Philadelphia police and the FBI say they have identified 58 women in more than a million images and videos recovered from a dead man's home, and five of those women are believed to be dead.

Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore disclosed the findings at a Wednesday press briefing, offering the most detailed public accounting yet of the investigation into Raymond "RC" Horsch, an 82-year-old suspected serial killer and violent pornographer who died last year. Horsch's Olney home in North Philadelphia has yielded a staggering volume of digital evidence, over 50 hard drives containing roughly 600,000 images, 70,000 videos, and 10,000 writings and drawings, and investigators say they have reviewed only about 30 percent of it.

Three of the five women believed dead have been publicly identified: Gabrielle Amarando, 22 when she disappeared; Maribel Fresses, 27 when she vanished in 2018; and Nicole Fusaro, also 27 when she went missing in 2018. Two other women who appear lifeless in the recovered footage have not been named. Two additional women, Blair Tonzelli, 35, who disappeared in 2023, and Amy McHale, 44, Horsch's ex-wife, last seen at the Olney property in June 2016, remain missing.

Over a million files, and investigators are less than a third of the way through

The scope of the digital haul is difficult to overstate. When police executed a second search warrant on June 25, they found more than 50 hard drives inside the Olney home. Those drives held the bulk of the images, videos, and written materials now under review. An earlier search on June 20 turned up at least one illegal firearm, a fake FBI badge, a marijuana growing operation, and five urns containing cremated remains.

Authorities have not said whether the cremated remains belong to any of the identified victims. They have also not recovered DNA traces linked to Amarando or Fresses at the property, despite video evidence that both women were there.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Wayne Jacobs framed the pace of the investigation in blunt terms at the Wednesday briefing:

"The objective here is thoroughness, not simply speed. We need to ensure that we do not overlook something that could help identify a victim, establish what occurred, provide an answer to a family that has been looking for one."

Investigators plan to return to the property later this month to execute another search warrant. Chemicals discovered in the basement are being tested to determine whether they could have been used to destroy evidence, or dissolve human remains.

Videos show women unconscious with visible injuries

Vanore described some of the footage in disturbing detail. Videos dated 2017 show both Fresses and Amarando lying unconscious with injuries to their bodies. Separate 2017 footage shows a woman, whom sources identified to ABC News as Nicole Fusaro, apparently using narcotics before RC Horsch hands her money. She then appears to lose consciousness. Vanore said it remained unclear from the video whether she died.

The deputy commissioner declined to publicly identify the woman in that footage. But the New York Post reported that investigators also found what they described as an alleged snuff film showing Horsch strangling an unidentified woman, and that police had notified a family member of the victim.

Jonathan Halloran-Koren, identified as Fusaro's cousin, told WPVI:

"Nicole was a beautiful, kindhearted woman who deserved so much better than what happened to her. She will forever be loved and missed by her family and friends."

Cases like this one, where investigators must identify victims years after the crimes, echo the painstaking work seen in other cold cases, such as the recent DNA identification of serial killer Keith Jesperson's last unnamed victim after more than three decades.

A traffic stop unraveled the case

The investigation traces back to a routine traffic stop in June near Independence Mall in Philadelphia. Police pulled over Eugene Horsch, 44, RC Horsch's son. A woman in his car provided identification belonging to Blair Tonzelli. Officers found two handguns and more than $8,000 in illegal drugs in the vehicle.

Eugene was brought in for questioning. He allegedly told investigators that Tonzelli would "never be seen again." That statement prompted police to seek search warrants for the Olney home his father had owned.

Eugene Horsch now sits in federal custody on charges related to illegal gun possession. He has not been charged with any crimes connected to the missing women. The identity of the woman who was in his car, and why she carried Tonzelli's identification, has not been publicly explained.

Dozens of alleged victims, and most are not cooperating

Beyond the five women believed dead and the two still missing, the investigation has produced a grim census of the people who passed through RC Horsch's home. Ten of the 58 alleged victims identified in the footage reportedly overdosed and were found at locations across Philadelphia. Sixteen others were found alive but described by officials as "not very cooperative", unwilling to discuss what happened inside the house.

Three alleged victims refused outright to speak with investigators. Authorities said they are still working to reach 25 additional women identified in the images and videos.

The reluctance of survivors to cooperate is a familiar obstacle in cases involving exploitation and violence against vulnerable women. It is also a reminder that the full picture of what happened inside that Olney home may take months, or longer, to emerge. Investigators have noted that similar challenges arise in cases where women vanish and families are left searching for answers.

RC Horsch died before facing charges

Raymond "RC" Horsch was 82 when he died last year. He had a reputation for creating violent pornography and wrote books featuring serial killers who preyed on women. His ex-wife, Amy McHale, appeared in his films, photographs, and music videos before she vanished from the Olney property in June 2016. No one has been charged in her disappearance.

Horsch's death before any charges could be filed means the criminal case, as it stands, centers on his son, and only on the gun charges. Whether prosecutors will eventually bring additional charges against Eugene or anyone else remains an open question. The volume of evidence still unreviewed, roughly 70 percent of the digital material, leaves significant ground for investigators to cover.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel made clear at the briefing that the department views this as an obligation, not merely a case:

"We have a duty. We have a duty to those families who are all concerned about whether their loved one lost their lives in that house or maybe somewhere else."

The investigation bears some resemblance to other cases in which violence against women was discovered only after the perpetrator's death or incapacitation, including the Georgia man who died of a heart attack while disposing of a strangling victim's body.

What investigators still don't know

Major questions hang over the case. The five urns of cremated remains found on June 20 have not been publicly linked to any identified victim. The chemicals in the basement remain under testing. Only three of the five women believed dead have been named, the other two have not been identified publicly. And the 10,000 writings and drawings on Horsch's hard drives have not been described in detail, though his history of writing about serial killers who targeted women gives that material an obvious investigative significance.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Philadelphia police.

Families deserve answers, and investigators say they intend to deliver them. But when a dead man's hard drives hold a million images and the survivors won't talk, the duty Commissioner Bethel described is as difficult as it is necessary.