{"id":317243,"date":"2026-10-29T23:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T23:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/317243\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T23:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T23:52:10","slug":"fbi-profiler-examines-r-c-horsch-in-philly-house-of-horrors-nbc10-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/317243\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI profiler examines R.C. Horsch in Philly \u2018House of Horrors\u2019 \u2013 NBC10 Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long before James R. Fitzgerald became an FBI profiler who helped identify the Unabomber, he was a kid growing up in Olney, just blocks from the house now<\/a> known as the \u201cHouse of Horrors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The house at 417 W. Chew Ave. would later become the focus of a sprawling investigation into at least seven missing women<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guarantee I walked up and down in front of that house,\u201d Fitzgerald told the NBC10 Investigators.<\/p>\n

The NBC10 Investigators showed Fitzgerald hundreds of pages of records<\/a> connected to Raymond \u201cR.C.\u201d Horsch, who owned the Chew Avenue property before his death in 2025 at age 82.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Former<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNBC10NBC10<\/p>\n

Former FBI profile James R. Fitzgerald stands near Chew Avenue with NBC10 investigative reporter David Charns.<\/p>\n

The records include a decades-old psychological evaluation, personal letters from Horsch and his family and federal court records detailing his criminal history.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald, a retired FBI supervisory special agent, criminal profiler and forensic linguist, reviewed the records as police and the FBI continue trying to determine what happened to the women connected<\/a> to Horsch\u2019s former home.<\/p>\n

Police have said there is video of Horsch strangling a woman. No human remains have been recovered from the Chew Avenue property.<\/p>\n

From Olney to the FBI<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald helped investigate one of the country\u2019s most notorious criminal cases: the hunt for the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald analyzed Kaczynski\u2019s writings, looking for clues in his language that helped investigators understand the person behind them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat opened so many doors and gave us so many clues to build on the profile that already existed,\u201d Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald said a person\u2019s own words can similarly provide investigators with clues about how that person thought and what he believed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s a language of the person himself, first person or third person, whatever it may be, you had that window to his soul and his brain and you find out what he truly wants and believes,\u201d Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n

A psychological evaluation from 1985<\/p>\n

Among the records the NBC10 Investigators showed Fitzgerald was a psychological evaluation<\/a> of Horsch completed in March 1985.<\/p>\n

Horsch\u2019s public defender requested the evaluation before his sentencing in a federal drug case. The psychologist examined Horsch\u2019s mental state, potential for rehabilitation and likelihood of committing another crime.<\/p>\n

The report described Horsch as highly intelligent, mistrustful and suspicious. The evaluator diagnosed Horsch with a major affective disorder, identified in the report as bipolar disorder, as well as paranoid personality disorder.<\/p>\n

The psychologist also documented Horsch\u2019s concerns about losing control.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Before<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNBC10NBC10<\/p>\n

Before Raymond “R.C.” Horsch was sentenced for a federal crime in 1985, his public defender requested a psychological evaluation to examine his mental state, potential for rehabilitation and likelihood of committing another crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t stand being out of control,\u201d Horsch told the psychologist.<\/p>\n

The evaluation found that Horsch initially approached the session with \u201ca great deal of suspiciousness and cynicism.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point, Horsch told the psychologist, \u201cI can\u2019t answer questions honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m suspicious of you,\u201d Horsch said. \u201cI don\u2019t know you or how your mind works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald took note of Horsch\u2019s reluctance to answer questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a long time ago, if you\u2019re a psychopath, you\u2019re going to lie,\u201d Fitzgerald said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no doubt, and it even says in here, that he was hesitant to answer some questions from the shrink.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1985 evaluation did not diagnose Horsch with psychopathy.<\/p>\n

Something else in the evaluation caught Fitzgerald\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

The psychologist documented Horsch\u2019s professional experience as a chemist, computer analyst and photographer.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNBC10NBC10<\/p>\n

The evaluation diagnosed Horsch with a major affective disorder, identified in the report as bipolar disorder, manic, in remission, and paranoid personality disorder. The psychologist wrote that Horsch devoted significant energy to maintaining equilibrium and control.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has an expertise in chemistry, computers, and photography,\u201d Fitzgerald said. \u201cThat\u2019s everything they\u2019re looking at right now inside the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horsch\u2019s history with chemistry stretched back decades, according to the NBC10 Investigators\u2019 review of the documents.<\/p>\n

After an earlier federal counterfeiting conviction, Horsch became the subject of a DEA investigation while working as a chemist.<\/p>\n

In February 1977, federal agents searched a garage on North Sixth Street in Philadelphia\u2019s Hunting Park neighborhood. According to federal court records obtained by the NBC10 Investigators, agents found \u201csubstantial laboratory equipment and various chemicals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said the search uncovered methamphetamine in various stages of manufacture, and a DEA chemist concluded the property contained a methamphetamine laboratory.<\/p>\n

Decades later, law enforcement sources told the NBC10 Investigators that detectives recovered suspected chemicals and laboratory equipment from Horsch\u2019s former Chew Avenue property.<\/p>\n

What the records can and cannot tell investigators<\/p>\n

Despite the parallels Fitzgerald identified, he cautioned against using records from decades ago to conclude Horsch was responsible for the disappearance or death of anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is reflective of this guy and how he lived his life,\u201d Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n

The 1985 psychological evaluation<\/a> itself noted that Horsch\u2019s documented crimes from 1973 through 1977 \u201cnever involved violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Fitzgerald, the decades-old records provide another source of information about the man who once owned a house he remembers from his childhood.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Police<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNBC10NBC10<\/p>\n

Police have connected at least seven missing women to the property, which once belonged to Raymond \u201cR.C.\u201d Horsch, a known snuff filmmaker and erotic photographer. Horsch died in 2025 at age 82.<\/p>\n

The answers to what happened to the missing women may lie elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Police and the FBI continue reviewing evidence recovered during searches of the Chew Avenue property. Authorities said last month that detectives were reviewing more than 1 million digital files connected to the investigation and had identified 58 people in those files.<\/p>\n

Police have finished digging and searching the property but are awaiting test results from areas investigators swabbed for possible evidence of a crime.<\/p>\n

The NBC10 Investigators can be reached at david.charns@nbcuni.com<\/a> and ali.ingersoll@nbcuni.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long before James R. Fitzgerald became an FBI profiler who helped identify the Unabomber, he was a kid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12223,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-317243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-nbc10-investigators","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}