Nearly 10 Years After a Mom Disappeared, Police Zero In on the Last Place She Was Seen

The home belongs to the son of the woman's late ex-husband

NEED TO KNOW

• Amy McHale, a mother missing since 2016, is reportedly believed to have last been seen at a home in Philadelphia that was just searched by police
• Authorities charged Eugene Horsch, 44, who lives in the home, with possession, possession with the intent to deliver and multiple weapon-related offenses
• Horsch is the son of McHale’s late ex-husband

The Philadelphia home at the center of a weapons and drugs investigation was also the last known location of a mother who went missing a decade ago.

Philadelphia police said they recently arrested Eugene Horsch, 44, on charges of possession, possession with the intent to deliver and multiple weapon-related offenses.

PEOPLE previously reported that the investigation began on June 19, when a U.S. park ranger allegedly overheard a heated argument between Horsch and a woman while the pair were inside a car.

"When he's addressing the occupants, he hears what he believes the female to say, 'You're going to hurt me,'" Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said at a press conference.

Police alleged they subsequently searched the car and found fake DEA credentials, a switchblade in his pocket and two firearms with obliterated serial numbers and that the woman had an ID with the name of another woman who was reported missing in 2023.

After searching Horsch's home on Chew Avenue, police alleged they found "ballistic evidence,” more false federal credentials, urns and chemicals in bottles.

According to reports from the Philadelphia Inquirer, WPVI and CBS News, the home is the last place Amy McHale, a mother who vanished in 2016, was seen.

McHale was the former wife of Horsch's father, Raymond "R.C." Horsch, a filmmaker and erotic photographer, who lived in the home prior to his death in 2025.

Amanda Stofer, McHale's daughter, told WPVI that the last communication she received from her mother in 2016 was a voicemail.

"She left me a voicemail, and she said she was at Ray's, and that's where Ray lives," Stofer told the outlet. "[R.C. Horsch] 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."

Per NBC 10, police said no bodies were found inside Horsch's home.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing a probable cause affidavit, reported that investigators also found an unsigned handwritten letter mentioning serial killer Ted Bundy.

“Acting on emotion is where problems occur. What I don't think I told you was that the first time it was planned ahead of time,” the letter allegedly read, per the affidavit. “The threat was made before you know who came over and I already had a 2-foot zip tie in my pocket and a drum set up. I had been ready and waiting and I damn sure showed no hesitation. And it was fun.”

According to the paper, police were not sure who wrote the letter but that Horsch's father had written multiple pieces of fiction.

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Jerome Brown, Horsch's attorney, told NBC that the writing was likely that of Horsch's father.

“Knowing Ray for the past 50 years, it wouldn't surprise me if that's something that he wrote,” Brown reportedly said.

Brown also reportedly told WPVI that chemicals found in the home belonged to Horsch's father and that he didn't believe they were dangerous.