Philadelphia Police Probe Apparent Snuff Films
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What happened
In June, Philadelphia police found Eugene Horsch, 44, parked in a police-designated space in the Olney neighborhood with a woman in the back seat of his vehicle. A search of the car and of Horsch’s home on Chew Avenue recovered firearms, drugs, a fake DEA identification card bearing his photo, a basement setup police described as a homemade laboratory, five urns believed to contain human ashes, and more than a million digital images and videos. Officials said they have identified 58 people in that digital evidence so far, including at least five women who are missing or believed dead, among them Gabrielle Amarando, who disappeared in 2012 at age 22, and Maribel Fresses, who disappeared in 2018 at age 27. Police said images with 2017 metadata appear to show both women inside the home unconscious and injured, but investigators have not recovered bodies, DNA, or other physical evidence connecting them to the property. Horsch is in federal custody on gun and related charges, has not been charged with homicide, and police have said the matter is not currently being investigated as a serial-killer case.
Sourcing check · Fully on the record · 3 articles
3 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 3 of 3
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Frank Vanore, Philadelphia Police Department, Dr. Kris Mohandie and Philadelphia police
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 1 of 3
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: criminal complaint, police investigation
- Credits another outlet 0 of 3
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
- Unnamed sources 0 of 3
- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 17, 16:33 UTC by NewsNation, naming its source. First document the next day, from Breitbart (criminal complaint).
- Not counted 0
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
BLINDSPOT.
Only right-leaning outlets are covering this story
— the other side's media is silent.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage has not reported the Philadelphia investigation at all. Right-leaning coverage describes police turning an illegal-parking stop into a search that found images of women who appear unconscious. A reader of the silent side would not know that investigators have identified missing women in those files. Police say they have recovered no DNA connecting those women to the house. Eugene Horsch remains in federal custody on gun charges. No homicide charges have been filed.
Fox News leads with a forensic psychologist warning of underground distribution. Breitbart instead notes that police say the matter is not being investigated as a serial-killer case.
Have investigators established that any of the recovered videos depict actual murders rather than the late father's staged films?
Bottom line
Left-leaning outlets have not reported that Philadelphia police recovered more than a million digital files and images of missing women from the Horsch home, a search Fox News has already framed as a serial-killer probe even though no homicide charge has been filed.
The receipts — 6 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Police have not recovered bodies, DNA or other physical evidence connecting Amarando or Fresses to the home
- More than one million digital files were recovered from the home
- Five urns believed to contain human ashes were found in the basement
- A woman with Eugene Horsch was carrying the ID of one of the missing women
- The home has been linked to seven missing women
- RC Horsch's book Empathy included a chapter about dissolving a murdered woman's body with boiling chemicals
The Right View
Right-leaning outlets including Breitbart and Fox News have framed the case as a potential serial-killer and snuff-film investigation. They report that the vehicle search resembled a crime kit, that digital files include images of women who appear unconscious or dead, including one depicted as strangled with a zip tie, and that Horsch’s late father, Raymond RC Horsch, produced violent erotic films and wrote fiction about dissolving a body with chemicals. Fox News quoted a forensic psychologist suggesting the material may have been distributed to underground networks and reported that police have linked the home to as many as seven missing women, with excavation under way outside the house. Both outlets note that no homicide charges have been filed, that attorney Jerome Brown denies his client is a serial killer and cites periods of incarceration and medical disability, and that a former FBI profiler said investigators may focus questions on the deceased father.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: it rests on named defendants and missing women, on-the-record statements by Philadelphia police and the FBI, a cited criminal complaint, and specific physical and digital seizures rather than one party’s uncorroborated word. Established so far is Horsch’s arrest and federal detention on gun and related charges; police descriptions of weapons, drugs, urns, a basement laboratory, and a large digital cache; identification of named missing women in images according to investigators; and the absence of recovered bodies, DNA, or homicide charges. Alleged, and not established, are that anyone was murdered at the home, that the files are snuff films rather than staged or inherited material, that Horsch or his father was a serial killer, and that a distribution network exists. No left-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch for the remainder of the digital-evidence review, forensic results from excavations, any homicide or missing-person charging documents, and whether police revise their statement that this is not a serial-killer investigation.
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