US house of horrors gives up its macabre secrets: Bones and gruesome snuff movies are found in home of 'serial killer' pornographer linked to seven missing women

US investigators have unearthed bones and alleged gruesome snuff films at a 'House of Horrors' once occupied by a pornographer linked to seven missing women.Police in Philadelphia have been working with the FBI to investigate the property on the 400 block of West Chew Avenue, in the Olney neighbourhood since the summer. Raymond 'R.C.' Horsch – a suspected serial killer who produced violent erotic films, disturbing writings and a vast trove of explicit images – lived at the home until his May 2025 death with his son Eugene. These materials have become central to an investigation into the disappearances of multiple women. So far, investigators have found drums that may have been used to dispose of human bodies, bones buried in the back garden and a film that police believe showed Raymond killing a woman who has been missing since 2018. On top of this, they recovered five urns that they believe hold the cremated remains of missing women. The investigation began in June following the arrest of Eugene, 44. Authorities said he had guns, drugs and fake law enforcement badges. He was also travelling with a woman who was carrying the ID and a bank card belonging to Blair Tonzelli – a woman who had been missing since 2023. Raymond Horsch (pictured), an erotic photographer and filmmaker whose work frequently depicted violence against women, died in May 2025 Police have discovered digital images and videos allegedly depicting sex, drug use and even at least one snuff film at Horsch's Philadelphia home (pictured) Sources told CBS News that Eugene's travelling companion later told police about the Philadelphia home, telling investigators she was scared of the basement and adding: 'Bad things happened in that basement to other people.'The investigation quickly grew in scale, with police and FBI teams trawling through the home, digging up much of the back garden and demolishing a shed. While digging through the back garden, a set of bones were found last week. Later testing revealed that these were animal bones. Investigators also sprayed luminol – a chemical that reveals traces of human blood – across the property, with signs of human DNA in several locations that now need to be tested further. Forensic teams have also moved drums filled with an oil sludge from the property, and are now looking at signs of wet cremation – a process for disposing of a body using a mix of potent chemicals. On Monday, local media reported that 50 per cent of the back garden had been excavated and that once complete, work will begin on the front garden. Inside the house, police found hundreds of thousands of images, tens of thousands of videos and thousands of pages of writings, manuscripts and drawings. Philadelphia Police Inspector Raymond Evers described the recovered items as 'graphic and dark'.Among the most disturbing material are alleged ‘snuff films’, including one reportedly showing the perpetual sex pest strangling a woman.Local media reported at the end of August that the video, which Raymond used two cameras to film, showed the woman using drugs before he gave her money and handcuffed her to a bed. Raymond, who was naked in the footage, then tightened a zip tie around her neck until she was unconscious. Gabrielle Amarando, who disappeared in 2012 aged 22, allegedly appeared alive and later seemingly dead in footage recovered from the home, police said Maribel Fresses, who vanished in 2018 aged 27, was also allegedly shown alive and later seemingly dead in material recovered by investigatorsAmy McHale, Horsch's former wife and film collaborator, was last seen at the Olney property in 2016 and remains missingThat woman has been identified by a family member as Nicole Fusaro, who went missing in 2018 at the age of 27. In July, police said they had recovered images that appeared to show two dead women inside the home. One was Maribel Fresses, who was 27 when she was reported missing in February 2018. The other was Gabrielle Amarando, who went missing in September 2012 at the age of 22.The photos' metadata indicates that they were both taken in 2017. Police believe both women are dead but neither body has been recovered. Without their remains, the medical examiner has been unable to establish when, where or how they died. Authorities have not publicly determined whether they were killed, died from overdoses or met some other fate.No one has been charged in connection with their disappearances or suspected deaths. Detectives are also investigating the disappearance of Amy McHale, Horsch’s former wife and a onetime collaborator in his films and photography.Ms McHale was last seen at the Olney property in 2016. Her family has said the house was her last known location.Another woman whose disappearance has drawn renewed attention is Blair Tonzelli, who vanished in 2022 and was reported missing in February 2023.Questions surrounding Ms Tonzelli surfaced after a disturbing photograph of her allegedly remained on Horsch’s erotic website months after she was reported missing.The image appeared to show the 35-year-old nude, with what looked like a black eye and blood running from her lower lip.Archived records reviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer reportedly showed the photograph was still displayed on the website in September 2023 – seven months after Ms Tonzelli’s disappearance was reported.The sex maniac is said to have uploaded the image around 2020, after meeting Ms Tonzelli who struggled with addiction in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighbourhood when she was living at a known drug house. Horsch, who died in May 2025 aged 82, was known in erotic art and pornography circles for his photographs, films, novels and more than a dozen photo books.In one book, he described strangling a woman and disposing of her body using chemicals. Blair Tonzelli was reported missing in February 2023 after friends said she was last seen at Raymond Horsch’s Philadelphia home the previous summer Eugene Albert Horsch, Horsch's 44-year-old son, remains in federal custody on a firearms charge and was found with a black BMW accompanied by a woman who presented officers with a fraudulent identification card bearing missing woman Blair Tonzelli’s name. He has not been charged with harming any of the missing womenAn extensive investigation by the Inquirer found that his work ranged from conventional erotic portraits to deeply disturbing imagery, often featuring violent themes.Archived website material reportedly documented thousands of images spanning several decades, with at least three dozen women appearing in his work.Horsch also wrote about a serial killer who murdered people struggling with addiction, raising further questions about how investigators should interpret the writings and fictional material recovered from his home.Several women who lived at or passed through the property later died from overdoses, including Horsch’s longtime companion Krista Killen, who appeared in some of his productions and died in 2025.Eugene remains in federal custody on illegal firearms and drugs possession charges. He has not been charged with harming any of the women, and investigators have not indicated whether he participated in his father’s pornography business. He plans to plead not guilty, his lawyer told CNN in June.