PHILADELPHIA – Newly unsealed court documents revealed that Ramond Horsch, the late suspect at the center of a disturbing investigation into at least seven missing women in Philadelphia, was given a ‘do not arrest’ letter from a former Philadelphia mayor.
What we know:
Court records show that Horsch’s lawyer told a federal judge in court that former Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street wrote a letter asking police not to arrest Horsch because he was working on a documentary about women in addiction in Kensington.
The letter was part of Horsch’s legal defense during court proceedings in 2012, during which Horsch avoided a 20-year prison sentence after police found a marijuana grow operation and weapons at his home in Chalfont.
Horsch cut a plea deal to serve only four and a half years in prison by providing information about crimes including child prostitution, cocaine trafficking, and fraud.
Big picture view:
Investigators recently wrapped up their most thorough investigation at the Horsch House on Chew Avenue in Olney. Local and federal agencies spent days excavating outside the property in search of evidence, and performed a luminol test inside the so-called ‘House of Horrors’ to search for DNA samples that could provide new information into seven missing women linked to the property.
The investigation began in June, when Eugene Horsch was arrested for drugs and weapons after an encounter with police in Center City. During the arrest, Horsch and an unnamed woman gave officers a fake DEA badge and an ID with the name of a missing woman. That brought investigators to the home on Chew Avenue where authorities have since uncovered a trove of disturbing evidence about the late Horsch, including video evidence that police say shows a missing woman being strangled unconscious in an alleged snuff film.
The Source: Information provided by court documents, the Philadelphia Police Department, and previous FOX 29 reports.