444: Philly ‘House of Horrors’ Now Linked to 58 Women & Selling Body Parts

Serialously with Annie Elise

This episode provides a chilling update on the investigation into the Philadelphia 'House of Horrors' owned by R.C. and Eugene Horsch. New develop

Key takeaways

• Police have officially linked seven missing women, including Blair Tanzelle and Amy McHale, to the Horsch property.
• Investigators recovered over 1 million digital images and 70,000 videos from seized electronic devices at the scene.
• Evidence found includes five urns containing cremated remains and chemical drums potentially used for body disposal.
• A potential connection is being investigated involving Jonathan Gerlach, who was accused of stealing human remains from local cemeteries.
• The investigation uncovered links to Liberty Cremations, a company previously shut down for the illegal sale of human body parts.

Main topics

• Philadelphia House of Horrors investigation
• Missing persons linked to Horsch property
• Digital evidence and video analysis

Notable quotes

This could be the biggest serial killer case in recent history.

Conclusion

A harrowing deep dive into a developing investigation that suggests a

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Speaker 1 (0:11) Turning dreams into direction. Speaker 1 (0:17) Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. Speaker 1 (0:23) So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 2 (0:30) Cops are calling it a disturbing house of bars while searching this Speaker 4 (0:34) sprawling property. They say they found shocking Speaker 2 (0:37) videotapes. Speaker 3 (0:38) 58 people were identified in these images that we've seen. Speaker 4 (0:43) Was this dilapidated property a torture chamber and slaughterhouse? One Speaker 3 (0:47) day the phone calls just stopped and we knew it was something deeper. Speaker 2 (0:55) Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Speaker 2 (1:19) Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly with me, your host, Annie Elise. Happy Monday. I hope you had a fantastic weekend. I hope you are having a good start to your week, although, like I love to say, I'm probably about to ruin that for you because, once again, we have some sick and twisted-ass shit to talk about today. And look, I wasn't sure if I was going to do an episode on this case, or I should say... deeper dive into this case, but there is not only so much more information that has been released, but so much more twisted information that is truly unfathomable. As soon as I think that it can't get any worse, it somehow does get worse, and in the most diabolical, twisted, hills-have-eyes type of way. Now, back in the end of August, I had released a deep dive into the R.C. and Eugene Horsch situation, that whole case, also known in the media as the Philadelphia House of Horrors or the Philly House of Horrors. However, since then, as I said, there have been some major developments, including the police now linking seven missing women to this house, potential ties to a man we have talked about on this podcast before too, Jonathan Gerlach, a man who is accused of of stealing and selling over 100 bodies from Pennsylvania cemeteries. And I mean, here's where my mind is so blown, okay? When I first did the deep dive back in August, we were hearing from law enforcement that this may be the biggest serial killer case in recent history. And at first I was kind of like, okay, maybe, but it kind of also feels like... It's giving Lady Bird Lake or one of those situations where not to diminish that at all. I definitely do think there is some weird serial killer shit going on there. But whereas like, is it going to be proven? Is it real? Is this just something, you know, a catchy headline people are using trying to capture attention? No, it is, I legit think probably true. One of the biggest serial killer cases, if not the biggest in our lifetime. Truly, I believe that. Because like I said, not only have police now linked seven missing women to the home belonging to RC and Eugene Horsch, a father and son duo that legit do look like they came out of the hills have eyes, but they found urns there, chemical drums in the basement. The backstory is enough to send a chill down your spine of how they were potentially obtaining their victims. It is sick. So that brings me to today and why I'm doing this new episode, because now that so many details and so much information has come out, there is this new renewed sense of interest in the case, or not even new, like not renewed, that's probably the wrong word to describe it, but so many people who hadn't heard about the case even back in August when it first broke, that now we're hearing these new updates and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is going on here? Like, What's the story? What's happening here? I want to catch up. So I figured I will walk you through the updated timeline. I'm going to break down everything that we have learned since that original deep dive, which don't worry if you have not listened to that deep dive. I'm going to give you a quick recap, but also we'll link that deep dive for you below. But and I'll give you all the background that you really need to understand just so that you know and can fully see. how big these new developments are. So don't worry. It's not like you're going to be getting dropped into the middle of a story right now. I'm going to let you know what you need to know. But if you want the full. Crazy detail deep dive. I will link that in the show notes for you as well. But let's start with giving you some background on these two pieces of shit, okay? To begin with, I want to give you background information on not only the father, Raymond R.C. Horsch and all of this, but his deluded son, Eugene Horsch. Now let's start with R.C. R.C. had a decades-long history of criminal activity and very disturbing creative work. I am talking work that... is out of American Horror Story, okay? He produced independent adult films that would feature violent and sadomasochistic themes. And he would often recruit very vulnerable women from the streets, addicts, sex workers, people just struggling with addiction all throughout Kensington. He would be like, hey, come be a part of my movie. Or hey, I want to photograph you. And I'll give you some money. Or I don't know, maybe he was offering drugs. Who the hell even knows? But... the type of films and photos he would shoot were... It's like BDSM on steroids, okay? I'm talking zip ties around necks, really vulgar, crude things, just barbaric behavior. And that's not to shame anybody who's into BDSM, not at all. I get everybody has their fetish. This was... truly some sadist level type shit, okay? He also self-published books, including a fictional story about a serial killer who, by the way, those methods reportedly resemble to some of the physical evidence that was later found by police. So was this a fictional story about a serial killer or was this an autobiography? Who's to know? But his criminal history included drug and forgery charges, fleeing to New Zealand under a stolen identity, a 1985 federal psychological evaluation that described him as having bipolar and paranoid personality disorders, and also reports of him just being consumed by anger. Just this very hateful, spiteful man who had very dark, sinister thoughts and then executed those thoughts, either through film. still photography, or as we are coming to learn, truly executing them in real life, not just this fictional serial killer novel that he wrote. Now, during a 2009 raid on his Pennsylvania home, it uncovered a very large marijuana operation. They also seized firearms, fake IDs that belonged to different, not only different identities, but different federal identities, like government fake IDs. And ultimately, it sent him away to prison. However, R.C. was released in 2013 at the age of 70, and he took permanent residence at his Chew Avenue home until ultimately he died in May of 2020. But after his death, his son Eugene took over that family home. And that's when everything appeared to spiral or at least start to now finally come to fruition or be exposed. Just three days after Arcee died, a cigarette sparked a fire in Eugene's fiancee Krista's bedroom. And I'm putting fiancee kind of, you know. out there in very broad, loose quotes, because her friends and family said that Krista actually feared Eugene, so I don't want it to sound like it was some sort of love story. But when the fire department showed up and they started extinguishing the fire, police discovered guns and a marijuana grow operation, which, remember, there had already been one years and years earlier. So Eugene ended up being thrown in jail, but then was released a few weeks later. Then fast forward to August 16th, 2005, and Krista died of a drug overdose. And that is when things really seemed to take a turn for Eugene. Neighbors said that he became increasingly quiet, he seemed paranoid, and he was often seen outside washing his black BMW. And this is where I also want to just revert back to the deep dive. I really do think that you need to listen to it because there is So much backstory between Eugene and Krista as well, what that dynamic was like. I'm just giving you kind of this top line overview so that you can be fully caught up. Then in March of this year, Eugene was arrested for allegedly stabbing a man over a dispute over a woman. The case later ended up being dismissed, though, when the victim failed to appear. And Eugene was released in May after about two months in jail. Then, just a month later, on June 19th, Eugene ended up being pulled over in his car with a woman in the passenger seat. And that traffic stop, it really became the catalyst for what we now know could be one of the biggest potential serial killer cases of all time. And had this traffic stop not happened, I don't think that we would have... at all uncovered what we know now. I don't know that we ever would. This is really, like I said, the catalyst that kind of broke things wide open. Because inside the BMW, they found two illegal handguns. The handguns had tampered serial numbers. So, you know, when people try to shave off the serial numbers or alter them so that they're not traceable, you can't track them, which, hi, you're only doing that if you have something shady going on. And I'm not a firearms expert. But I would argue there's no other reason to manipulate a serial number on a gun unless you're trying to do some shady shit with it, right? They also found about $8,000 worth of crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana. They found a DEA badge and ID card with Eugene's photo. So him cosplaying as a DEA agent. They also found a switchblade, a collapsible baton, a cattle prod. and other suspicious items, which why someone has all of those items could not guess unless, again, there's some sort of deviant or sinister behavior. But the fact that he had a fake DEA badge and also like these weapons, a ton of drugs, a cattle prod, not every day do you see someone with that in the backseat of their Beamer, but just very alarming stuff. Now, the woman that was with him, she was apparently carrying an ID that didn't belong to her. It had the name Blair Tanzelli on it, yet it had her photo on it, which this was weird. Like, why do you have a fake ID with someone else's name? And sure enough, the name on this ID belonged to a missing woman. So this woman in the car reportedly had told police that Eugene had created this fake ID for her. So that prompted the investigators to revisit Blair's 2023 missing persons case because, okay, this man has now created a fake ID for this woman he's with using a real life identity of a missing woman who went missing just a few years ago. What's going on? We need to look into this. Like, let's revisit the missing persons case, right? Well, apparently in this case of Blair being missing, a friend had said that she was last seen at 417 West Chew Avenue. which that is none other than the Horsch family home. And so that, of course, led police to Eugene's home. Now, during the first search of the Chew Avenue home, which was that same day, police discovered a basement that resembled something like Breaking Bad, but not nearly as high-tech or definitely not as clean. But there was a chemical lab, a large quantity of chemicals. drums, additional firearms, a drug operation estimated to be worth upwards of 250 grand. Just, again, something more than what meets the eye. And I don't know if it was strictly a drug operation or if those chemicals also were used to dispose of people, acid, different high burn rate chemicals. drums, which when I think of drums, I think of the Drew Peterson case and him allegedly, rolling my eyes allegedly, putting Stacey Peterson in that and disposing of her remains that way. It just, again, why does somebody own any of this? No, you know, but Speaker 1 (13:17) no less, all of it. For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Speaker 1 (13:30) Turning dreams into direction. Speaker 1 (13:35) Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. Speaker 1 (13:41) So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 2 (13:49) Investigators also excavated parts of the property and they examined a specific 55-gallon drum and underground piping. However, blood-like material that was found inside was later determined not to be blood. And the DNA testing that was also done at the scene was not linked to Blair Tonzelli. It didn't link to any evidence. So you still have them excavating the property. Them finding these drums, underground piping, potential blood substances, but it ends up not being blood. But like the investigators were really scratching their heads here. Like what is this place? What has been going on in here? Because they also found around 120 pieces of ballistic evidence. They found the... stuff connected to hidden compartments underground. That 55-gallon drum actually was connected to water lines that led underground. So there were these hidden compartments, hidden passageways, things like that that you wouldn't necessarily expect to see in a run-of-the-mill home. Security cameras, more fake IDs, another fake FBI badge in Eugene's name. Plus, in addition to the fake ID that had Blair's name on it, They found Blair Tonzelli's bank card. They also discovered five urns that contained cremated remains, plus more than 10,000 pages of writings and drawings, including an unsigned note referring to zip ties, Ted Bundy, harming people, a drum, and disposing of trash. Which that really reminded me of Rex Heuermann, the Long Island serial killer, because if you're familiar with that case, you know that he kept this. almost like this diary or like murder for dummies 101 type notebook where he would write down not only the supplies that he needed, but his game plan, how he was going to quote unquote play with these victims. That's what he called it, this sick asshole. And here you have 10,000 pages of writings and drawings where there's references to zip ties, Ted Bundy, hurting people, disposing of evidence, where what does that look like? Again. Maybe one thing isolated could be explained away. Like, oh, he has chemical piping and a drum because now he's graduated from a marijuana grow operation to a meth lab. Not, still Speaker 1 (16:11) not okay, Speaker 2 (16:11) but Speaker 1 (16:11) like, Speaker 2 (16:12) okay, you could explain that away. Well, then how do you explain the missing girl's bank card and a fake ID in her name? How do you explain firearms with the serial number shaved off? How do you explain... five urns with cremated remains? How do you explain security cameras and hidden passageways and hidden compartments? I mean, and now writings about Ted Bundy and notes about how to hurt people. It's just like, hello, the writing is on the wall or in the notebook in this case. And It paints a very, very disturbing and unsettling picture. They also seized about 50 electronic devices, including hard drives, computers, USB drives, cameras, and phones. So by early July, an FBI task force was investigating this Philly house of horrors, and Eugene was federally indicted on firearm and fraudulent ID charges. Now, this unsigned letter that was also found inside the home, where