FBI agents and Philadelphia police returned this week to excavate a backyard linked to seven missing women, pressing a grim probe that still has no bodies and no disappearance arrests.
Investigators rolled an excavator into the yard of a home in the Olney section of Philadelphia, with tents, tarps, and technicians in protective gear moving in and out of the property as the search continued.
Fox News reported the activity at the house on the 400 block of West Chew Avenue, a property tied to the late Raymond “RC” Horsch and his son Eugene Horsch, as police and federal agents keep examining evidence connected to at least seven missing women.
Photo captions place the latest backyard work on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. An earlier search warrant execution at the same address was dated Monday, July 13, 2026.
Yellow tape ringed the perimeter. Uniformed officers stood watch. Boxes of evidence had already been carried out earlier this month, including one marked “glass vials.”
Authorities have linked the property to at least seven missing women. Police have said earlier searches turned up images and videos showing four of those seven.
Investigators said they have also identified dozens of other people from the recovered images. The status of efforts to authenticate those images and videos has not been released.
No bodies have been found. No arrests have been made in connection with the women’s disappearances as the investigation continues.
Among the women named in coverage of the probe:
Two of the women are listed as missing persons in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, known as NamUs.
The house once belonged to Raymond “RC” Horsch, described as a producer of BDSM-themed pornography and books. He died last year at 82.
His 44-year-old son, Eugene Horsch, is associated with the property now under repeated search. Caption material states that chemicals, ammunition, and drugs were found inside the home in June, drawing multiple law enforcement agencies, including Philadelphia police homicide detectives and the FBI.
Eugene Horsch was arrested in June in a car alongside a woman carrying an ID belonging to one of the seven missing women, later identified in reporting as Blair Tonzelli. He is in custody on several charges. The arrest has been described as unrelated to the discoveries at the home, and he has not been charged in connection with the women’s disappearances.
Police previously excavated underground pipes at the site. Investigators have returned repeatedly in recent weeks.
A Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson declined to give specifics, citing an active and ongoing investigation.
She told Fox News Digital:
"Investigators continue to examine evidence and pursue all available leads."
She also said:
"At this time, we are unable to provide specific details regarding investigative activities at the property, any potential findings, or the status of efforts to authenticate the previously recovered images and videos."
Retired NYPD cold case sergeant Joseph Giacalone, now an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, pointed to the heavy footprint of crime scene staff at the house.
"The sheer number of crime scene technicians that are going in and out of this house, usually you try to keep it to a minimum because you don't want people trampling on things and stuff like that,"
Giacalone added that the layout forces a larger crew:
"I just think that there's so many different nooks and crannies that they have to cover that they need this many people. So, I mean, we're not talking three or four, we're talking 10, 12, or 14 people going in and out of this place at one time."
Retired FBI supervisory agent James Gagliano, a Fox News contributor, said forensic cases often require return trips.
"Investigations predicated on forensic evidence can sometimes result in repeated trips back to a crime scene. You find something that initiates a search into a different area. We saw how early release of a crime scene in Tucson led to so many questions. They won’t make that mistake here."
The timeline stretches across a decade. Amy McHale disappeared in 2016. Maribel Fresses vanished in 2018. Nikki Fusaro went missing in 2019. Blair Tonzelli was last seen in 2023.
Police and the FBI are still working the same Olney property years later, with hazmat-style gear, an excavator in the dirt, and evidence boxes leaving the scene, while authentication of the recovered images remains unresolved in public statements.
One investigator was seen with what appeared to be a chemical-spraying backpack. Technicians and a photographer moved through the site in protective equipment as federal and local teams kept the perimeter locked down.
For the families of women who disappeared from Philadelphia streets and never came home, the backyard dig is another chapter in a case that has produced searches, images, and charges on other grounds, but still no recovered bodies and no arrests tied to the vanishings themselves.
Missing women do not get justice from sealed lips and unfinished searches. They get it when investigators finish the job and the public learns what the ground, the images, and the evidence actually show.
