MINI TRUE CRIME ROUNDUP: A deep dive into Philly's 'House of Horrors' investigation

Lauren Barry (0:02)

This is a True Crime Roundup from The On Deadline Podcast. We explore crime stories reported on by Audacy's radio newsrooms across the country.

I'm your host, Lauren Barry. This week, we're taking a deep dive into an ongoing investigation into what's been called a House of Horrors in Philadelphia. It's a gruesome tale, and more details keep coming out. So far, it involves a deceased pornographer, hard drives that have disturbing footage on them, missing women, apparent drug use, urns filled with cremated remains, bomb-making materials, and more. Audacy's station, KYW Newsradio, has been on the case for months. And we'll hear both the latest news and a rundown of the situation from KYW's Gone Cold Podcast. They're calling it a house of horrors. And one would hope that the details of this story belong in a fictional horror movie instead of in real life. But that's not the case.

This house of horrors is located in the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia, and it's linked to multiple missing women. An ongoing investigation has already revealed terrifying details about what might have been going on inside. Audacy station KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia has been on the case since June.

In August, the station did a deep dive into the story for its Gone Cold Podcast. We're going to play an excerpt of that episode here to get us all caught up on the case through August 14th. Then we'll cover new details unveiled this week, and some analysis from an expert. Now, here's KYW's Gone Cold on the Horror House case.

Kristin Johansen (2:05)

The story of Eugene Horsch and his father, Raymond Charles Horsch, who went by RC, has led newscasts and websites and been the topic of social media intrigue in Philadelphia since June. RC died in May of 2025 But let's walk back. How did this start?

On June 19th of 2026, at 8 o'clock in the morning, two park rangers were driving through Independence Mall in old city Philadelphia. They noticed a car illegally parked in front of a fire hydrant at Sixth and Market. Here's Philadelphia police inspector Ray Evers.

Ray Evers (2:42)

The vehicle was a BMW. In the vehicle were two passengers, a passenger and a driver.

Kristin Johansen (2:49)

The ranger looked the car over. There was no police placard. He saw a man leaning all the way back in the driver seat. A woman was next to him and shouted, you're going to hurt me.

A criminal complaint later filed in federal court outlines what happened next. The ranger noticed what he thought was drugs and some paraphernalia and asked for the pair's IDs and the car's registration.

Ray Evers (3:11)

The driver was a Eugene Horsch. He's a 44-year-old male from 417 Shoe Avenue.

The passenger is a white female, provided fake ID in the name of Blair Tanzelli.

Kristin Johansen (3:25)

Blair had been missing for more than three years and the woman in the passenger seat was not Blair. The park ranger and his partner took Horsch and the woman into custody and searched the car. They found two guns, a loaded 40-caliber pistol and a loaded revolver with an obliterated serial number. There were also several pairs of scissors and a glass pipe and two switchblade knives. Horsch yelled to the officers about the guns. They're not hers. She's a good girl.

Horsch admitted that crack cocaine and guns were his. That's a problem for Horsch. He's a convicted felon. He can't have guns.

Other strange objects found on the car, a collapsible baton, two fake federal IDs for Eugene Frederick Steiner, police handcuffs and keys, and this, a cattle prod, a stick with an electric shocker at the end used for livestock. It was all seized by the Rangers, who then called in the FBI, DEA, Philly police and the ATF. This was quickly becoming bigger than a traffic stop.

Ray Evers (4:25)

Later on that day, and this is Friday into Saturday the 19th and the 20th, the DEA and officers from the Philadelphia Police Department assigned to the Federal Task Force served a search warrant at 417 Two Avenue. Recovered, another illegal gun. Gun parts, a marijuana grow operation with a street value of over $280,000.

Another badge, this time it was an FBI badge with credentials, again, with Eugene Horses' picture on it. Also in a house where five urns containing what we believe is the cremate it remains.

Kristin Johansen (5:03)

But here's the thing, the media and public wouldn't find out about it for another week.

On June 26, they got an early morning tip that something was happening in the only section of Philadelphia. It's a part of a pocket of neighborhoods that connects North Philly to the northeast section of the city. I called our news desk and they sent KYW Newsradio reporter Tim Jimenez to the scene, and I met him there a bit later. I sat down with Tim the following week to discuss some of what we saw and why this felt different.