Investigators finding teeth will be ‘jackpot’ moment in Philly case: AnalystRob Taub Tue, October 20, 2026 at 7:06 AM UTC
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(NewsNation) — After unidentified bones were discovered on the Philadelphia "house of horrors" property, a forensic analyst said the remains could provide valuable clues. However, he believes finding teeth would be the biggest breakthrough in identifying the victim or victims.
The bones were discovered after investigators spent several days searching the backyard. After removing a large shed, crews used heavy equipment to dig underneath where it had stood. Soil was collected in buckets, placed on tarps and meticulously sifted through beneath a tent.
Joseph Scott Morgan told "Jesse Weber Live" that authorities discovering teeth will be the "jackpot moment" that could help connect to the five missing women.
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"That is going to be a major clue here," he said. "And plus, human teeth are very, very distinctive in the entire animal kingdom. There's really nothing else that resembles them. So that's going to be key as well."
Morgan added that teeth are often more valuable than bones for DNA analysis because they tend to preserve genetic material better over time.
"It's not as easily degraded," he noted.
There have been reports of human DNA being recovered inside the home following the use of luminol, which is a chemical that can reveal possible traces of blood, according to sources who spoke with CBS News Philadelphia.
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Police say digital files found inside the home suggest at least five missing women in the area may be dead and as many as seven overall missing. The home belonged to the late Raymond Horsch, who died last year, and his son Eugene.
Investigators have also been examining a safe found inside the home, which Morgan believes could play a significant role in the case.
"How secure do you need to make your safe?" he questioned. "So this is a hidden safe, as you had stated, behind a wall. So we know that they recovered items from within there."
"Do they correlate with any of the activities that were allegedly going on inside of this domicile, and that's going to be key here, because if Horsch fits into a certain profile with some kind of serial perpetrator, they absolutely love their trophies. They love to hold on to the past."
NewsNation's Diana Falzone contributed to this report.
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Source: Crime
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