Two missing women, Maribel Fresses and Gabriella Amarando, were found to have died during an investigation into a "mystery house" in Philadelphia's Olney neighborhood, investigators revealed Wednesday, August 12, NBC Philadelphia reported. Philadelphia Police Inspector Raymond Evers shared new details during a press conference.
Evers explained how this investigation began and what detectives have found.
Olney "mystery house" investigation
It all started on June 19, 2026, when a park ranger stopped a BMW on the 600 block of Market Street near Independence Mall. Inside were a male driver and female passenger, Evers said.
The driver was identified as 44-year-old Eugene Horsch, and the woman provided fake identification with the name Blair Tonzelli. According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS), Tonzelli went missing in 2023.
The park ranger found two handguns and $8,000 in illegal drugs inside the house.
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Evers said that during the investigation, detectives said they learned that Tonzelli will "never be seen again.”
{{/usCountry}}Evers said that during the investigation, detectives said they learned that Tonzelli will "never be seen again.”
{{/usCountry}}Later that day, a search warrant was issued at Horsch's house on the 400 block of West Chew Avenue. Inside, the DEA and the Philadelphia Police Department found at least one more illegal gun, a marijuana grow operation, another fake FBI badge and five urns filled with cremated remains.
On July 25, another search warrant was conducted by Philly's Homicide Division, ATF agents and a bomb disposal unit. During the search, authorities found computer parts and what appeared to be a home lab with several containers of an unknown oily substance.
Evers said that on June 27, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel requested assistance from the FBI Evidence Recovery Team to process the lab, containers and digital evidence. Then on July 9, a K9 team searched the house and around it.
On July 22, another search warrant was served to remove a sewer line, lateral and trap at the house to see inside. On July 27, the containers with the oily substance were sent to a Chicago lab to be reviewed.
In the beginning of August, a computer forensic lab started to review the digital evidence from the house. They reportedly went through 600,000 images, 70,000 videos and more than 10,000 pages of drawings and writings, which is just 5% of the digital evidence, according to Evers.
As many as 95 search warrants were issued for the house and its contents.
Who were Maribel Fresses and Gabriella Amarando?
Detectives said that the digital evidence included videos depicting two women inside the house. While some videos showed them alive, others showed them appearing to be dead.
"I'm not gonna get into exactly what I saw, it's dark. It's real dark. But what we saw is these two girls alive. There was a period of time and what appears to us that they're deceased. There's pieces of the video that we don't have yet," Evers said during the press conference.
The women are identified as Maribel Fresses, 27, and Gabriella Amarando, 22. Both of them were born in 1990, Evers said. While Fressess was reported missing in February 2018, Anarando has been missing since September of 2012.
Evers said that detectives were unable to find the women’s bodies. The medical examiner confirmed photo and video evidence indicated that the two are dead, but could not verify how they died.
Dawson Fresses, Maribel's brother, expressed his shock at the news.
“My first reaction was pure shock. 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.
Evers said that the videos are "dark and graphic." He added that while some people who are seen in other pieces of the digital evidence are alive, some others remain missing.
"The amount of information and digital evidence we got was astonishing," Evers said. "The investigators have to look over 600,000 images. 70,000 videos. And over 10,000 pages of writings, manuscripts and drawings."
Evers explained that there will be an increased police presence at the house on the 400 block of West Chew Avenue. The investigation continues.
Detectives are returning to the house to reexamine parts of it that may have been overlooked in the past.
“This investigation will take time. There’s a lot of evidence to go through," Evers said.
Horsch was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges connected to false FBI credentials, NBC10 reported. At a preliminary hearing on August 6, Pennsylvania state prosecutors withdrew all five charges against him.
Horsch is still facing federal charges for possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of an unlawfully produced document and authentication feature. He was transferred to federal custody after federal prosecutors charged him. A jury trial in the federal case has been scheduled for September 8.
The Philadelphia Police Department has urged anyone who may have been inside this house or interacted with Horsch or his father to call them at 215-686-TIPS. If you wish to speak directly with an investigator from the Homicide Division who is assigned to the case, call 215-686-3334.