of the lawn, and yellow police tape rings the perimeter. One crime scene investigator was seen carrying what appeared to be a chemical-spraying backpack, and a crime scene photographer worked the scene midweek.
The home on West Chew Avenue in the Olney neighborhood is the longtime residence of the late Raymond "R.C." Horsch, a pornographer who died in 2025, and his son Eugene Horsch. Eugene Horsch was arrested June 19 on unrelated gun and drug charges; during that arrest, police found an ID belonging to Blair Tonzelli, 38, who was last seen in Philadelphia in February 2023. Two other missing women have been publicly identified in the case: Horsch's ex-wife Amy McHale, 54, last seen in 2016, and Nicole "Nikki" Fusaro, 34, who vanished near Kensington and Allegheny Avenue in 2019. All are listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
Investigators have visited the home repeatedly in recent weeks, at one point carrying out boxes of evidence including one marked "glass vials." Earlier this week, crews sprayed luminol — a chemical that detects traces of blood — inside the home, and law enforcement sources told local outlets the treatment was successful, revealing material that may contain DNA evidence.
Law enforcement sources say they believe five of the seven women connected to the home are deceased, based on what investigators viewed in more than one million pictures and videos recovered from the property. Retired NYPD cold-case sergeant Joseph Giacalone told reporters the scale of the response — 10 to 14 crime scene technicians moving through the house at once — is striking.
"This is usually a minimum-staffing operation," he noted, adding the unusual personnel level suggests investigators believe there are many surfaces to cover.
A Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson declined to discuss specifics, citing the active and ongoing investigation. Police have previously excavated underground pipes but recovered no bodies. Neither Eugene Horsch nor anyone else has been charged in connection with the women's disappearances.
Forensic testing on any evidence recovered from the yard could take weeks. The Eagle Wire will continue following this developing story.
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