On June 13, 2016, 44-year-old Amy McHale left a voicemail for her family from her home in Philadelphia’s Olney neighborhood, assuring them she was safe.
She was never seen or heard from again.
Now, more than a decade later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found massive amounts of dangerous contraband inside.
The chilling discovery led to the arrest of McHale’s stepson, Eugene Horsch, who is connected to another woman’s disappearance and has been described by witnesses as a “sociopath.”
McHale’s family hopes the findings may provide the answers they’ve been seeking for so long.
“I just want people to keep looking for her,” said Amy’s mother, Gloria McHale. “Somebody knows something.”
The FBI found hazardous chemicals, ballistic evidence, and a Ted Bundy reference at the house
Image credits: Amy McHale/Facebook
The three-story brick house the FBI scoured, located at 400 West Chew Avenue, belongs to 44-year-old Eugene Albert Horsch.
The investigation stemmed from a June 19 incident in which a U.S. park ranger stationed near Independence Hall in Old City overheard “a disturbance” coming from a black BMW occupied by Eugene and a woman.
Image credits: Amy McHale/Facebook
Philadelphia Police Department Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore told the media that the ranger witnessed the woman saying Eugene was going to hurt her and decided to intervene. In the car, the police found narcotics, fentanyl, marijuana, two firearms with serial numbers scraped off, and other weapons.
They also found a forged U.S. DEA badge with Horsch’s photograph and the name “Eugene Frederick Steiner.” The woman with her also provided a fake ID under the name Blair Tonzelli, a woman reported missing in 2023, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Image credits: NBC10 Philadelphia
Both were taken into custody. On June 27, multiple federal agents in hazmat suits combed Eugene’s house.
Vanore said that the FBI found a 55-gallon drum connected to water lines, illegal narcotics, unknown chemicals, firearms, 120 pieces of ballistic evidence, and a handwritten note referencing infamous serial homicide convict Ted Bundy.
The authorities have speculated that Eugene was using the materials to potentially create explosives: “Some of these chemicals, if they were to be put together and obviously ignited, they could cause some hazards.”
Image credits: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory
Officers have also found a sump pump “that looks like a hole in the ground, but there are no bodies,” Vanore added.
“We’re certainly going to look into the activities that went on at that house even before he was there,” Vanore said.
Amy McHale was married to Eugene Horsch’s father
Amy McHale met Raymond Charles Horsch, Eugene’s father and the previous owner of the Olney house, in the 1990s, when she was in her 20s, and he was in his 50s. They got married and divorced, but remained close friends.
News of the recent discoveries at the Horsch residence led Amy’s family to believe the authorities had found new leads about her.
“I immediately thought they had found my mom,” Amy’s daughter, Amanda Stofer, told 6abc newspaper. Gloria McHale also had a similar reaction.
Image credits: Philadelphia Police Department
On June 13, 2016, shortly before disappearing, Amy told Amanda that she was at the Horsch house.
“She left me a voicemail, and she said she was at Ray’s, and that’s where Ray lives,” Amanda said. “Ray even spoke with me and my grandmother and the detectives afterward and gave the same story that she was there and that when he woke up in the morning, she wasn’t.”
Image credits: Amanda Stofer/Facebook
Although the FBI search did not find any human remains or evidence connected to Amy, Amanda is hopeful that this could lead to a break.
“It’s obviously not the ending that anybody would want, but it feels like it could be close to some kind of end and just some kind of closure because 10 years is a really long time,” she said. “Especially for my grandmother. It’s her daughter.”
Raymond Horsch, who passed away in 2025, was an adult photographer and filmmaker convicted of forgery and substance manufacturing. He became a fugitive from U.S. law after federal agents found narcotics manufacturing equipment in his home in 1977.
Image credits: Amanda Stofer/Facebook
After his capture in 1985, he was tried and sentenced to three years in jail. He again went to prison after a 2009 indictment for growing marijuana plants and was released in 2013.
Gloria McHale called him a “strange dude” and accused him of taking advantage of troubled and vulnerable women who struggled with substance issues for his adult videos.
A second missing woman has been connected to the Horsch residence
Amy McHale battled mental health and substance issues her entire life, but that did not make her a neglectful parent, Amanda insisted in a CBS interview.
“My mom wouldn’t just go missing,” she said. “Amy did have her issues, but I don’t think she was isolated in these situations. I think these were bad men who took advantage of women who needed help. Real help.”
Image credits: Blair Tonzelli/Facebook
She believed that her mother was preyed upon by R.C. Horsch and that the truth still lies hidden somewhere in the Olney house, which remains taped off by the FBI.
“She was more than just an a**ict,” Amanda added. “She was a mother, she was human, she’s missed, and she was preyed upon like so many women are when they are in those positions with d**g add**tion.”
Incidentally, Amy McHale is not the only missing woman connected to the Horsch case.
Image credits: NBC10 Philadelphia
Blair Tonzelli, the name on Eugene Horsch’s female associate’s fake ID, was allegedly a “home healthcare aid” at the Olney house, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
After Blair’s disappearance in early 2023, the police questioned two women, one of whom called Eugene a “sociopath” and said that he claimed to know chemicals needed to melt human remains.
The witness also said at the time that she believed Blair and Eugene had a disagreement over money at some point and that he still had access to a Cash App account in Blair’s name.
Eugene’s female friend told the cops during the recent arrest that he had given her the fake ID with Blair’s name because she had outstanding arrest warrants. She said she didn’t know who Blair was or where she was, but assumed something bad had happened to her.
Eugene Horsch is not yet charged with any possible crimes linked to Amy or Blair’s disappearance. He is currently held on $500,000 bail for illegal weapons and narcotics charges.
“Hopefully the family gets closure.” The internet showered support on Amy McHale’s family after recent developments
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