Missing women named in Olney “death investigation”, plus reaction to the 76ers schedule | The Week in Philly

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Two people were inside there. They were fighting. He then goes to further investigate. And inside that car, he and his partner find weapons, drugs, fake government IDs, and specifically an ID with the DEA. It was made out to a guy named Eugene Frederick Steiner, which is obviously a fake name that they soon found out. There was also a woman in this car who had an ID of a missing woman. It was not her. It was a woman named Blair Tonzelli who had been missing for three years. They took both of them in for further questioning, searched the car. They ended up finding guns in the car and a few other things. And they came back, this person came back to the name of Eugene Horsch. Now, Because there was a federal badge that was found in there and drugs and other things, they were able to get a warrant to go inside of this home on Chew Street. And in that home, they discovered so much evidence, they said, including marijuana, growing operation, a makeshift lab in the basement. There were urns, five urns filled with ashes inside. And then more IDs of more missing women. There were also chemicals, a 55-gallon tub. And for weeks, they've been in and out of that house investigating. So mentioned on Wednesday police have a press conference and give us the details of what the police investigation to this point has entailed. It's truly a massive undertaking. They've given two press conferences so far. That first one was kind of just setting the scene and talking a little bit of the chemicals that they found inside the house, the 55-gallon tub, just all the unusual pieces that they found inside the house. This one that they had this week was with Inspector Ray Evers, and he details some of what they found right around the time when they first went in the house that they believe is crucial evidence in this case. We have to look over 600,000 images. 70,000 videos and over 10,000 pages of writings, manuscripts, and drawings. They've been through just about 5% of those videos. There's two women on those videos that are seen alive. And then later in the video, they're both dead. And police called it very, very dark. They would not go into exactly what was on the videos. They just... told us that they did get in contact with the families of these missing women to say that they believe that they're dead. They also went through kind of their process and procedure about how they had to contact the medical examiner's office and to determine that it was very likely that these women were dead. And they really have been asking for the public to call in if anybody knows or has dealt with. Eugene Horsh, who lived at that address, or his father, R.C. Horsh, who died last year, they want, or have anybody who's had any dealings with the Chew Avenue home, 417-2, they would like people to come forward. And can you tell us more details of the two women that are believed to be dead connected to this house and what's leading investigators to believe they are dead? It is connected to the video.

Their names are Gabrielle Aramondo and Maribel Friesis. So Gabrielle has been missing since 2012 and Maribel has been missing since 2018. Ironically, you're not, I'm not sure. They were both born in 1990. Their families are both from Bucks County that has no bearing on this. But those are the two girls that were found on just that first little chunk of video that they were able to go through and that they had the FBI. help them go through. They won't say again exactly what's on those videos or how they believe these women died. They have a theory. That's the best way to go about it. But they do not have bodies. And so now these families have to go and petition the courts to basically say, can you determine that our loved ones are dead, you know, so that we can move this process forward. But police are calling it now a death investigation. What is Eugene Horst's status right now? Eugene remains in federal prison. There's no new charges connected to this. He still faces a federal firearms charge. And another charge that involves basically that unlawful identification involving that DEA badge. He does have a hearing scheduled for next month. It's a motions hearing. But again, he doesn't face any new charges. Investigators still have so much to go through. They are really just getting started despite being at this for weeks, no? So they have been a constant presence at this location. They've said that they've had a car there for weeks at this point, just at least some car that's preserving the scene. They're so calming through that house. Sources tell me that it's just very, very strange. It's unlike anything they've seen before. The FBI's been out there. Specialized labs are now involved. It's a gigantic investigation that the police call probably one of the biggest investigations led by the homicide unit that they've ever seen. And they really have no idea like how many people could be involved as far as possible victims. I mean, just watching that press conference on Wednesday, I really got a feeling of foreboding of... what could be coming down the pike. Yeah, I mean, they have told us that they're going to be giving us snippets of information kind of as this unfolds. And, you know, already I'm hearing that there could be another press conference within the next couple of weeks. Now, we don't know that, you know, they don't know even that there's going to be anything to really announce in those time, you know, in that time period. But. They have a massive amount of video to go through and organize on top of all the photography that they have to go through on top of all the drawings and the writings and the manuscripts and the people that are talking to them. So there's likely going to be something else that comes out. I really, Matt, when it comes down to it, I really just think about all of the families out there.

throughout the Philadelphia region. I mean, these girls are from Bucks County, but throughout the entire Philadelphia region who are missing loved ones, are missing family members, are missing women in their lives, and thinking, oh my God, I wonder if she's there. That's KW Crime and Justice reporter, Kristen Johansson, joining us. We are just getting started on this edition of the week in Philly. Much more to talk about right after this. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves and how you sleep at night. We are demanding a fundamental shift in how our school district operates. This is the week in Philly, and there has been ongoing turmoil in the Cheltenham School District in Montgomery County in connection to a couple of alarming hazing incidents within the football program. For more on this, let's bring in KYW's Tim Jimenez and Tim first off, remind us of the backstory here. Yeah, the Montgomery County DA's office announced at the end of last month that four former football coaches and six students of the high school, they were being charged in connection with two incidents of hazing, assaults on a student athlete that took place in a locker room last year. According to District Attorney Kevin Steele, this wasn't just horseplay but vicious assaults on that student and the adults, the coaches involved. They were more interested in the football season, according to prosecutors, than they were the safety and well-being of... of that kid. The assaults on this victim were not typical goofing around by teammates or horseplay, as some of the coaches in this case called it. They were crimes. They didn't tell administrators. They decided to handle it. They told the juvenile victim not to tell his mother. And that's part of the problem here. Prosecutors say they wanted to keep the whole thing quiet to not jeopardize the season. Eventually, though, that student told a volunteer coach, the superintendent, the district superintendent, eventually suspended the 2025 football season and also canceled the 26 season. Now, we also had a development late last week. The superintendent resigned in connection with this, right? What are the details there? Yes, Superintendent Dr. Brian Scriven resigned in his letter to the board. He said he believes, quote, the district is best served by a fresh start under new leadership, and that stepping aside now is the right and necessary step to allow Cheltenham to move forward. So that brings us to Tuesday night, a school board meeting that, as you can imagine, got quite heated. What were the details here? And what was the main focus of parents and community members' anger? Yeah, Matt, those in attendance at the Cheltenham District Building did not hold back. The district attorney of Montgomery County told us you can't even protect our children.

We're talking about a meeting that lasted two hours. An hour and a half of that was public comment. And people really unloaded on the board for the way the district handled the entire situation and how they believed, how the people believed that the culture needed to change. They felt like that culture allowed something so heinous to happen to a student. They also felt like that more was needed, that more needed to be done to show that student and staffers as well and show other students that safety truly was the priority. Talk is cheap. That's how one parent put it. Talk is cheap. And at the end of the day, we have to have concrete action. A mother of a former football player also spoke about how happy she was that she pulled her son out and he graduated elsewhere, Matt. And I could not be happier that his diploma does not reach Cheltenham High School. Did the board or anyone in a position of power have anything to say? Yes, Board President Leah Mulhern spoke about the breach of public trust. She apologized for the pain and frustration that people were going through. She vowed that the district would take action and make the changes needed to prevent such a thing from happening again. The hard truth is that we must acknowledge that mistakes were made. The way forward will require not just an acknowledgement that we need to do better, but a commitment to the hard work of rebuilding public trust in the safety of our schools. And what is next here? Obviously finding a new superintendent, but are there other things we should be keeping an eye on? Yeah, they're going to need a full-time superintendent. They named an interim superintendent. And also a lawyer will be working on an independent review of district policies. And that person is going to come back with recommendations. In the meantime, Mulhern says, no football at Chelnam High School. That will continue until they assess everything. That includes all the athletic programs. They want to make sure that there are policies in place and that there is a culture in place that truly prioritizes student safety. All right. Thank you very much, Tim. That's KW's Tim Jimenez joining us, and Tim will be back later in the show for another segment. We are just getting started on this edition of the week in Philly. Stay with us. My name is Joe Bo Brown. You going to let me help you today? Can we help you get into a shelter or something now? This is the week in Philly, and Philadelphia Mayor Cheryl Parker has a goal of ending street homelessness in the city. And a big step in reaching that goal is cleaning up homeless encampments. KW City Hall Bureau Chief Pat Loeb recently tagged along with a city crew as they work to do this in Center City. And she joins us now. And Pat, first off, why did you want to do this? I was at the first encampment resolution in 2018, along with every other media outlet in the city. The street was blocked off. There were protesters. It was a major effort. Encampments were still relatively new in Philadelphia. The Office of Homeless Services had only started seeing them in the mid-teens. So the city put a lot of research and thought into how to do this. And they had Penn evaluate their process to see if it...

actually helped, which Penn concluded it did. So the ambition then, though, was just to get rid of the encampments. Now that Mayor Parker has announced she wants to end street homelessness altogether, or at least make it rare, brief, and non-recurring is the term of art, this process has become more important than ever. And so I thought, you know, it deserves continuing scrutiny. So tell us about the team you went out with. There are two police officers and a cleanup crew. In this case, it was men from the one day at a time, the recovery support and transitional housing nonprofit. And then there's the homeless services outreach worker, Joe Mo Brown. And Joe Mo is the linchpin. The city posts the cleanups. In advance, so the residents know they're coming and they can get out and move somewhere else or they can accept services. And Jomo goes out in advance. But on the day of the real deadline, his role is crucial to the residents who've remained. He really is a lifeline. And he's such an amazing person. He has honestly supernatural empathy. I met you before, didn't I? How are you doing? You want to let me help you today? No, you're not ready yet? I'm going to come back, okay? He says these residents are his family, that he treats them the way he would. Any member of his family with care and respect, and they feel that. And he has an array of services that he can provide. You need any help today? Yeah. We can take you somewhere where they serve breakfast and lunch. shelter, meals, drug rehab services. What needs do you got? This on my head is amazing. Let's start with shelter. Would you like to go to shelter? You ever been to apple tree? 1430 cherry? The day I went out, there were five people remaining in this one encampment, and including two married couples. Married couples are very hard to place in shelter because shelters use big group rooms, and so they separate the men and women. So, you know, he was really fighting an uphill battle, and yet he got all five of them. to come in and go into shelter. There are multiple things at work here. I think a lot of people focus on the idea of trying to clean these encampments up. But the center point here is trying to help these people. That's right. And one of the things that the city is doing is adding beds, shelter beds, all the time, so that any time somebody wants to come in, including a married couple, there will be a bed for them. Some of the services lag. But the city is keeping a portfolio of recovery beds, shelter beds, transitional housing. And that is the key to...

getting people off the street who don't want to be there. What really stuck out to you as a result of this experience? Well, the first thing that you notice when you go into an encampment is how important it is to clean this up. I mean, they're filthy. And I'm sure they're attracting rats and other vectors. And so they're not healthy places for people to live. But then you also, you know, you talk to the residents and you kind of understand how they got there. Like something went terribly wrong in their life. One woman said that they lost their apartment six months ago because someone came in and stole the copper piping out of the building. And we had no money to move to another place. So, but I've been on the streets now for 10 years, on and off for 10 years. You know, crazy things happen and you lose your housing and you don't have any place to go and there's no savings. And so it does seem like a really important city service to have a plan to help people in that situation. And as an aside, getting permission to tag along with this group, was this easy to set up? Did you have to deal with a lot of bureaucracy? Kind of take us behind the curtain here. Oh, yes. It was hard to set up. And yes, I had to deal with a lot of bureaucracy. And something that I'm very sad about is that... The Office of Homeless Services would not let me interview Jomo and wouldn't let him talk to me about what he was doing and how he is so persuasive with people. I know Jomo, I spent a full day with him several years ago in the Kenny administration, but this new administration would not let him talk to me. And I asked why, and a department spokeswoman just said. there's a new sheriff in town. There's really no clear reason why I wasn't able to talk to him. But I wasn't. And I think, you know, my story maybe lacked a little bit of context without being able to talk to him. All right. Thank you very much, Pat. That's KW. City Hall Bureau Chief Pat Loeb. And she is actually coming back next segment to talk about some other stuff. And we will bring that to you right after this.

It's the Week in Philly, sponsored by your Delaware Valley Honda dealers. Get a deal you'll like on a Honda you'll love. Welcome back to the week in Philly. And as promised, KW City Hall Bureau Chief Pat Loeb is still with us. And we're going to touch on some other stories she covered this week. And Pat, this week you focused on the concern that hundreds of units of affordable housing in the city might be set to be turned over to developers. What's happening here? Well, there are almost a thousand units of housing owned by a landlord called Neighborhood Restorations, which has made rents affordable for decades using federal tax credits. Those tax credits are beginning to expire. More than 200 already have. And so the rents are in danger of rising to market rates. And the tenants are worried. They'll have to move. I spoke with one woman who's lived in one of these units for 22 years. Raised three kids is very active in the community and now is really worried about whether she'll be able to stay. I love my block. I love my neighbors. I serve my community. I'm just still trying to stay optimistic because anything can turn around. Now, Mayor Parker has been very outspoken about her goals on affordable housing. Is the city planning to step in? Can they? Is there a role for them to play? Yes, her chief housing officer has been meeting with a steering committee to figure out what can be done given available resources. Now, the city has budgeted $800 million to build, preserve, or restore 30,000 units of affordable housing. That's the mayor's home initiative. But this portfolio alone is valued at $280 million. And it's not the only one with expiring tax credits. So there will have to be a much larger effort. steering committee has a plan. It involves some investment from the city, but it counts on any new landlords applying and getting new tax credits. It's an all-hands-on-deck kind of solution. And we will keep an eye on this. Now, the November elections will be here before we know it. And Pat, on Tuesday, city commissioners celebrated National Poll Worker Recruitment Day. What was this all about? So the commission needs... 8,500 volunteers every single election to operate its 1,700 polling places. So they're always looking for poll workers, and they're not alone. Volunteers are needed everywhere to make elections run. So Tuesday was National Poll worker recruitment day, and the commissioners decided to really celebrate it with music, games, food, swag out in the courtyard of City Hall. If you're not a poll worker yet, you need to be. In hopes of roping in some new poll workers and mission accomplished. They signed up more than 100. Given all the well-documented strains that our election system has been put under over the last 10 years, from misinformation to threats, basically,

Is it getting a lot harder to find poll workers? It was for a while. A lot of elderly poll workers quit during the pandemic because they were most at risk for COVID. And they were hard to replace for a lot of reasons, including, yes, people were intimidated by misinformation and threats. But Commissioner Seth Bluestine tells me there's been a real surge in wanting to participate. Events like today's help us recruit new poll workers, and we're going to continue doing that work all the way through November 3rd. The commissioners had a campaign this year to recruit 250 new poll workers for the country's 250th birthday, and in fact, they've recruited over 600 to date. All right, switching gears now, just because we have put the 4th of July in the rearview mirror on the calendar, that does not mean Philadelphia is done celebrating the semi-Quincennial. And you did a story this week about a scavenger hunt in the city that's coming up. What's going on here? That's right. The city put 25 artists decorated Liberty Bell replicas all over the city. And it's awarding prizes to people who can find them. There are tiers of prizes for people that find five, ten, fifteen, or twenty, with that top tier being tickets to the fills, Sixers, Flyers, or Union. How long is this going to go on and can anyone take part? Yep. You just have to download the app. Then it'll continue through the end of the year or until all the prizes are gone. And finally, Pat? The portal is going away? Yes, but there's hope. So the portal is a giant round screen with a built-in camera that connects to portals in other cities all around the world. And it is so fun to wave to people in Ireland or Poland and try to communicate without speaking. The city contract with the portal is up October 31st. So it will be moved out of the city hall courtyard. But the owner wants it to stay here in Philadelphia. So it's asking for partners to take possession. They just need to have a publicly accessible space, power, and internet connectivity. All right. Thank you very much, Pat. That's KW City Hall Bureau Chief Pat Loeb doing double duty for us this week. Time for another break. When we come back, we will focus on what's happening over in New Jersey. Don't go anywhere. The week in Philly from KYW News Radio is sponsored by your Delaware Valley Honda dealers, proud sponsor of the KYW News Radio Studios. Bring on the fun and bring home a new Honda with a great deal on your favorite Honda vehicles and finally take that road trip you've been dreaming of. Now's the time to check out the Honda Civic and HRV from Honda, the 2025 Kelly Blue Books, KBB.com, Best Value brand.

Welcome back to the week in Philly, and there is lots to talk about over in the Garden State right now. So to do that, let's bring in our South Jersey reporter Mike Dardy. And Mike, let's start with New Jersey getting a whole bunch of money as a result of a couple of settlements. What are the details here? And when we say a bunch of money... We mean a bunch. Yeah, yeah. Two and a half billion dollars is the total settlement here from DuPont and 3M to resolve this years-long litigation over contamination from PFOS. These are the so-called forever chemicals used to make products like coatings for non-stick pans and things like that. And these settlements, these have been years in the making, correct? Yeah, this goes back to at least 2019 and the settlements are now finalized. So these payments will be spread out over the next 25 years. What's this money earmarked for? Remediation at several sites throughout the state, including one each in Salem County and Gloucester County. These are at the former manufacturing plants that were operated by the companies. And so the soil, the water around there needs significant remediation. Now, you also had a story this week about a series of bills that New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill signed into law that are designed to help protect children online. Tell me more. Yeah, as Cheryl signed the package of bills to improve safety and also to bring accountability to these tech giants. With these bills, New Jersey is putting real protections in place for our kids online and giving parents real backup. So they're not fighting this battle alone. She called social media the big tobacco of our day, but worse. She accused companies including TikTok and Instagram of... knowing full well the dangers that they present and that they are actively making these apps as addictive as possible. And so the last piece of this is the research aspect. And there's going to be a research center to study social media and its impacts. It sounds like there's actually going to be like a brick and mortar social media research centers, like a building's going to be built. I don't know if they're going to build one from scratch. My understanding is that, you know, they think the apps are so addictive. They want to have a study on this. They're still working through the plan. I don't know if it's going to be an actual new building or if it's going to be opened up inside of an existing space, but they will be having a place where significant research will be done on site. And then you also had a story this week about a special license plate that New Jersey drivers can get. What's the story there? First of all, this is not like right now. So this is about a year away, but it's a America 250th commemorative plate. It'll be celebrating New Jersey's role in the American Revolution. As some people know, New Jersey is considered the crossroads of the revolution with more battles and skirmishes taking place here than anywhere else. And so the state wanted to lean into this. It took a little bit longer than they hoped. This was introduced like January. It didn't get signed until August. So timing was kind of an issue. And then it's going to be a 13-month process. But eventually, drivers will be able to get their 250th license plates if they wanted.

And the delay, just bureaucracy? Yeah, Trenton doing what Trenton does, as they say. There was no, I guess, rush to get it done. But it is what it is. And so the cost of this will be $50 up front and then $10 per year for renewal after that. So not a lot of money, but a significant amount. And what they're planning to do with that is to help out a lot of these. places like Red Bank where they have a little, you know, welcome center there and things like that. There's a lot of those places all over the state that are former battleground sites that have not really had much financial help. And so the idea here is to provide a little dedicated funding for them to keep the doors open. All right. Sounds good. Mike. Thank you very much. That's KW South Jersey reporter. Mike Dardy joining us. We need to take another break. More of the week in Philly coming up right after this. The best thing is the revenge game, the first game. I want to show the Knicks this year. I'm excited. I'm just excited for the whole season. Coming down the stretch here on this edition of the week in Philly, and the buzz surrounding the now LeBron James-led Philadelphia 76ers is not abating. And this week, the excitement was heightened even more as the NBA schedule was released. For more on this, let's bring back KW's Tim Hymett as our resident 76ers fan. And Tim, we knew even before the full schedule was put out there that the 76ers were going to get the maximum of 34 nationally televised games. but now we know all the details. And it really seems like the NBA looks at this 76ers team as the crown jewel of the league right now, no? Absolutely right, Matt. That's what LeBron James being on your team will do. You know, they kick off the season, October 20th on the biggest of stages, the brightest of lights, Madison Square Garden against the Knicks. And that's as big as it gets on opening night. LeBron James, Jalen Brown, they make their Sixers debuts on the night the Knicks get their championship rings and raise the banner in MSG. So that should really be electric. And, of course, the history between these two teams goes way back, including last year. sixers losing. LeBron and Jalen Brown will then make their home debut a couple days later in South Philadelphia against LeBron's former team, the Cavs, and Christmas, which has traditionally been the day when the NBA, you know, I would say really get serious. The Sixers are in Los Angeles to play LeBron's previous team, the Lakers. This is just, you know, I guess the tip of the iceberg because it's going to be a whole season full of this. What games are you most looking forward to? Really can't wait to see the Sixers and the Celtics matchups this year, Matt, November 10th in South Philadelphia. That's going to be big. But then January 21st in Boston really want to see how Jalen Brown will react to playing his former team. You have this...

feeling that he's really going to do everything he can to stick it to his old running mate, Jason Tatum, and the rest of the team. So that should be good. I'm interested to see how the first few weeks of the season will play out. The Sixers are going to need some time to get things together to build that chemistry with these new faces, especially the big names. And they're playing some good teams. So the Sixers, I think they're going to be tested early and they're going to be tested often. And we haven't yet had the LeBron James introductory press conference. So does it feel real to you yet that LeBron is indeed a 76er or is there still a surrealness to it to you? Oh, there is still a surrealness to this, Matt. I think you and I have talked about this, or we were waiting for the tweet or something to go out saying, oh, this was just a big misunderstanding. It still doesn't feel real. And I think once you see him in an actual jersey, an actual Sixers jersey, not a Photoshop one, then it's going to feel more real. Just some fun facts here. The last few players to wear 23 for the Sixers, Terquivion Smith, Eric Gordon, and Tyrese Martin. So I would say LeBron James Matt is just a tad more notable than those guys. I would say so. Thank you very much, Tim. That's KW's Tim Jim Jim Jim Jim Jimenez joining us. And that is going to do it for this edition of the Week in Philly from KW News Radio, sponsored by your Delaware Valley Honda dealers. Get a deal you'll like on a Honda you'll love. This week's episode was produced by Brian Selzer and Sabrina Boyd-Circa. My name is Matt Leon. Thanks so much for listening and enjoy the rest of your weekend.