Police have unearthed ash-filled urns and suspected 'snuff' films at a Philadelphia home now at the centre of an investigation into at least seven missing women, as officers and FBI agents this week began digging up the property's back garden.

The renewed search at the former house of late pornographer Raymond 'RC' Horsch has escalated in recent days, with investigators returning to the Olney address to hunt for further evidence potentially linked to the disappearances.

Images from the scene show an excavator working behind the property as officers in protective equipment move in and out. Tents have been erected at the front and rear of the home, while sections of the lawn are covered with tarpaulins. Yellow police tape encircles the site and uniformed officers remain on watch.

On October 3, 2026, 16-year-old Persephone Berger was struck and killed by a St. Francois County sheriff’s deputy in Missouri.

Her family says they were initially told she had been killed in a hit-and-run involving an unknown driver. After hearing from witnesses, they learned a deputy was involved. The Sheriff’s Office did not directly confirm that to them until October 5.

The official account:

Sheriff Jeff Crites stated that a deputy responding to a report of an unresponsive person in the roadway struck Persephone after failing to see her. The department says the deputy immediately notified his supervisor.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol was consulted October 4, but was not asked to conduct the crash investigation until October 5, following the preliminary autopsy.

New developments, October 16:

First Alert 4 Investigates obtained dispatch recordings and records revealing:

A 911 call at 3:42 a.m. reporting a possible body in the roadway.

Two vehicles parked nearby with hazard lights activated.

A reporting party standing near those vehicles who reportedly did not want to approach the body.

A voice believed to be the deputy requesting a telephone call, followed by redacted communications.

Instructions to cancel an air ambulance, notify the coroner, and have firefighters disregard the call.

No explicit mention in the released records that the deputy struck Persephone.

The inconsistencies:

The sheriff initially described the reporting party as standing next to Persephone, whereas the dispatch records place that person near the vehicles.

He initially stated the deputy didn’t see Persephone before striking her, but later said the deputy attempted to maneuver around her.

Most importantly, if the deputy immediately reported striking her, why was her family initially given an account involving an unknown driver?

The family has publicly identified the deputy as Blake Cook. There are also community reports that he remains on patrol without being placed on administrative leave.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating the crash. A prosecutor from neighboring Washington County has also been brought in to handle the case.

What happened between the 911 call and the collision? What was discussed during the redacted communications? When did officials establish that the deputy struck her? And why did the family receive a different account?

These discrepancies do not establish criminal wrongdoing, but they warrant a thorough, transparent investigation.

Sources:

First Alert 4, October 16:
https://www.firstalert4.com/2026/10/16/dispatch-audio-reveals-new-details-teens-death-after-patrol-car-struck-her/

First Alert 4, October 7, family interview:
https://www.firstalert4.com/2026/10/07/family-16-year-old-killed-st-francois-county-accident-demands-answers/

5 years ago I moved to the USA from Italy and, to my surprise, not many people knew about Emanuela Orlandi. I was genuinely shocked because this is probably the biggest unsolved mystery in Italy. So I figured I'd share her story, and if you haven't heard about it, I HIGHLY recommend looking into it because this case is absolutely insane.

For some background, Emanuela Orlandi was a 15-year-old girl who lived in Vatican City with her family. Her father worked for the Vatican, and on June 22, 1983, she left home to attend her usual music lesson in Rome. She never came back.
Before disappearing, Emanuela reportedly called her sister and mentioned that a man had approached her offering her a job handing out Avon cosmetics. She was later seen near a bus stop, and that's pretty much where the trail goes cold.

Shortly after she disappeared, her family started receiving strange phone calls. Some callers claimed Emanuela had been kidnapped and demanded the release of Mehmet Ali Ağca, the man who had attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981. Whether these people actually had Emanuela or were just taking advantage of the situation was never established.

Then there's the whole organized crime theory. Some people believe her disappearance was connected to the Banda della Magliana, a powerful criminal organization in Rome, possibly because of financial disputes involving the Vatican Bank. Again, none of this has been proven.

And of course, there's the Vatican itself. For decades, people have questioned whether someone inside the Vatican knew more than they were letting on. Her brother Pietro has spent pretty much his entire life trying to get answers.

In 2018, the family's lawyer received an anonymous message with a picture of an angel statue in the Vatican's Teutonic Cemetery. The message basically said, "Look where the angel is pointing." The angel was associated with a tomb belonging to a princess who died in the 1800s. Naturally, people started wondering whether Emanuela's body had been hidden there.

In 2019, the Vatican actually agreed to open the tomb, along with another nearby tomb.
After opening the tombs and finding absolutely nothing, investigators discovered two underground chambers nearby containing human remains. And I'm not talking about a couple of bones. They found THOUSANDS of bone fragments. Obviously, this raised even more questions, but according to the Vatican's forensic investigation, the bones were all over a century old, meaning they couldn't have belonged to Emanuela

There's also the story of an alleged xxx video that was brought up in connection with the case. There were claims that a girl heard in the footage might have been Emanuela, which obviously raised some horrifying questions about what could have happened to her. However, it was later discovered the audio was taken from a video posted on a website, and it wasn’t her. 

There have also been claims that Emanuela was taken abroad, that she was held somewhere for years, and that people with connections to the Vatican were involved. But despite decades of investigations, none of these theories has been conclusively established.

In 2023, the Vatican reopened its investigation, and the case has continued to receive attention from Italian authorities.

What makes this so heartbreaking is that her family has never gotten closure. Her brother Pietro is still fighting to find out what happened to her, more than 40 years later.

And I think that's what makes this case so crazy to me. A 15-year-old girl disappears in the middle of Rome, her family lives inside Vatican City, there are alleged connections to organized crime, anonymous messages, empty tombs, and decades of theories, yet nobody can definitively explain what happened to her.

Anyway, I'm curious if anyone outside Italy has heard of this case, because growing up it felt like EVERYONE knew about Emanuela Orlandi.
And for those who have followed it, what do you think actually happened to her?

So I have been researching about Dean Corll recently, reading on this sub and others as well as other places.

It’s a terrible case honestly probably the worst I’ve ever heard of, so bad that sometimes I’ve had to skip over parts or details because it is just so gruesome and honestly scary.

But one thing I’ve wondered is regarding his two accomplices. According to Wayne Henley him and David Brooks were both planning on killing Dean. And we can assume Dean picked up on this and we know he eventually tried to kill Henley and likely was going to try to and find Brooks too.

I’ve wondered that if they were able to kill him in less dramatic circumstances compared to how Henley actually did could they have gotten away with it? I mean we know the Houston PD at the time was laughably bad.

We also know Brooks had a wife and a baby on the way, and he had already moved out of the surrounding area. If he had moved out of Texas maybe across the county, and Henley did the same, could they have gotten away with Dean’s murder?

The bodies would have been found and dean’s house searched and with no account from them they wouldn’t necessarily assume he had help. The only thing that would lead back to them would be their association with Dean. I know that’s a big one but is it wild to assume they could’ve got off almost Scott free if they fled the state?

I mean we know Henley could’ve got off if he never talked to police and had lied and said he was abducted alongside the others at the scene. And if he never mentioned Brooks he would have been fine.

Also one other thing I noticed was that Corll wanted to rent another shed. This made me wonder also in a world where he, brooks, and Henley never drifted apart how long could he have gotten away with the murders ?

As far as we know the cops were no where near catching him despite him or his associates being the last person to see countless victims alive. I just wonder that if neither associate flipped and they never let a victim or potential witness escape, how long could they have gone on?