Bones turned up in the backyard of a Philadelphia house tied to suspected serial killer Raymond Horsch as investigators keep searching for remains of missing women.
The Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office responded Thursday to 417 West Chew Ave. in the Olney section after bones were discovered outside the property long labeled a house of horrors, CBS News Philadelphia reported.
Law enforcement sources said the bones were found in the backyard while agents and detectives sifted soil for human remains and other evidence. It remains unclear whether the bones are human or animal, or whether they connect to the wider probe.
The house belonged to Raymond "R.C." Horsch, who died last year. Investigators have linked him to at least seven women connected to the property, some of whom are feared dead.
His son Eugene's arrest during a June traffic stop launched the massive search now unfolding on the lot.
Police sources said investigators earlier this week used luminol inside the house and found human DNA. That finding raised the stakes before the backyard dig produced the latest bones.
Agents have been working methodically, sifting soil in layers roughly three feet down. Chemicals recovered from the home have been sent to laboratories for testing.
Law enforcement sources believe Horsch used alkaline hydrolysis to dispose of bodies. In one of his books, he called himself an empathetic serial killer and detailed the steps, according to the reporting.
Cases that hinge on skeletal finds often turn on careful collection and identification, as seen when remains pulled from an Idaho river were later matched to a missing mother.
Retired FBI supervisory agent Richard Marx, who specialized in evidence collection, explained why the Medical Examiner's Office matters at a scene like this.
"If they find something related to the body, then that's when they would want to call the medical examiner, bring them aboard, have them collect it, and have them take it to their office for examination,"
Investigators also found opossum carcasses near the house and remnants of a brick outhouse in the yard. No formal link between those items and the suspected victims has been confirmed in the available accounts.
The search is expected to continue at least until the middle of next week. Once the backyard work finishes, crews plan to dig the front yard.
Horsch is gone. The women connected to him and the house are not a closed file. Sources close to the investigation have not named the seven women or stated which of them, if any, are confirmed dead.
No charges, statutes, or court filings were detailed in the Thursday reporting. The probe keeps moving on the property itself, soil, chemicals, DNA, and now bones that still need identification.
Missing-person work often stalls when ground goes unsearched, a point raised when a retired FBI agent pressed a sheriff over desert ground left unchecked in another case.
Here, detectives are still turning the dirt. The Medical Examiner is involved. Labs have the chemicals. The front yard is next.
Victims' families and a public that expects answers deserve a finished search, not a half-dug lot and open questions left in the soil.