Philadelphia Police Inspector Ray Evers broke his silence Wednesday on the graphic digital evidence recovered from Eugene Horsch’s home.
“I’m not gonna get into exactly what I saw. It’s dark. It’s real dark,” Evers told reporters, according to WPVI.
The veteran homicide inspector was addressing footage that appears to show two missing women deceased.
Maribel Fresses, 27 when she vanished in 2018, and Gabriella Amarando, 22 when she disappeared in 2012, are the victims depicted, Evers said.
The women’s bodies remain missing.
“[W]hat we saw is these two girls alive. There was a period of time, and what appears to us is that they’re deceased,” Evers continued.
He cautioned that investigators lack some pieces of the video.
“There’s pieces of the video that we don’t have yet,” he added.
The medical examiner reviewed the material and reached a chilling preliminary conclusion.
“Based on the video and photo evidence, if the images in the video are real and not altered in any way, based on their review, the [medical examiner] would believe the individuals depicted in the images are deceased,” Evers shared.
Official declarations of death remain impossible.
So do homicide charges.
No bodies means no death certificates, and no murder counts for now.
The families have been notified of what the videos appear to show.
“This is new territory for the homicide unit in Philadelphia. Usually, when we have a homicide investigation, we have a body, we have body parts. This time we do not,” Evers said.
Investigators have been sifting through an enormous digital haul.
More than 600,000 images, 70,000 videos, and over 10,000 pages of drawings and writings have been recovered.
That represents just five percent of the total digital evidence seized.
A forensic lab began reviewing the material this month.
Police have secured 95 warrants since June targeting Horsch’s contents and his three-story Olney residence.
The property yielded a suspicious chemical stockpile in the basement.
A 55-gallon drum connected to water lines was also discovered.
Several urns, hidden compartments, firearms, and a handwritten letter referencing serial killer Ted Bundy were among the other finds.
Neighbors have described Horsch, 44, as a “psycho.”
He is the son of R.C. Horsch, the late notorious erotic photographer and filmmaker.
The elder Horsch died last year.
His ex-wife Amy McHale vanished without a trace in 2016.
The house is her last known location.
Dawson Fresses, Maribel’s brother, spoke to NBC Philadelphia about the devastating news.
“It’s been eight years since I’ve last seen her and it was just weird hearing that come about. I kind of got into this mode that I was never going to figure out what happened to her,” he said.
The discovery left him in “pure shock.”
In the viral moment that sparked the entire probe, a U.S. Park ranger overheard an argument between Horsch and his girlfriend in a parked car near Independence Hall in Old City on June 19.
Authorities intervened and allegedly found Horsch carrying a fake Drug Enforcement Administration badge, a switchblade, and two guns with scratched-off serial numbers.
His girlfriend possessed a fake ID with her photo but bearing the name Blair Tonzelli.
Tonzelli, 35, had gone missing in Kensington in 2023.
That discovery led investigators to Horsch’s home, where they also found a bank card with Tonzelli’s name and a death certificate for another woman who died last year.
Narcotics and evidence of alleged drug manufacturing were recovered as well.
Horsch has denied any involvement with the missing women.
He has a rap sheet of 10 arrests including drug possession and dealing, assault, and drunken driving, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
He remains in custody on firearms and counterfeit credential charges after an FBI raid on his home.
As of Wednesday, no new charges had been filed against him.
Horsch is scheduled to appear in federal court in Philadelphia on the existing charges.