DEAR ABBY: I am estranged from my father and have been since I was 12. (I’m currently 26.) He was emotionally, psychologically and physically abusive to me, and cutting ties with him has been good for my well-being.
My mom recently revealed to me that she has reconnected with him and they are dating again. This is infuriating, and I have been vocal about my disapproval of their relationship. She is convinced I am making the problem much bigger than it has to be, says it shouldn’t affect me and assures me I won’t have to see him.
I can’t tell her what to do, but she can’t tell me how to feel. Today, over the phone, I told her that I’m feeling resentful. After I said it, she started crying, hung up on me and turned her phone off. I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings, but I had to speak my truth.
I don’t want to lose my relationship with my mom, but I feel so hurt and unseen that I’m not sure how to get past it. It’s hard to have a conversation with her even about the weather without thinking in the back of my mind that she is attracted to someone who hurt me intentionally.
I want a magic solution to my problems, which I know doesn’t exist. I’m at my lowest point and I really need some guidance. Please help me navigate this crisis.
— EMOTIONAL IN NEBRASKA
DEAR EMOTIONAL: Did your father abuse your mother as he did you? I’m sorry you didn’t reveal that in your letter. It’s a mother’s duty to protect her child, and she and your father did eventually separate.
At this point, you are no longer a child. You are now an adult with the ability to protect yourself from anyone who tries to abuse you. You cannot prevent your mother from trying to find happiness, regardless of whether you (or I) think she’s making a mistake. By the way, there is no guarantee that her reunion will be a lasting one.
There’s a price we pay for any decision we make. The price your mother may pay is that she’ll see much less of her offspring. As for you, it may take some sessions with a licensed psychotherapist to emotionally separate from both of your parents and heal. (You should have had therapy after the abuse you suffered when you were younger.)
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DEAR ABBY: My husband met a couple with whom he wanted to socialize. He’s an extrovert. I’m an introvert. We started spending time with them, but I have never liked them. They are loud, argue constantly and talk over everyone else. I get seriously triggered by their behavior. They drink too much, and the man either passes out on our couch or makes a fool of himself in public.
The problem is my husband still likes socializing with them. I’m fine with him seeing them by himself, but he’s unhappy I won’t go. This couple know how I feel and they keep inviting me. What do I do to meet both my husband’s and my own needs?
— DOWNER IN THE EAST
DEAR DOWNER: You do not have to be available whenever they snap their fingers. What you do to meet your needs (as well as your husband’s) is see this obnoxious couple less often than he does.
The Flyers traded down in the first round of the 2026 NHL draft to select Maksim Sokolovskii, a massive left-handed defenseman from the London Knights, at No. 27 overall.
Here are five things to know about the newest Flyers prospect:
1. Tallest prospect in the NHL draft
At 6-foot-7, Sokolovskii was the second-tallest player in the Ontario Hockey League last season, and tied for the tallest prospect in the 2026 draft class. He’s even taller than the Sixers’ 2026 first-round pick, Labaron Philon Jr., who is 6-foot-3.
2. He is Kazakh-born
Sokolovskii was born in Petropavl, Kazakhstan. He is just the third player born in Kazakhstan to be drafted in the last 20 years, and if he makes his NHL debut, would be just the 14th Kazakh-born player to play in the league. However, Sokolovskii was raised in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
3. He’s committed to the University of Maine
But you won’t see Sokolovskii suit up for the Black Bears next year. The defenseman spent last season as a rookie in the OHL with the London Knights, who also developed Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk. He’s committed to start playing college hockey in 2027-28, and will return to London for another season in the OHL.
4. He’s played in Philly before
Development camp won’t be Sokolovskii’s first time playing at a Philly-area rink. In May 2024, he played in the World Selects Invitational, an annual tournament hosted in the area for top youth teams from around the world. At the tournament, he was teammates with fellow 2026 draft prospect Egor Shilov, who could go in the second round.
5. He started playing hockey at age 6
Sokolovskii told The Inquirer that he first got on skates at age 6, after his mom saw an advertisement encouraging parents to sign their kids up for a learn-to-play program. She dropped him off at the rink, and his hockey career took off from there.
ATLANTIC CITY — The Flyers were on the clock at 21, and then they weren’t, because they were confident they knew they could get their guy at 27.
Did they sweat a little bit when a trade was announced, and the Montreal Canadiens, who were at No. 28, moved up to No. 26? Yes. But they breathed a sigh of relief when Montreal took Russian winger Gleb Pugachyov, and they were able to get their in 6-foot-7¼ left-shot defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii.
“It’s my dream. It’s the dream [of] every hockey player,” Sokolovskii told The Inquirer at the scouting combine about being drafted. He added he would be happy if it happened in the first round, but he knew it was only the first step. “Just keep working, help my team.”
The Flyers moved down to 27 by trading the 21st pick to the San Jose Sharks. They also got the 62nd (second round) and 120th (fourth round) selections in the swap. For Day 2, they now have two picks in the second round, including No. 53, one in the fourth, fifth (136), and seventh (213).
As detailed in our final mock draft, Sokolovskii fits the archetype of player the Flyers like to select in the draft. He is well over 6-foot, tough, and competitive, and he plays for London of the Ontario Hockey League. Forward Denver Barkey and defenseman Oliver Bonk were also drafted out of the program run by the Hunters, Mark and Dale, who president Keith Jones knows very well.
But here’s one difference: He’s not someone who needs to work on his skating too much.
“When you’re huge, and you can skate, that’s often all that you need for NHL scouts to sort of perk up and start to pay attention,” The Athletic’s NHL draft and prospects reporter Scott Wheeler told The Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine.
“He was much better in the second half; you could see him figuring it out. … You want that [big] guy to be mean and punishing, and he’s got a little bit of that.
“But it’s the skating. If he couldn’t skate, it would be a major red flag at that size, but because he can skate, teams get excited about that.”
He worked on his skating with Alex Antropov, who was also his coach for D13, a team from Russia that played in the World Selects Invitational in Voorhees in May 2024. He brought that strong base with him when he was 16 years old and moved to Massachusetts to play for Atlantic Coast Academy.
“He’s 6-foot-8, and he skates like he’s 5-foot-8,” Mike Taylor, the program’s owner and one of Sokolovskii’s coaches, told The Inquirer recently. “… He came here, and I had a skating coach once a month come up and do power skating with our guys, and he does it like with UMass Amherst, and all these other schools.
“And he saw him skate, and he’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ He couldn’t believe how good his edge work was, and stuff, for being the size that he is.”
Sokolovskii has some bite on the ice, likes to be physical, throw the body around, and plays tough. He is considered a shutdown defender right now, as evidenced by his only eight points (two goals, six assists) in 44 regular-season games with London. But Taylor says there is an untapped offensive dimension to his game — as seen from his numbers at Atlantic Coast (84 points in 65 games) — and he even used him at the net-front on the power play.
The consensus is that his game improved as he got more comfortable in the OHL. By the end, he was on the second pair and played big minutes in the playoffs, notably shutting down 2025 fifth overall pick Brady Martin.
“The one thing that really stood out, I think, was the progression that he showed throughout the season,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said. “When we saw him early in the season, we thought this could be a late pick for us, and then it seemed every month he just kept getting better and better, and figuring out the game more and more. So that was interesting to the point where he’s going to be a first-rounder, and to be able to move back, get some draft capital, and still get him, it feels like it was the right thing to do.”
Maksim Sokolovskii (No. 17) tied forward Brooks Rogowski for the tallest players measured at this year’s combine.Courtesy of London Knights
But like most in the draft class, Sokolovskii has his warts, and there are question marks surrounding his game, specifically his decision-making and puck play. He told The Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine that he wants to keep working on his foot speed. He’ll need some time to grow into his game, and the Flyers have the time for that.
“We see him as a big physical force as a defenseman [who] is going to be tough to face,” Brière said. “There’s a lot that needs to come obviously. The way our development has worked the last few years, we feel confident that it’s going to come. We know there’s a lot of work to be done, but there’s things that you can’t teach, and there’s things that you can’t change; he’s still going to be 6-foot-7 in two years from now, and the internal physicalness that he has as well is something you can’t really teach.
“That comes naturally to him, so that’s a big plus, and the rest of his game has to round out, no doubt about it. But the progression that we saw this season leads us to believe that he’ll be able to make it to the NHL.
Sokolovskii will be returning to London in September and is committed to the University of Maine for 2027. Most compare the Kazakhstan-born and Russian-raised blueliner to fellow 6-7 defenders Nikita Zadorov of the Boston Bruins and Logan Stanley of the Buffalo Sabres. He’ll add Victor Hedman, who is also 6-7. “But I want to be better,” he told The Inquirer.
Sokolovskii’s name was mentioned to this reporter at the combine as someone the Flyers were interested in, and some pundits think this is their guy. Ultimately, where there was smoke, there was fire, as the Flyers selected him at the end of Round 1.
A man was fatally shot in a car Friday night in West Philadelphia during a possible transaction arranged online, police said.
The shooting happened around 8:40 p.m. on the 800 block of North Palm Street, police said. The man was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
A woman and two young children who also were in the car may have been injured by broken glass caused by the gunfire, Inspector D.F. Pace said.
The man, who was not identified, was possibly in the area as part of a transaction arranged through Facebook Marketplace, Pace said.
No other details about the shooting were immediately available.
NEW YORK — Zack Wheeler stood on the mound, looked out to center field, and, well, LOL.
For real. He laughed out loud.
How else was the Phillies ace supposed to react? Given the level of ridiculousness of the catch that Derek Hill just made — sprint to the warning track, perfectly timed leap, hang in the air, and reach over the wall to take a two-run homer away from Mets star Juan Soto — even super-intense Wheeler couldn’t stifle a chuckle.
“I mean,” Wheeler said later, “that won us the game right there.”
Well, technically, it would take Trea Turner‘s go-ahead single — which drove in Hill, by the way — in the seventh inning to decide the Phillies’ 2-1 victory Friday night. Maybe that was because it took a while for them to pick up their jaws from the turf after Hill’s first-inning catch, which was every bit as good as home-run robberies get.
So, you bet Wheeler laughed. And right fielder Brandon Marsh chest-bumped with Hill. In the dugout, players tipped their caps. Some even went to watch it again between innings.
“I had a pretty good view, and that was unbelievable,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “The replay was almost even better.”
Said Marsh: “Probably one of the best catches I’ve ever seen … in person, for sure.”
The Phillies won their fourth game in a row and, at 46-36, climbed to a season-high 10 games over .500 after a 9-19 start. They also deepened their rival’s misery. The Mets fired manager Carlos Mendoza, then dropped their seventh straight game while fans chanted to fire president of baseball operations David Stearns.
But there’s no telling how much differently the series-opener would have gone if not for Hill’s catch.
Staked to a 1-0 lead on Bryce Harper’s single, the third consecutive hit to begin the game against Mets rookie lefty Zach Thornton, Wheeler gave up a leadoff single to Carson Benge before throwing an 0-2 fastball to Soto.
“Honestly, I ain’t got much on that,” he said. “I just kind of blacked out on it. Just kind of pure instinct and whatnot. But I knew I had a chance because the wind was kind of knocking things down a little bit. Marshy was giving me some good comms on the side, letting me know where the wall was.”
Ever made a catch like that before?
“Not quite like that one,” Hill said. “Minor leagues and stuff like that a couple times, but no, this atmosphere was a little different. And obviously the guy [Soto] I did it against makes it a little bit cooler.”
Everything, it seems, is going Hill’s way. When he lost a fly ball in the twilight in the sixth inning, Marsh raced over from right field to catch it.
“I just see him coming across like a freaking bull,” Hill said. “I didn’t see it at all until it hit his glove. I was like, ‘Oh, cool. Thanks, dog.’”
Consider it the cherry on top of a charmed week for Hill, acquired by the Phillies two weeks ago from the White Sox after right fielder Adolis García tore the lat muscle near his right shoulder and needed season-ending surgery.
Hill came up as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning Wednesday night in Washington, and down to his last strike, smashed a go-ahead two-run homer to fuel a 5-4 victory.
One night later, he came off the bench and picked up two hits, including a two-run homer in a five-run ninth inning in a come-from-behind 10-5 victory.
And now this. After taking two runs off the board in the first inning, Hill led off the seventh with an infield single and scored the go-ahead run on a two-out, two-strike single by Turner.
Could the Phillies possibly ask for any more from a part-time player who has bounced from the Tigers to the Mariners, Nationals, Rangers, Giants, Marlins, White Sox, and now Phillies since 2022?
“No, it’s been good,” Mattingly said. “It’s good to see, and he has integrated great with our club. I think just personality-wise, work-wise, he’s professional, the way he goes about his defense, everything. Really good.”
Speaking of which, Turner is percolating after a rough first half. The reigning National League batting champ finished with two hits for the fourth game in a row and is 8-for-20 to hike his average to .235 and his OPS to .625.
If Turner is turning the corner at the plate, he would represent a more impactful addition than anyone the Phillies could get at the trade deadline.
“I think Trea’s fine,” Mattingly said. “I mean, when do we decide that he’s [back]? When he’s getting two hits a night for 10 straight days? He’s getting his hits.”
Wheeler, meanwhile, is rolling in a remarkable comeback after having a rib removed last September to treat thoracic outlet syndrome. In his 12th start, he allowed one run on four hits in seven innings to leave his ERA at 2.03.
But what if Hill doesn’t make that catch?
“It’s the best one I’ve seen in person,” Wheeler said. “I knew [Soto] got it, so I looked back and he’s on a dead sprint towards the wall. I’m like, ‘Man, he’s about to go get this thing.’ Sure enough he did.”
Back in the dugout, Wheeler gave Hill a hug.
“I’m not gonna say it won us the game, but it won us the game,” Marsh said. “It was a special, special play.”
It was early June, and the Trump administration was planning an event at the Lincoln Memorial on June 12 to promote President Donald Trump’s Ultimate Fighting Championship birthday celebration at the White House.
Dotted around the perimeter of the memorial’s Reflecting Pool were the nanobubblers, the temporary water-purification machines meant to keep the pool clear of algae. Encased in black fencing and powered by large generators, the machines were something of an eyesore.
Before the event, the National Park Service asked Greenwater Services, which won a $1.7 million no-bid contract to install the nanobubblers, to remove them, according to two people briefed on the decision. The people asked for anonymity because they feared retaliation from the administration. The Park Service did not provide a reason for the removal, but it coincided exactly with the promotional event, which drew crowds to the Reflecting Pool.
Photos from that evening showed the pool without the hoses or enormous machines working to keep the water clean. The water looked dark blue.
But by the time the purification systems were reinstalled 36 hours later, enormous algae blooms were starting to spread unchecked, turning the water green.
Once the algae started growing, it proved difficult to eliminate. Even with the nanobubblers back online, Park Service workers tried dumping jugs of hydrogen peroxide into the water to clear the algae more quickly. But the peroxide largely dissolved before it could reach the large clumps in the middle of the basin.
The result was a reflecting pool that stayed green and murky for about a week while nanobubblers cleared out the pea-colored residual chlorophyll — a highly visible symbol of one of Trump’s pet projects gone very wrong.
The decision to remove the water-treatment systems, which has not previously been reported, was one of several missteps that have plagued Trump’s $16.4 million renovation of the reflecting pool. There have been no-bid contracts, peeling strips of waterproof coating in Trump’s handpicked shade of “American flag blue,” and even a dead duck floating in the water (though it is not clear if the renovation had anything to do with the duck’s demise).
In recent days, the water has become clear again, reflecting the sky and the surrounding monuments. The temporary nanobubblers have been replaced with more discreet, permanent purification systems.
Still, the Park Service plans to drain the pool again soon to fix the peeling coating.
Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, did not answer specific questions, but said in an email that “thanks to President Trump, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is fixed, crystal clear and currently reflecting beautifully ahead of America’s 250th birthday celebration.”
Trump has blamed vandals for the deteriorating conditions of the reflecting pool, saying they dumped fertilizer to feed the algae and slashed its blue coating with a “sharp knife or razors.” The administration has asserted in court that there were cuts made to the caulk and “surface material” of the pool.
Interviews with people involved in the project and a New York Times analysis — including a review of images taken by news photographers — suggest that actions taken by the Trump administration and the companies involved caused disruptions at every turn.
A construction spree
Trump has embarked on a construction spree in Washington unlike any undertaken by a modern president. He has rolled out jobs quickly, bypassing traditional contracting requirements and review panels. And costs have mounted as Trump’s vision for his most prized projects has doubled or tripled in size.
But it is the renovation of the Reflecting Pool that perhaps best serves as an emblem of how Trump operates. Instead of seeking competitive bids for the project, the administration awarded no-bid contracts, hoping to expedite the process. Trump never submitted the project to a review board so that experts could weigh in.
A crucial decision came in early April, when the administration awarded a no-bid contract to a Virginia-based company called Atlantic Industrial Coatings to spread the waterproofing blue coating on the pool’s concrete slabs. That coating, known as Rhino Pipeliner 5000, may be peeling off because it is not stretchy or flexible enough, said Anthony Flett, the CEO of U.S. Coating Specialists, a Florida-based company that specializes in waterproofing substances.
“They used a hybrid polyurea, and they really should have picked a pure poly,” Flett said, adding, “There’s people in the pool industry whose whole life is polyurea, and they should have been called in.”
Tim Auerhahn, the chairperson of the Aquatic Council LLC, a consulting firm for the pool and hot-tub industry, said in an email that Rhino Pipeliner 5000 is usually used to line the inside of pipes.
“The manufacturer’s technical literature indicates it may be suitable for certain waterproofing and protective coating applications beyond pipe rehabilitation,” he said, “but it does not specifically identify large ornamental water features, swimming pools, or granite-lined basins like the Reflecting Pool as primary use cases.”
Rhino Pipeliner 5000 is made by a California-based company called Rhino Linings. Pierre Gagnon, the company’s CEO, said in an email that the peeling “is limited to isolated areas of the finish layer and does not affect the underlying waterproofing membrane.”
Representatives for Atlantic Industrial Coatings did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As for the nanobubblers, problems with the generators caused issues with one or two of the four purification systems on June 15, according to government documents reviewed by the Times. But since then, the technology appears to have been working as intended, infusing the water with tiny bubbles of ozone gas to kill algae and bacteria.
Chas Antinone, the president of Greenwater Services, said in an interview Friday that “we want people to understand that this is a cool technology. It’s clean and green. The only byproduct of this whole technology is oxygen.”
The ultimate owner of Greenwater Services is an investment trust led by John J. Cafaro, a donor to Trump and a neighbor to Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club in Florida, the Times previously reported.
Antinone declined to comment on Cafaro’s role or the removal of the nanobubblers before the UFC event. “I’m not the political guy,” he said. “I’m the science guy.”
Katie Martin, a spokesperson for the Interior Department, the parent agency of the Park Service, said in an email that the nanobubbler technology “actively kills algae, pathogens (e.g., E. coli), and contaminants that have long plagued the reflecting pool since 1922.”
She added: “The current state of the crystal clear blue water is proof.”
NEW YORK — Don Mattingly has lived through his share of managerial firings by the baseball teams in this city.
“Oh really?” he said, smiling.
Indeed, in 14 seasons with the George Steinbrenner-era Yankees, Mattingly played for eight managers, including Billy Martin three times and Lou Piniella twice. The Boss fired a manager midway through a season five times in Mattingly’s career.
And even if that wasn’t the case, Mattingly is managing the Phillies right now only because president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski fired Rob Thomson on April 28 after a 9-19 start.
Surely, then, Mattingly must have thoughts on the Mets’ decision Friday to can manager Carlos Mendoza amid a six-game losing streak and with the third-worst record (34-47) in the National League.
Oh, and just in time for a visit from the Phillies.
“We don’t know what’s been going on over there, and we’ve got enough stuff to deal with ourselves,” Mattingly said. “So, I kind of just get back to the coldhearted [viewpoint]. If I’m hitting, I need to get a good pitch to hit and I need to hit it hard. If I’m playing [defense], I need to make baseball plays for the situation of the game.
“I don’t worry about what’s going on with them.”
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said he does not get caught up in other organizations’ personnel decisions. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
For the Phillies, the managerial change served as a pivot point in the season. But as Mattingly notes, it had less to do with a difference between him and Thomson than with better starting pitching. The offense has started to come around, too.
The Phillies were 36-15 under Mattingly — and 45-36 overall, a 90-win pace at the mathematical midpoint of the season entering Friday night.
It may be too late for the Mets to save their season. But maybe they’ll get a boost under interim manager Andy Green, who was promoted after spending the past 2½ seasons as farm director.
Like Mattingly, Green didn’t expect to be in this position. Green has managed previously in the majors, steering the Padres to a 274-366 record from 2016-19.
“I just think it [feels like] you are where you’re supposed to be, right?” Mattingly said. “It just falls into your lap more than anything else, and then you just take it and just do the best job you can.”
Alan Rangel will take the hill Saturday for the Phils. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Rangel ready
Two and a half hours before Friday night’s game began, Alan Rangel stepped out from the Phillies’ dugout and took a photo of Citi Field.
He will pitch here Saturday.
Mattingly said the Phillies were still deciding if Rangel will start the game or enter after an opener. Either way, it will be his latest audition for what amounts to the Phillies’ fifth-starter spot.
It will mark Rangel’s second turn since replacing demoted righty Andrew Painter. The 28-year-old righty, released as a minor leaguer with the Angels in 2024, came in after opener Tim Mayza on Monday night in Washington and allowed one run in five walk-free innings.
“He’s got an interesting mix, honestly,” Mattingly said. “[Commanding the ball] up-down is a mix that you’ve seen work in the game with different guys. You don’t have to be throwing 100 to have success, and he’s got a mix that can work. He has stuff to get people out.”
Painter, meanwhile, is scheduled to start Sunday for triple-A Lehigh Valley. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Painter throw primarily fastballs. It’s essential for him to regain confidence in his heater after opponents batted .404 and slugged .660 against it in the majors.
Phillies shortstop Trea Turner has begun to heat up slightly. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Extra bases
Mattingly on struggling Trea Turner, who went 6-for-20 in four games in Washington to raise his average to .231 and OPS to .618: “I think Trea’s fine. I mean, when do we decide that he’s there? When he’s getting two hits a night for 10 straight days? He’s getting his hits.” … Rangel will be opposed at 4:10 p.m. Saturday by Mets righty Christian Scott (2-0, 3.10 ERA). Scott, the Mets’ fifth-round pick in 2021, and Painter were teammates at Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
A Philadelphia wedding photographer who has been the target of complaints from so many couples in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that they created their own Facebook group was sued on Friday by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office for allegedly ripping off her customers for at least $75,000.
Christina Garcia, who also did business as Christina Hernandez Artistry LLC and Wandering Stardust Collective, allegedly failed to provide contracted photo and video services and refused to refund deposits, the attorney general’s office said.
Attorney General Dave Sunday vowed in a statement Friday to make sure “this photographer never again conduct[s] business in the Commonwealth.”
Sunday said in his statement: “A wedding day is one of the most precious and cherished moments in the lives of a couple, and this business darkened those days by neglecting appointments, then refusing to refund customers.”
Attorney General Sunday announced a lawsuit against Philadelphia-based photographer Christina Hernandez Artistry LLC — a.k.a. Wandering Stardust Collective — for allegedly failing to provide wedding photos and videos to consumers. https://t.co/qQtjyt6bgvpic.twitter.com/3mH6un14sJ
— PA Attorney General Dave Sunday (@PAAttorneyGen) June 26, 2026
Garcia has been the focus of reports from the Washington Post, NJ.com, and CBS New York.
She could not be reached for comment Friday. Her Instagram account and business website are now set on private.
In that Post story, Robson said it was “an unfortunate situation” where Garcia faced a “perfect storm that included a health emergency regarding her husband, significant technological issues, and becoming so sought after that there were not enough hours in the day for her to finish her work as promptly as she would have liked.” Robson said Garcia was trying to “do right by her clients.”
The Post reported that nearly 50 unhappy customers were part of a private Facebook group called “Brides Wronged by WSC.” It was unclear on Friday if the group still exists.
A customer posted on Reddit about Garcia last June and said she was a member of the Facebook group. The customer said Garcia, with the help of a lawyer, supposedly was trying to deliver some of her contracted photos and videos. It was unclear what happened after that Reddit post.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office alleged that Garcia had represented that she would personally photograph their weddings. Instead, Garcia allegedly double- or triple-booked herself on wedding dates and canceled at the last minute, sending replacement photographers instead.
Customers who believe they were victimized by Garcia were urged to contact the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office to file an online complaint.
The 400 block of West Chew Avenue in Olney was largely shut down Friday afternoon as Philadelphia and federal law enforcement officials searched a home on the block to determine if its owner had connections to at least two missing women.
Residents of the block had effectively been sealed in as caution tape and Philadelphia Police Department vehicles cordoned off the street. Some residents gathered on their porches or sidewalks as federal officials produced equipment from the back of a black, unmarked utility truck.
“I have been living here all my life,” Larry Alosi, 56, said. “It used to be a safe place, but it changed with time.”
Consisting largely of rowhouses and small businesses, the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Olney is among the city’s most diverse, with large Korean American and Latin American populations calling the area home.
The search had been ongoing for nearly a week, and came after U.S. Park Police encountered Eugene Albert Horsch, 44, acting suspiciously in a black BMW near Sixth and Market Streets on June 19, police said. Investigators recovered two firearms with obliterated serial numbers from Horsch’s vehicle, as well as cocaine, fentanyl, and marijuana — along with a baton, a cattle prod device, a switchblade, and a falsified U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration badge with Horsch’s photograph depicting a falsified name.
Officials took Horsch into custody following the stop, and charged him with illegal gun possession and drug crimes. Searches of his home began last week.
Horsch was being held Friday at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility with bail set at $500,000.
A passerby called the West Chew Avenue residence “a house from a scary movie,” with boarded-up windows on its second and third floors. A camera on the exterior points to the street. The windows on the first floor have bars from top to bottom. Pink flowers remain on the lawn, decorated with pieces of broken glass from the door.
Neighbors on Horsch’s block said the area is a quiet one, though it occasionally has its issues. Fabin Ingram, an area resident, said he never saw anyone coming or going at the corner of West Chew near Horsch’s home, and he largely worked to avoid the intersection.
“I’m big on energy and feelings,” Ingram said. “If I get an eerie feeling, I act on it.”
Investigators at 417 W Chew, searching a home in Olney neighborhood in Philadelphia, June 26, 2026.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
One neighbor, Sid Brunson, who used to cut Horsch’s grass, described Horsch as a quiet, jittery man who “had a lot on his mind.” Brunson said that Horsch’s father, R.C. Horsch, a convicted drug manufacturer and erotic filmmaker, died in 2025, leaving a pall over the home.
“You will never see a man other than him coming or leaving the house after that,” Brunson said. “If there was visitors at the home, it was always a female, never a male.”
Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, said Horsch was someone who got into disagreements with neighbors over parking and trash. He had long driven an impeccably maintained gold 1980s Lexus, and in recent years had started driving a new black BMW — and was often seen bringing women home with him, the neighbor said.
The ongoing search of Horsch’s home this week was the latest in a series of odd developments at the property, with investigators saying that several urns had been found inside the home, including one that was labeled with the name of a deceased relative. Officials also discovered a 55-gallon drum with connections to water lines leading into a hole in the ground, as well as materials to grow marijuana, though it was not immediately clear if the items in the home were connected to drug manufacturing or more violent purposes.
On Friday, law enforcement officials wearing hazmat suits were seen entering and exiting the property.
During Horsch’s arrest last week, a woman falsely identified herself using the name of a 38-year-old woman who had been reported missing in Kensington in February 2023, sources told The Inquirer. Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore declined to identify the woman who had been reported missing, but reports indicate that Horsch’s father had been questioned in the 2016 disappearance of his ex-wife, Amy McHale, of South Philadelphia.
By late Friday afternoon, the investigation into Horsch’s home had not ceased, but a large FBI truck was spotted leaving the scene. Late in the day, the area had been largely left quiet, with the crime-scene tape on the home’s door serving as conspicuous evidence of the day’s events.
Staff writer Andrea Padilla contributed to this article.
During a weeklong search of a crumbling Olney twin, federal agents and Philadelphia police found guns and drugs, tubs of chemicals, a curious unsigned letter, and fake law enforcement badges as they were investigating the homeowner’s connection to at least two women who have been missing for years.
The unusual investigation began under similarly bizarre circumstances: U.S. Park Police encountered Eugene Albert Horsch, 44, acting suspiciously in his black BMW parked near Sixth and Market Streets on the morning of June 19, Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said.
As the ranger approached the car, Vanore said, he heard a woman in the backseat say, “You’re going to hurt me.” The woman then falsely identified herself to the officers using the name of a 38-year-old woman who had been reported missing in Kensington in February 2023, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The woman, 39, later told investigators that she’d given the alias because she had open warrants for her arrest in ongoing drug cases, and that Horsch had previously made her fake identification cards in that name, telling her she could use it if she was ever stopped and questioned by police, the sources said.
And later, the sources said, she told officials that she did not know that missing woman — but feared something bad may have happened to her.
Eugene Albert Horsch, 44, of Philadelphia.Courtesy of Philadelphia police
When police searched Horsch’s car outside Independence Hall, they recovered two firearms with obliterated serial numbers, as well as cocaine, fentanyl, and marijuana, according to an affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. What’s more, a source said, the car also contained a collapsible baton, a cattle prod, switchblade knives, and a fake U.S. Drug Enforcement badge with Horsch’s photograph under the name “Eugene Frederick Steiner.”
Horsch was taken into custody and charged with illegal gun possession and drug crimes. He’s currently being held on $500,000 bail at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.
Officials with federal drug enforcement began searching Horsch’s home on the 400 block of West Chew Avenue alongside Philadelphia police on June 19.
The house at the 400 block of W. Chew Avenue in Olney being investigated.Steve Madden
Vanore, in a news conference Friday, said the conditions of the boarded-up twin and materials recovered inside of it — including hidden compartments, drums filled with chemicals, and what appeared to be urns holding at least one of Horsch’s relatives’ cremated remains — only deepened the mysteries of the case.
And investigators soon found themselves confronting a second concerning thread: Horsch’s late father, R.C. Horsch, a convicted drug manufacturer and erotic filmmaker, had an ex-wife who was last seen at the Olney property in 2016 and has never been found.
Horsch’s attorney, Jerome Brown, said he did not have details about the ongoing police investigation.
Brown said R.C Horsch, who died in 2025, had been questioned in the June 2016 disappearance of his ex-wife Amy McHale, of South Philadelphia. She suffered from mental health and substance abuse issues, he said.
“This is much ado about nothing,” Brown said of the missing persons investigation. “They’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Inside Horsch’s home, investigators found another handgun, chemicals and bottles of liquid that forensics investigators in white hazmat suits were still working to identify on Friday, Vanore said. There was also a 55-gallon drum with connections to waterlines leading into a hole in the ground, he said, and materials to grow marijuana upstairs.
Federal investigators also found a multipage and unsigned handwritten letter that described references to hurting unspecified people, and references to the serial killer Ted Bundy, according to an affidavit of probable cause to search the home that was obtained by The Inquirer.
“Acting on emotion is where problems occur. What I don’t think I told you was that the first time it was planned ahead of time. The threat was made before you know who came over and I already had a 2ft zip tie in my pocket and a drum set up,” the letter said, according to the affidavit.
According to the warrant, it went on: “I had been ready and waiting and I damn sure showed no hesitation. And it was fun.”
Law enforcement sources said investigators were working to verify the authenticity of the letter, who wrote it, and whether it was meant to serve as a portion of a novel or screenplay. Horsch’s father published several works of fiction with masochistic themes, including one described as an “autobiographical memoir of a caring, empathetic serial killer.”
Police also found bank cards in the name of the woman who went missing in 2023, and also recovered what appeared to be a death certificate for another woman who died last year, the document stated.
Vanore said no human remains were found inside the home.
Forensic experts from the FBI are now analyzing the liquids and materials recovered in the home, he said.
Vanore said it wasn’t clear whether the chemicals were intended for a drug manufacturing operation or another purpose.
“We just don’t know what he’s doing, if he’s producing something, if he’s making something, if he’s irrigating something, we don’t know,” Vanore said. “I’m not a chemist, but from what I’ve been told … they could have been explosives.“
And, he said, it was too early to say whether the evidence would speak to any of the missing person cases tied to the property. He declined to identify the woman who had been reported missing in 2023 and did not answer questions related to the ongoing investigation into McHale’s disappearance.
“We’re certainly going to look into the activities that went on at that house,” he said.
Investigators on W. Chew Avenue.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
News reports of the search of the Horsch home reopened wounds for McHale’s family. Gloria McHale said her daughter struggled with mental health issues and a drug addiction, and was married to R.C. Horsch for several years before disappearing June 14, 2016.
In an interview Friday, she said when police questioned R.C. Horsch at the time of her daughter’s disappearance, he said he last saw McHale drinking vodka before he went to bed, and that when he woke up, she was gone.
“I knew that wasn’t right,” McHale’s mother said. “She wouldn’t disappear. She had a daughter and grandkids. Her daughter was about to get married.”
Prior to his arrest last week, Eugene Horsch had a criminal history that included at least 10 other arrests for drug possession, dealing, assaults and drunk driving. He was sentenced to four to eight years in prison after police discovered $1.9 million worth of cannabis inside the Chew Avenue home in 2013, court records show.
He was arrested again in May 2025 for possession of marijuana and amphetamines and handed three years’ probation.
Then, in March, he was charged with aggravated assault after police said he stabbed a man in the stomach at Eighth and Market Streets. Prosecutors withdrew the charges in May after a witness failed to appear in court, court records show.
Since his release from jail, he appeared to be living back at his rundown home on Chew Avenue, a property that city inspectors cited as vacant and unsafe in recent years and that neighbors described as an increasingly off-putting presence on the block.
On Friday morning, anxiety swirled along the typically quiet residential neighborhood, about a mile from the Montgomery County border.
A security camera mounted on Horsch’s home between the boarded-up windows on the upper floors looked out over an overgrown yard where at least a dozen local and federal agents collected and tested evidence into the late afternoon.
Sid Brunson, a construction worker who lives nearby and occasionally cut the grass in front of Horsch’s house, said Horsch often had women who appeared to use drugs at his property. A fire broke out on the upper floors of the property several months ago, he said, which led to plywood covering the windows.
He described his neighbor as a “quiet” and “real jittery” man who kept to himself.
“He always had a nice shirt on like he was going to the office,” Brunson said, “but he never gave you enough time to talk because he was always rushing.”
Staff Writers Ryan W. Briggs, Samantha Melamed, Brett Sholtis, Michelle Myers, Isabel Maney, Andrea Padilla, and Jesse Bunch contributed to this article.
