Five women feared dead in connection to Philadelphia home where disturbing images were recovered

Kyle Mazza/Sipa USA/AP

What began as a search into an illegally parked BMW that led police to discover bizarre fake IDs, drugs and weapons has spiraled into a sprawling investigation into the whereabouts of five potentially missing, and feared dead, women.

Philadelphia officers first found 44-year-old Eugene Horsch in June parked illegally in a space reserved for law enforcement, with a woman in the vehicle’s back seat.

Inside his car, according to a criminal complaint, investigators found guns, drugs, weapons and a fake Drug Enforcement Administration bearing Horsch’s photo, though authorities say he never worked for the federal agency.

The woman with him had her own puzzling ID, police said: It showed her photo, but carried the name of a missing woman.

Searches of Horsch’s home in the city’s Olney neighborhood turned up more drugs, more weapons and a staggering trove of digital evidence, including videos – some of which police say are likely linked to Horsch’s late father, reportedly an erotic filmmaker whose work depicted violent themes.

Among what was uncovered were photos and videos of at least five women who appear unconscious or possibly dead — evidence police said in a news conference Wednesday they are still working to corroborate as the search for answers continues.

Critically, police say they have yet to find physical evidence, DNA or any bodies.

Horsch was arrested following the June traffic stop on charges related to the weapons found, and CNN has reached out to his legal representation for comment. He remains in custody.

During their June search, police found over a million digital images and thousands of videos during searches of the home, strewn across computers, hard drives, flash drives, cameras and phones.

Others are videos of what appear to be unconscious, and possibly lifeless, women.

Police indicate Eugene Horsch may not have made the videos, but rather, his father: Raymond “RC” Horsch. He’s seen in some of the disturbing images, police said.

Horsch’s father was a “known drug manufacturer and erotic filmmaker who had published several works of fiction with violent masochistic themes,” the Philadelphia Inquirer previously reported . Law enforcement sources said police were considering the possibility that the writings were part of a novel or screenplay, according to the newspaper.

Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock

The elder Horsch, who was previously a resident of the home, died last year, further complicating the investigation.

New video analyzed by Philadelphia Police homicide detectives appear to show a woman being strangled by a zip tie in the home until she “appeared to be lifeless” and two more images of unconscious women with injuries, Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said Wednesday. That’s in addition to recordings recovered from the house showing two other women “apparently deceased,” police said in August.

“Let’s remember, he was making movies,” Vanore said. “Some of his movies are there on this digital evidence. So, that’s the part, where you know, some of this is play acting, and some of it we believe could be real.”

“We need to corroborate what we see, we need to find evidence to prove what we think, and the FBI is here to help us,” he said.

The elder Horsch was previously married to a woman who went missing in 2016, according to CNN affiliate WPVI .

Inside the basement of the Olney home, police found what they described as a “homemade laboratory of some kind.”

Various chemicals in bottles, drums and other plastic containers littered the space, as well as a 55-gallon drum connected to water lines. Five urns believed to contain human remains were also found. Three of the urns are believed to be RC, his sister and a friend, while the other two are unidentified.

The FBI is working with the Philadelphia Police to process all of the digital evidence, with Special Agent in Charge Wayne Jacobs saying about 30% of the review has been completed.

“The volume of material, the forensic work that’s still underway, the care required in reviewing this, all of the material,” he said, “means that this process cannot be rushed.”

Philadelphia Police Department

In total, 58 different people have been identified in the images police have seen, Vanore said. Ten later overdosed and were found at a different residence in Philadelphia, according to investigators. Authorities have interviewed 16 people, which Vanore said were “not very cooperative,” and police are scheduling interviews with 25 others.

“They don’t really want to talk about what occurred in that house,” he said of those that authorities had reached.

Three people seen in the images told police: “You’re going to see images of us, but we’re not coming in to talk to you, and we’re not coming back,” according to Vanore.

After the June search of his vehicle, Eugene Horsch was arrested and charged with a federal count of felony possession of a firearm and municipal drug and weapons charges. Court records show he has not entered a plea.

Vanore said the weapons charges were transferred to the US Attorney’s office and Horsch is in federal custody.

“At this point, the federal authorities are dealing with Mr. Horsch,” he said.

Eugene Horsch’s defense attorney, Jerry Brown, previously told CNN he plans to enter pleas of not guilty. CNN has reached out to Brown for comment on the new developments unveiled Wednesday.

Kyle Mazza/Sipa USA/AP

最初，警方只是对一辆违章停放的宝马车进行搜查，结果发现了奇怪的假身份证、毒品和武器。如今，这起案件已演变成对五名可能失踪、甚至可能已经死亡的女性下落的大规模调查。

费城警方于 6 月首次发现 44 岁的尤金·霍尔施 (Eugene Horsch) 将车非法停放在执法人员专用停车位上，车后座上还有一名女子。

根据刑事诉状，调查人员在他的车内发现了枪支、毒品、武器和一张印有霍尔施照片的伪造的美国缉毒局文件，但当局表示他从未在该联邦机构工作过。

警方称，与他同行的女子持有一张令人费解的身份证：上面是她的照片，但名字却是一名失踪女子的名字。

警方在霍尔施位于该市奥尔尼社区的家中搜出了更多毒品、更多武器和数量惊人的数字证据，其中包括视频——警方称其中一些视频可能与霍尔施已故的父亲有关，据报道，他的父亲是一位情色电影制作人，其作品描绘了暴力主题。

警方在周三的新闻发布会上表示，他们发现的物品中包括至少五名女性的照片和视频，她们似乎处于昏迷状态或可能已经死亡。警方仍在努力核实这些证据，并继续寻找答案。

关键是，警方表示他们尚未找到物证、DNA 或任何尸体。

霍尔施因6月份的交通拦截事件被捕，罪名与车内发现的武器有关。CNN已联系其律师寻求置评。他目前仍被拘留。

在六月份的搜查中，警方在搜查这处住宅时，在电脑、硬盘、U盘、相机和手机中发现了超过一百万张数字图像和数千个视频。

其他视频则显示一些女性似乎失去了意识，甚至可能已经死亡。

警方表示，视频可能并非由尤金·霍尔施本人制作，而是由他的父亲雷蒙德·“RC”·霍尔施制作。警方称，在一些令人不安的画面中可以看到他父亲的身影。

据《费城问询报》此前报道，霍尔施的父亲是一名“知名的毒品制造商和情色电影制作人，曾出版过多部以暴力受虐为主题的小说作品”。该报援引执法部门消息人士的话称，警方正在考虑这些文字是否是小说或剧本的一部分。

Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock

老霍尔施曾是该养老院的住户，他于去年去世，这使得调查更加复杂。

费城警方凶杀案侦探分析了一段新视频，视频显示一名女子在家中被用扎带勒住脖子，直至“看似失去生命迹象”。副警长弗兰克·瓦诺雷周三表示，视频中还有两张女子失去意识且身上有伤的照片。此前，警方在8月份曾表示，从该房屋中找到的录像显示，另有两名女子“显然已经死亡”。

“别忘了，他可是拍电影的，”瓦诺雷说。“他的一些电影作品就保存在这些数字证据里。所以，关键就在这里，你知道，有些是表演，有些我们认为可能是真的。”

他说：“我们需要证实我们所看到的，我们需要找到证据来证明我们的想法，而联邦调查局会帮助我们。”

据 CNN 附属电视台 WPVI 报道，老霍尔施此前曾与一名女子结婚，该女子于 2016 年失踪。

在奥尔尼住宅的地下室里，警方发现了一个他们称之为“某种自制实验室”的地方。

现场散落着各种装在瓶子、桶和其他塑料容器里的化学品，还有一个连接着水管的55加仑大桶。此外，还发现了五个据信装有人类遗骸的骨灰瓮。其中三个骨灰瓮据信分别属于RC、他的妹妹和一位朋友，另外两个身份不明。

联邦调查局正与费城警方合作处理所有电子证据，主管特工韦恩·雅各布斯表示，审查工作已完成约 30%。

他说：“材料的数量、仍在进行的法医工作、审查这些材料所需的谨慎程度，所有这些材料，都意味着这个过程不能操之过急。”

费城警察局

瓦诺雷表示，警方已从监控录像中识别出58名不同的人员。据调查人员称，其中10人后来因吸毒过量在费城另一处住所被发现。当局已对16人进行了讯问，瓦诺雷称这些人“不太配合”，警方正在安排对另外25人进行讯问。

“他们不太愿意谈论那栋房子里发生的事情，”他谈到当局联系到的那些人时说道。

据瓦诺雷称，照片中出现的三个人告诉警方：“你们会看到我们的照片，但我们不会来和你们谈话，我们也不会再回来了。”

6月份警方搜查了尤金·霍尔施的车辆后，他被逮捕并被控以联邦重罪——非法持有枪支，以及多项市政毒品和武器指控。法庭记录显示，他尚未认罪。

瓦诺雷表示，武器指控已移交美国检察官办公室，霍尔施目前已被联邦拘留。

“目前，联邦当局正在处理霍尔施先生的事情，”他说。

尤金·霍尔施的辩护律师杰里·布朗此前告诉CNN，他计划为霍尔施做无罪辩护。CNN已联系布朗，就周三公布的新进展寻求置评。