INFAMOUS: The Horsch House of Horrors

Ashley Flowers (0:00)

Hi, Crime Junkies, I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

Brit Prawat (0:02)

And I'm Brit.

Ashley Flowers (0:03)

And the story I have for you today is a case that's unfolding right now in North Philadelphia. At the center of it is a house that people have compared to something out of a horror movie connected to, at this moment, at least seven missing women.

As of this recording, nobody has figured out where these women are, or exactly how the two men who lived in that house could be connected to their disappearances, if at all. But there is still a lot to wrap your head around. And I think this might be one of the biggest cases of the year. So since all of you have been in our DMs asking us to connect the dots and see what we could find out about Eugene and Raymond Horsch, this is the still developing story of the Horsch House of Horrors.

Okay, Brit, before we jump in, like just a little bit of a caveat. So like every episode, our investigative reporters and producers were pounding the pavement, like pulling records, reaching out to sources. But this one is a bit of a different game for us because we're not telling a story that is complete or happened decades ago. We are literally getting new information every single day. But I'm going to tell you what we know so far.

So this whole thing started unfolding just a few months ago, on Friday, June 19th, 2026 That's when a park ranger is near Independence Mall in Philadelphia, just like steps from the Liberty Bell, when he spots this black BMW parked somewhere it shouldn't be. So he walks over to check it out and that's when he hears a woman's voice from inside the car saying, you're going to hurt me. Now he gets even closer so he can look through the car's window, and in the driver's seat, he sees this middle-aged man and then the woman. Just one look at them tells this ranger that this is probably going to turn into more than just a simple request for them to move their car, because both of them have visible sores, like the kind he knows sometimes comes from drug use. They also have some drug paraphernalia that he can spot through the window. So he asked them both for IDs. This is where things go from the routine to the bizarre. Because what they end up learning is that both of these people have fake IDs on them. The man's is a fake DEA badge, which is like no good.

Brit Prawat (2:59)

This is definitely not just like a hey move your car situation with a fake federal badge.

Ashley Flowers (3:05)

But the woman's is somehow even more concerning, because even though her ID looks legit at first glance, like with her picture on it and everything, when the park ranger runs it, it turns out that the information on the ID belongs to a woman named Blair Tonzelli. And Blair Tonzelli has an open missing persons case on her. The real Blair was last heard from more than three years before this in August of 2022 And then she had been officially reported missing in February of 2023

So they end up identifying the man she's with as 44 year old Eugene Horsch.

So, this is now officially above the Park Rangers pay grade. So police get called in and they bring in the real DEA agents. And once Eugene is taken into custody, he admits to officers that he is a convicted felon, which makes the other stuff that they find on him and in his car, real bad news for Eugene. He's got a switch blade and a glass pipe on him. And in the car is crack cocaine. Another switch blade, a cattle prod, a collapsible baton and a set of handcuffs. Oh, and by the way, two loaded guns, at least one with the serial number filed off.

Brit Prawat (4:24)

I mean, I was going to say huge red flag, but that's like a barrage of red flags one after another.

Ashley Flowers (4:29)

Now, authorities learn that Eugene owns a house at 417 West Choo Avenue in a neighborhood called Olney. So within hours, law enforcement headed there with a search warrant in hand to see what else Eugene might have going on. And listen, moral of the story, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover because even from the outside, this house, a crumbling three story brick twin is bad vibes. I mean, the second and third floor windows are boarded up. There are bars on the first floor windows and there's a security camera pointed right at the street. But truly as bad as it was from the outside, I don't think anyone could have imagined that what they were walking into would be so disturbing that this house would become infamously known as a house of horrors. Because this was not a quick in and out search. Police ended up securing the whole neighborhood. Investigators in hazmat suits were going in and out of the house over the course of days, which gets the attention of local news and social media.