Tuesday, October 13, 2026·Focal News

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Olney backyard search expands as investigators take down shed in missing-women case

Local and federal investigators dismantled a backyard shed and collected soil and other evidence Tuesday at a Chew Avenue home tied to seven missing women. Authorities have not said whether evidence recovered there or inside the house will help establish what happened to them.

Olney backyard search expands as investigators take down shed in missing-women case
Investigators dismantled a wooden shed and collected evidence Tuesday from the backyard of a home on Chew Avenue in Philadelphia’s Olney neighborhood, continuing a search connected to seven missing women. Crews used shovels to gather soil and place it in evidence bags. A member of a crime-scene unit was also seen handing two small bags to the FBI. Authorities have not disclosed what was collected or whether it is connected to any of the women. The investigation centers on the home of the late Raymond Horsch, who had ties to all seven women. Police believe five of them are presumed dead, but investigators have not publicly established what happened to them. The backyard work followed a search inside the house Monday evening, when investigators applied luminol, a chemical used to reveal possible traces of blood. Law enforcement sources said the testing highlighted locations where DNA may be present. It is not known whether any DNA found belongs to the missing women. The property has been under round-the-clock surveillance since late June, after Horsch’s son, Eugene Horsch, was arrested on charges of impersonating a federal agent. Police were directed to the home after a woman with the younger Horsch gave them an identification card belonging to another woman who had been missing for years. Investigators were expected to turn their attention to the front yard Wednesday, Oct. 14, with crews aiming to finish this phase of the search by the end of the week. No findings from the searches have yet been confirmed as answers in the missing-women investigation.

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