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Philly snuff film case

True crime · Heat 7.3 / 10 · 3 shows · 29m airtime

Philadelphia police disclosed on September 21 that violent videos and photos of missing women were found in the home of erotic photographer R.C. Horsch, with at least seven women linked to the house and footage circulating on an underground network. Investigators recovered more than 600,000 images and about 70,000 videos, most shot inside the home, and sent over 50 containers of sludge to the FBI lab in Chicago after finding evidence of alkaline hydrolysis in the Olney basement. Labs are now using SNP technology to build DNA profiles from sewer-line residue. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported at least five of the women Horsch filmed died of accidental overdoses, a finding that reframes the case.

How 3 podcasts covered it

  1. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-21 (0:01 to 2:20)
    Opens the photographer's videos and house
    Opens the case of erotic photographer R.C. Horsch: police found videos of a drugged, handcuffed woman with a zip tie around her neck, images of two unconscious missing women, and at least seven women tied to the same Philadelphia house.
    New angle: At least seven women are linked to the same Philadelphia house; the videos reached an underground network.
  2. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-21 (2:13 to 3:22)
    Traces the case to a Liberty Bell arrest
    Joe Holden of CBS News Philly traces the case's origin to late June, when R.C. Horsch's son Eugene was picked up near the Liberty Bell with fake federal credentials and a woman carrying a fake ID - the arrest the whole investigation spiraled from.
  3. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-21 (3:17 to 4:45)
    Tracks 50 sludge containers to FBI lab
    Adds the basement: investigators believe Horsch used alkaline hydrolysis - wet cremation - to destroy remains, and more than 50 containers of oily sludge have gone to the FBI lab in Chicago for DNA testing.
    New angle: Over 50 containers of sludge went to the FBI lab in Chicago for DNA testing; police have reviewed 30 percent of a million videos.
  4. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-21 (5:15 to 7:06)
    Debates whether DNA survives the chemicals
    Adds the search-warrant detail that Horsch was running alkaline hydrolysis - wet cremation - in the Olney basement, with the theory that he used it to destroy the trail; a forensic analyst and a former NYPD detective debate whether usable DNA survives the chemicals.
  5. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-21 (7:17 to 9:23)
    Explains how wet cremation destroys DNA
    Forensic analyst Jeffrey Gentry walks through the wet cremation evidence: each drum likely holds one person, and the alkaline hydrolysis chemicals can wreck usable DNA. Investigators are pulling apart the plumbing for samples.
    New angle: The alkaline hydrolysis chemicals can disrupt usable DNA results; investigators are tearing apart the plumbing for samples.
  6. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-11 (20:13 to 25:04)
    Puts numbers on the seized digital evidence
    Puts numbers on the seized digital evidence for the first time: more than 600,000 images and about 70,000 videos, most shot inside the house, with one video showing Horsch filming a handcuffed woman who appears alive and then dead.
    New angle: Investigators recovered more than 600,000 images and about 70,000 videos, most shot inside the home.
  7. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-11 (25:11 to 26:51)
    Adds the crematorium selling body parts
    Adds a new thread to the Horsch case: a crematorium he was tied to was shut down around 2007 or 2008 for selling body parts, and he visited the site shortly before his May 2025 death. Five urns of cremains were found in the house, two unidentified.
    New angle: Horsch was tied to a crematorium shut down around 2007-2008 for selling body parts, and visited it shortly before his May 2025 death.
  8. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-11 (30:45 to 36:26)
    Walks the basement laboratory setup
    Walks the basement laboratory: the 55-gallon drum with a pipe in and a pipe out, the smaller tubs of oily liquid, and how long lye would take to render an intact body. Morgan points to the University of Tennessee body farm as a possible source of data on lye applied to human remains.
    New angle: Morgan says the University of Tennessee body farm may have applied lye to human remains.
  9. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-10-11 (36:49 to 39:49)
    Questions whether the bone dust was accounted for
    Morgan walks through the mechanics of rendering a body and says tools like a sawzall would leave bone dust or chunks, asking whether all of it was accounted for. The segment returns to the crematorium caught selling body parts to medical facilities and adds that the investigation is likely to run for years.
    New angle: Rendering a body with tools like a sawzall would leave bone dust or chunks behind.
  10. Defense Diaries, 2026-10-12 (1:12:14 to 1:12:59)
    Adds the SNP method behind the sewer dig
    Adds the forensic method behind the plumbing dig: labs are running SNP technology on residue pulled from the sewer line to build profiles, a detail the earlier plumbing coverage did not name.
    New angle: Labs are using SNP technology to build DNA profiles from sewer-line residue.
  11. 48 Hours, 2026-10-30 (15:17 to 19:38)
    Reports the recruiting pattern and overdose deaths
    Goes to the recruiting pattern behind the videos: Horsch offered drugs or money to women with addiction histories, mostly met in Kensington, and the Inquirer found at least five died of accidental overdoses. Closes on Amy McHale's last call from the house.
    New angle: The Philadelphia Inquirer reported at least five of the women Horsch filmed died of accidental overdoses.
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