A WOMAN who was hired by an erotic photographer has claimed he groomed and abused her for years before his home became the center of a house of horrors investigation.
A woman, who asked to be identified by the pseudonym Beth Perry, said she was approached by photographer R.C. Horsch, 82, in the summer of 2020 in Philadelphia with a photoshoot proposition.
Perry, 41, said Horsch, who died in May 2025, showed her a book of modeling pictures that he had taken.
“He presented it as though he was a photographer. He brought his book and gave me a nicer one, with artistic nude photos in,” Perry said.
Perry agreed to the shoot, but over time, she claimed the photoshoots became increasingly sexual.
“He told me there would be no sex, but over time it did turn into sexual favors.” she said.
Years after ending communications with Horsch in October 2024, Perry believes she had a lucky escape.
In June, Horsch’s son, Eugene 44, was arrested at the home the two shared after authorities uncovered video recordings of two missing women who police say are presumed to be dead.
The two missing women were identified as Maribel Fresses, who was last seen in February 2018, and Gabrielle Amarando, who had been missing since September 2012.
Philadelphia Police also found a firearm, a marijuana operation and five urns containing cremated remains.
Perry is now recollecting her relationship with Horsch and how the photographer’s requests allegedly turned more sadistic.
She allegedly recalled instances where Horsch would instruct her to pose naked in graveyards, where she was asked to play dead and look battered and bruised.
Horsch would often capture photos of women naked in graveyards, covered in blood, battered and bruised, or injecting drugs,” Perry claimed.
Perry alleged he made her re-create instances of sexual abuse she had suffered as a child and paid her for sex.
She added that Horsch paid her between $40 and $120 for everything from modeling shoots and nude photographs to sexual favors.
Perry, a home health aide from Philadelphia, recalled the photoshoots lasting hours, at times, well beyond sunset.
“You wouldn’t know how long you would be on a shoot for. He would do the photos during the daylight, so you would either get caught and have to leave, or other times you would be there for longer,” she said.
“It depended on whether he was getting turned on by the pictures, if he was into it.”
Perry said Horsch would take it too far to get the perfect picture.
“The photoshoots were all about degrading me,” she recalled.
“He would want me naked in dumpsters. He would use handcuffs on me and wanted to mark my body.
“R.C. would want real blood in the pictures; he would want as much blood and reality as possible.
“He wanted it to be an authentic mark. If he wanted you to look beat, he would beat you for the picture.”
Perry said Horsch would repeatedly try to persuade her to come to his house, telling her she would be “looked after.”
She claimed Horsch’s “endgame was to get me to his house.”
“I feared that if I went there, I would have disappeared,” Perry said.
“That was why it was so chilling to see the house on the TV. The feelings I got from him is if I went around, I would never leave.
“He pitched his home to me as a place that I could move in, and I would never need to leave.
“That I wouldn’t need to get clean from drugs because he had loads there.”
Perry began distancing herself from Horsch in October 2024 by ignoring his text messages – a move the twisted photographer did not take well.
Towards the end of their relationship, Perry claimed he tried getting her to his house, an offer she always refused.
Perry said, “I would tell him that I would meet him at his house, and then I became unavailable as I was terrified to go around.
“I just had a gut feeling that I did not want to go into the house.
“I don’t know of anyone who has been in the house and come out. He sold it as a haven where I wouldn’t need to leave.”
When Perry saw the news coverage about the horrors authorities found at the home Horsch shared with his son, she said her “heart dropped.”
Perry said she had previously thought about reporting him due to his behavior toward her and his interests, but didn’t follow through.
“At certain points in our relationship, I had thought about reporting him because of what he would write and his interests,” Perry said.
“When there were sexual exchanges between us, he would want me to describe in detail how I was molested as a child.
“Describe how I was raped. He would push through the detail, and I would get upset and feel uncomfortable about sharing those details.”
Horsch’s son Eugene was arrested in June and is currently in custody on federal charges connected to firearms and phony federal credentials.
After his arrest, police searched the Horsch property on West Chew Avenue and uncovered 50 hard drives and electronic devices that contained recordings of Fresses and Amarando, the two missing women.
