Friend remembers missing woman linked to house in Olney section of Philadelphia: "A pretty wonderful person"
A childhood friend of Gabrielle Amarando, one of the missing women linked to a house in the Olney section of Philadelphia at the center of a massive investigation and who is presumed to be dead, said she wants people to remember her friend's life.
Police said Wednesday they recovered tens of thousands of images and videos from inside the house on the 400 block of West Chew Avenue. In the first batch they reviewed, detectives found evidence indicating Amarando and another woman, Maribel Fresses, were inside the home and have since died, Inspector Raymond Evers said.
Their bodies have not been found. Amarando has been missing since 2012.
Ashley Levin said she met Amarando in third grade and the two became best friends.
"She was a wonderful person. She had the biggest personality. She would make everyone laugh any second that she had," Levin said.
Levin said her friend was artistic, loved fashion and always changing her hair.
After high school, Levin said, both women battled addiction, went in different directions and lost touch.
"We always assumed that we would have heard from her in one way or another," Levin said. "No one had heard from her. No one. So we just, we never knew."
Law enforcement sources tell CBS News Philadelphia they fear there could be more missing women connected to this house.
"She was a person, right? First and foremost, and she was a pretty wonderful person," Levin said.
Eugene Horsch, who has been in jail since he was arrested in June near Independence Mall, lived in the house. His father, Raymond Charles Horsch, also lived there before he died in 2025.
CBS News Philadelphia has reached out to Eugene Horsch's attorney multiple times for comment and has not heard back.
A police car was stationed outside the house Thursday, but officials did not provide any more information. Philadelphia police have said the investigation is ongoing and will take time.
