The buyers: Mia Spolansky, 23, U.S. Air Force active duty military personnel, and Annabel Harp, 23, daycare worker and early childcare assistant
The house: A 784-square-foot home in Germantown with two bedrooms and one bathroom built in 1950.
The price: Listed for $250,000, sold for $265,000.
The agent: Christine Mantwill with REMAX
The ask: Mia Spolansky, originally from Willow Grove, and her partner, Annabel Harp, originally from Hagerstown, Md., were ready to move out of their one-bedroom rental apartment in Mount Airy and buy their first home. They both liked the area’s access to nature for running and biking in Wissahickon Valley Park, plus a location that allowed for easy commuting to their jobs. They didn’t want to stray too far.
The kitchen in Mia Spolansky and Annabel Harp’s home in Germantown.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
“We were looking to buy in Mount Airy,” Spolansky said. “Those prices were out of our range, so we decided on Germantown.” They started their search in November.
The search:Harp and Spolansky began touring homes in East Germantown with their real estate agent. They wanted to be efficient with their space, so they narrowed the search to smaller homes. They were seeking a rowhouse for both the neighborly feel and value.
“A lot of detached homes were out of our price range,” Spolansky said.
They also wanted an older home “with some character” but with modern amenities. They toured six houses and all of them felt too large or had issues. Their agent helped Spolansky access the multiple listings sites used by real estate professionals so she could browse, and one house caught her eye.
The appeal: With their agent’s help, Harp and Spolansky went to see the house that day. It was a two-bedroom with a front patio and backyard, which was not yet on the market.
When they visited, they were delighted that “the neighbors actually came up and introduced themselves,” Spolansky said, “We were like, whoa, this is an actual community.”
The empty lot next to their home, which the pair uses to garden, growing peppers and cucumbers.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The house was an older style with new appliances — exactly what they were looking for — and the owners had renovated both the bathroom and kitchen and installed central air and heat in 2021. “It was nicer than I grew up with,” Spolansky said. The couple put an offer in right away.
The deal: Harp and Spolansky made an offer on a Thursday. The sellers had an open house scheduled for the following Saturday. The sellers said they would accept the offer and cancel the open house if the couple agreed to go $15,000 over asking to beat the potential offers they might get from the open house.
Harp and Spolansky agreed and closed in mid-April.
The money: They purchased the home for $265,000 after negotiation. They used a VA Home Loan of $270,000 and put 0% down. The mortgage interest rate is 5.625%. They received a $5,500 seller credit for some repairs needed. The closing costs were $1,780. The monthly payment is $1,834 with escrow, interest, and principal.
The move: They moved in late May, with a two-month buffer period until the lease on the apartment ended.
They used a moving company to ease the process, which helped, because the home had small doors and tight corners.
The inspector had found some rotten floor joists in the basement, but after move-in, the couple realized there was water getting in as well. They brought in a masonry company to waterproof the wall and added a chimney liner when their carbon monoxide detector started going off. They also had some electrical and AC issues.
The dining room in Mia Spolansky and Annabel Harp’s home.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
“I’ve only ever lived in rentals,” Spolansky said. “My family doesn’t have experience with upkeeping a house. I think having a buddy or known contractor come on the inspection would’ve been helpful, especially for negotiations because I didn’t know how much it costs to put in a chimney liner.”
However, the pair remain satisfied with their choice and their ability to manage repairs themselves, rather than rely on a landlord.
Life after close: The couple and their cat, Morty, have adjusted well. After living in a one-bedroom, they love the space, including their backyard and front porch, especially in the summer for barbecuing and being outside. The Wissahickon is a five-minute bike ride away. The rowhouse is exposed on one side to an empty lot, which the pair uses to garden, growing peppers and cucumbers they got from their neighbors. They especially love the community.
“We go to parties, clean up the block, do community events,” Spolansky said. “I never had that before. Knowing our neighbors has been the biggest plus. Having good neighbors, you can’t replace that.”
Did you recently buy a home in the Philadelphia area or South Jersey? Share the story of how you did it. Email Inquirer real estate reporters at properties@inquirer.com.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). The cosmic instruction today is a rather simple one: Look up, look around, look beyond. This chapter isn’t meant to be lived in your own head. Reach out, accept invitations, ask questions and spend time where people gather.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Generosity has curious economics. The more freely it’s practiced, the less scarce it feels. You can’t tell how the tally will work out, but it really will. A giving spirit doesn’t empty the cupboard. Somehow it keeps finding another loaf of bread.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Some people create excitement by turning small problems into major productions. Give them a wide berth. Your favorite company will be curious people with projects, plans and places they’d rather be than the middle of someone else’s argument.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). You try a little harder around certain people — the ones you admire, the ones who admire you and the ones who have an expectation you feel obligated to meet. Seek this company to inspire your best work.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). It’s as though you discover a magical place, hidden behind ordinary walls, where remarkable things flourish. Maybe it’s a mindset, a vision or a realm of reality with more of what your soul needs. This is where you belong, and you’ll get there.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You won’t dismiss someone’s conclusion, even if it’s obviously wrong, annoyingly slanted or just plain silly. Often, it’s not the idea that matters so much as how a person came to it. Your curiosity will take you down that road.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Support, disagreements, shared history, history you wish was never shared or never happened… these are all part of close relationships. Ponder and pontificate if you must, but you could save yourself some time by simply chalking it up to: That’s love!
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You are part of the mechanics that spin the world. The small tasks and roles you take on unthinkingly — those contribute to the spin. You, doing nothing… that contributes, too. There’s no getting around making the world go round.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Anyone who gets on your nerves will be in fine form today. If you can’t get away, put on headphones or their metaphorical equivalent and drown out the noise with beautiful music.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Reinforcements aren’t coming today, but that’s good news. The more you practice helping yourself, the stronger your skills get. Set yourself free. If you have to steal that freedom, you’ll only be taking back what always belonged to you.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You’re terrific at sniffing out trouble. You can meet someone and sense whether they’re likely to complicate your life. You can walk into a room and get a quick read on the social weather. That instinct serves you well today.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). The ancient warrior Sun Tzu said, “When we are near we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when we are far away we must make the enemy believe we are near.” But when the enemy is within? Befriend it.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Aug. 15). It’s your year of Standing Ovations when your work is extraordinary and you’re not the only one who knows it! Because of this, places, people and possibilities that once seemed far away become part of everyday life. More highlights: You move instinctually. You’ll buy tickets before they sell out, invest before everyone catches on and ask for what you want before you (or they) have a chance to overthink it. Aries and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 2, 33, 15, 20 and 9.
DEAR ABBY: I’ve been with my husband, “Ted,” for nearly 15 years, married for 11. He has two children, 38 and 33, and I have one who is 32. When we started dating, none of our children planned to have children of their own. I made it clear from the start that I have no desire to be a grandma. I’m a teacher and work with kids all day, every day, and that is enough for me. He said he felt the same way.
His children now each have two children, while mine has stuck by her decision not to have any. I still have no desire to fill the grandma role. Ted’s kids are starting to make remarks about the fact I am not around much, and Ted recently told me this is causing a divide between us.
I tried to explain that I haven’t changed; he has. We have a blast together and enjoy traveling and hanging out with friends, but our couple time is slowly fading away. I’m tired of being the bad guy because I prefer to spend my personal time with adults.
Should I figure out how to be a single older lady, agree to live separate lives in the same house, or conform and be miserable, babysitting and spending all my free time doing what I absolutely do not want to do? I want my husband back, not the grandpa.
— DON’T CALL ME GRANDMA
DEAR DON’T CALL ME GRANDMA: You can’t expect your husband to turn his back on his grandchildren. If the shoe were on the other foot and your daughter had made you a grandmother, there’s a good chance you’d feel exactly as he does now.
Because you and Ted still love each other, divorce doesn’t seem like a good solution. Would the two of you consider separating and returning to more of a dating relationship for a few years until Ted’s grandkids no longer need a babysitter? That way, you can continue to have fun with him while avoiding the grandma role.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: My husband’s distant cousin, whom we haven’t seen in more than 20 years, recently contacted us to say she wants to come for a visit. We have never really cared for her and do not want her to stay with us. Is there a polite way to tell her we are not open for her visit?
— KEEPING TO OURSELVES IN FLORIDA
DEAR KEEPING: The polite way to tell this distant cousin you do not want her as a houseguest would be to respond that you are unable to host her and suggest some nice hotels in the
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: If a woman asks a man to go on a first date, how should the check be paid?
— SADIE IN IOWA
DEAR SADIE: The person who offers the invitation is expected to pay for the meal unless there is a prior arrangement to handle it differently. This applies in all relationships, not just romantic ones, but close friends usually have a standing agreement to request separate checks.
Two men were wounded in separate North Philadelphia shootings Friday night, police said.
Around 8:15 p.m., an unidentified man was shot multiple times in the area of 21st and Gratz Streets. He was transported by police to Temple University Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.
Less than 20 minutes later, a 23-year-old man was shot in the area of 25th and Elkhart Streets, said Inspector D.F. Pace.
The man was transported by private vehicle to Temple, where he was listed in stable condition.
A judge on Friday found a man guilty of assaulting seven women in separate incidents last year near Rittenhouse Square, in a string of attacks prosecutors called “remarkably similar” that left the women shocked and scared.
Dynel Walker, 38, was found guilty of more than a dozen crimes tied to the incidents, spanning from indecent assault to forcible compulsion, harassment, simple assault, and related offenses, Common Pleas Court Judge Nicholas Kamau decided following a two-day trial.
Kamau also acquitted Walker of more than a dozen charges, including unlawful restraint, harassment, and simple assault, among others, finding that prosecutors had not presented sufficient evidence to support them.
Prosecutors said Walker targeted women who were alone and walking in the early-morning hours in the Rittenhouse Square area, approaching them on the street before groping them, exposing himself, or masturbating in their presence. In several of the incidents last July and August, Walker followed the women before confronting them. Once, he pushed a woman to the ground when she fought back, prosecutors said.
In one incident, prosecutors said, Walker approached a woman walking her dog near 19th and Spruce Streets and groped her, then fled.
In another incident, Walker made eye contact with a woman in the 1600 block of Pine Street, then masturbated on the sidewalk while he watched her, prosecutors said.
Walker knocked one woman down as she fought him off, leaving her with minor scrapes on her arms and one leg, prosecutors said.
At least three of the assaults were captured on surveillance video, which showed clear images of Walker wearing a distinctive black hooded sweatshirt with a chicken on its front, said Assistant District Attorney Megan Odonnell.
Philadelphia detectives began searching for Walker after screenshots from the surveillance videos were shared with local media and led to an anonymous tip identifying Walker. Detectives later found images on Walker’s cell phone showing him wearing the same hooded sweatshirt as the assailant, prosecutors said. All seven women eventually linked Walker to their assaults through photo arrays.
The women’s identification of Walker became a point of contention for his defense attorney, Ryan Ivins, who argued that the women picked Walker only after images had been widely disseminated by the media, including The Inquirer.
Even then, Ivins said, about half of the women were not completely certain that Walker was the man who had accosted them.
One told police she was 60% sure, Ivins said, while another gave Walker a seven out of 10 chance of being her attacker. That, Ivins argued, “casts significant doubt” on the reliability of the women’s identification of Walker and whether the photo arrays were tainted by the media coverage.
Before rendering his verdict, Kamau also had the opportunity to watch Walker’s initial interview with detectives, in which he acknowledged the images shown in the news were, in fact, of him.
In the video of the interview, Walker also told detectives that he was homeless and often slept in the area of Rittenhouse Square because “I felt safe in that area.” Because of that, Walker said, he was not surprised that surveillance cameras had captured him nearby.
But Walker denied committing the assaults, telling detectives: “I don’t have any involvement in that. … I wouldn’t get any enjoyment from that.”
Walker is slated to be sentenced by Kamau in November.
The field at the 126th U.S. Amateur Championship is down to four.
Eight golfers competed in the quarterfinals of match play on Friday afternoon at Merion Golf Club.
All four of Friday’s matches were decided before the 18th hole. The first pairing of the day, Brandon Knight and Carter Loflin, made it the furthest before Loflin closed out Knight on Hole 16.
Loflin will tee off against Jack Whaley at 2 p.m. Saturday, while Jay Leng Jr. will face Logan Reilly at 2:15 p.m. for a place in Sunday’s final.
In addition to a place in the final match, the four remaining golfers are playing for exemptions to the U.S. Open and the Masters. The winner and the runner-up from the Amateur will gain entry into both tournaments in 2027.
Michael Lugiano, the only Pennsylvania native to make the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals, had the biggest following of the day, but he dropped his match to Reilly, 6 and 4.
Reilly won five of the last six holes to beat Lugiano, who hails from Jackson Township, Pa. and plays college golf at Liberty.
“I actually really enjoyed it,” Reilly said of playing in front of the crowd supporting Lugiano. “I loved how many people there were out there. Just gave me a little extra motivation, honestly. Thank God I got a couple of my friends that came out, so they were trying to get loud. But yeah, it was great. Unbelievable atmosphere.”
Loflin, a Duluth, Ga., native who played his collegiate golf at Georgia, won six holes against Knight. Birdies on holes Nos. 7, 8, 10, and 13 helped Loflin lock down his match early.
Jack Hopkins has 35 years of experience caddying at Merion and has carried Carter Loflin’s bag at the Amateur this week.Clem Murray / Staff Photographer
Loflin is the last player remaining with a local caddie. Jack Hopkins has 35 years of experience caddying at Merion and has carried Loflin’s bag at the Amateur this week.
Loflin hopes that gives him an advantage on Saturday.
“[Hopkins] knows this place so well,” Loflin said. “He’s an incredible green reader, and he’s a very calming influence. He doesn’t talk very much. He’s very quiet, which I like because I talk a lot. … Whenever he says stuff, it really means something. If he tells me no, then I’m not going to do it. It’s been a lot of fun.
Leng, who plays at Stanford, was the first golfer off the course Friday after winning, 6 and 5, over Jack Turner.
After a tie on the ninth hole, Leng, a San Diego native, made four consecutive birdies, including hitting a near-perfect drive on 13th hole with a sand wedge, to cement his spot in the semifinals.
“I knew since I was pretty far up, I didn’t want to do anything stupid,” Leng said. “Hit a full sand wedge, and it was the perfect number, spun back nicely.”
Leng is two weeks removed from winning the Western Amateur in Chicago. If he can put together two more winning efforts, he will become the 10th player since World War II to win the Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur in the same year.
Other players to accomplish the feat include Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
Stanford’s Jay Leng already won this year’s Western Am. Now he’s in the Elite 8 at the U.S. Amateur.
He could become the 10th player since World War II to win both in the same year, and the first to do so in 18 years.
After his round on Friday, Leng said improved putting has unlocked extra confidence this summer.
“Just knowing that I have a chance, no matter where I am on the green,” Leng said. “It’s really helping me free my game up a little bit.”
Whaley beat Adam Bresnu, 5 and 4, to secure his place in the semifinals. Whaley, an Englishman who golfs at Florida State, did not drop a hole to his Moroccan opponent Bresnu.
Whaley, a rising senior, is two seasons removed from playing at NAIA school Dalton State in Dalton, Ga. Now, he’s one win away from earning a place in two major tournaments.
“Obviously it would be a huge thing to go and play in those prestigious events,” Whaley said. “I’m trying not to think about it as much as I can because obviously it can add a little bit more pressure, but at the end of the day, I’ve still just got to go out and play my own game, and if that comes at the end of it, then I’ll be very, very pleased.”
East Side Little League, a 12-and-under baseball team from West Chester, is headed to Williamsport, Pa.
On Friday, East Side defeated Wilmington’s Naamans Little League, 3-1, to punch its ticket to the Little League World Series. East Side was powered by pitcher Cole Warner, who allowed just one run on four hits and struck out eight in five innings.
“Feels really good, just representing Pennsylvania,” Warner said on the ESPN broadcast. “Little kids who play for East Side, we set the example. Hopefully, they can carry on.”
Warner set East Side up, but relief pitcher Ryan Donnelly made the game-clinching play.
In the final inning, with runners on first and second, Naamans second baseman Joey DeCaro hit a short roller toward third base. Donnelly slid to grab the ball, and his throw beat DeCaro to first for the game’s final out.
East Side went to celebrate, throwing their gloves and piling on top of each other, but a challenge delayed the party. Eventually, after an almost four-minute review, the call was confirmed. East Side was heading to the World Series, and the team got to celebrate for a second time.
“It felt really good waiting there,” Warner said. “We all knew he was out.”
East Side scored all three of its runs in the first inning. Center fielder Ryan Hennessey got his team started, launching a ball to center to bring in Donnelly and — following a Naamans error — Warner. East Side would score once more in the inning with third baseman Jack Cassidy hitting a single to bring Hennessey home.
Naamans scored its run in the second when utility player Taj Amobi doubled in left fielder Charles Puit.
East Side will look to become the first team from Pennsylvania since 1960 to win the Little League World Series, when Levittown American defeated Fort Worth, Texas, 5-0, in the championship game. However, a few area teams have reached the series in recent years: Glenmoore Eagle Little League (from Upper Uwchlan Township) last year, Council Rock Newtown Little League in 2024, and Media Little League in 2023.
Philadelphia police this week acknowledged that the sprawling missing persons investigation in Olney has evolved into something even more complex — a death investigation without any dead bodies.
Adding to the challenge is that there are now at least four missing women linked to a crumbling house on West Chew Avenue, where for decades, Raymond “R.C.” Horsch had lured drug-addicted women to shoot pornographic photos and movies depicting graphic violence.
On Wednesday, Police Inspector Raymond Evers said a hard drive recovered from the family home of Raymond and his son Eugene Albert Horsch contained “images and video of what appeared to be two deceased females” taken inside — and that police believed the women had really died there, even though they have found no human remains.
“Usually when we have a homicide investigation, we have a body, we have body parts,” Evers said. “This time we do not.”
Police said they have not yet determined when Gabrielle Amarando and Maribel “Bella” Fresses died. Without a body, the medical examiner, too, cannot determine a cause or manner of death, and officials did not share publicly, or with the women’s families, the extent of their injuries.
Law enforcement sources said the images showed women with ashen skin, posed in ways that would be nearly impossible for someone who was still alive. Authorities are still working to identify dozens more people featured in the materials to determine where they are today — and if they’re still alive, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing probe.
The images are further complicated by the fact that Raymond Horsch spent decades using women struggling with addiction as models in apparent snuff films and pornographic photos that featured bondage, sexual violence, and death. Some appeared to be staged or digitally altered.
Michael Yoder, a retired FBI agent who has advised on over 45 no-body homicide cases, said he had never seen a case of this nature, as the typical such case involves a missing spouse or relative.
“This is a no-body homicide and a potential serial homicide case,” Yoder said. “The fact that you also have these videos of simulated deaths or assaults, I’ve never seen that in a no-body homicide case.”
Gabrielle Amarando (left), missing since 2012, and Maribel Fresses, 27, reported missing in 2018. Police believe they were killed inside the Olney home.Obtained by The Inquirer
Detectives have so far reviewed around 5% of hundreds of thousands of photos, videos, and written materials recovered in the home. Yet despite the trove of digital files, police say they have found not a trace of human remains or DNA from any missing women.
Police say they have evidence that some works likely went beyond make-believe.
The two women police said died at the house were last seen about a decade ago.
Evers said Wednesday that “if the images and the video are real and not altered in any way,” the women are dead. That leaves police facing the unusual prospect of seeking formal death declarations for both women in the city’s Orphans’ Court without a body, which adjudicates the rights of persons unable to handle their own affairs.
Police were first led to the home after Eugene Horsch, 44, was arrested during a June 19 car stop that uncovered illegal weapons and the phony ID in the name of another woman, Blair Tonzelli, who was reported missing in 2023 and last seen at the Olney home. A fourth missing woman, Amy McHale, Raymond’s ex-wife, was also last seen at this house in June 2016.
Inside the crumbling twin, investigators found chemical vats, dozens of computers and hard drives, and a cryptic handwritten note that referenced harming people and alluded to serial killer Ted Bundy.
Raymond Horsch died last year. Eugene has not been accused of any violent crimes. He was incarcerated at the time of at least one disappearance. An attorney for Horsch has declined comment.
After years of silence from their daughters, the Fresses and Amarando families said they were devastated to learn from police that the women are dead. But their relatives still don’t have all the answers they seek.
“I hate to say it, but I don’t have an actual body to say, ‘OK, this is my daughter,’” said Patricia Fresses, Maribel’s mom. “I need to see it.”
Maribel Fresses, 27, reported missing in 2018. Police believe she was killed inside the Olney home.Courtesy of Melissa Fresses
A rise of no-body homicides
Bodiless murder cases have become more common in recent decades, thanks to advances in forensic technology that have enabled prosecutors to bring charges in cases with limited physical evidence.
Some past cases locally have ended in successful convictions.
In 1997, the FBI arrested former Delaware prosecutor Thomas J. Capano, who was a suspect in the 1996 disappearance of congressional aide Anne Marie Fahey in Philadelphia.
To this day, Fahey’s remains have never been found. However, the pair were known to be having an affair, and they were last seen together dining in Center City. Letters written by Capano pointed to an increasingly controlling romantic relationship, and a search of his car and home later revealed traces of Fahey’s blood.
The former prosecutor was later arrested and convicted in 1999 of murder.
But that outcome is not always certain.
In Chester County, in 2025, Malvern resident Allen Gould was charged with homicide following the 2017 disappearance of his wife, Anna Maciejewska, who has also never been found. Prosecutors alleged that Gould demonstrated little concern about this vanishing, reporting it to law enforcement only under pressure from family and friends.
Yet without a body or murder weapon, Gould’s lawyers have argued the prosecution is built on circumstantial evidence.
That case is expected to proceed to trial later this year.
A former U.S. Attorney told The Inquirer in 2013 that, nationwide, 88% of the 400 no-body homicide cases that had gone to trial ended in convictions. Yet this figure only accounts for the cases that are actually brought before a court.
In the Capano matter, investigators were able to charge the former prosecutor because of additional forensic evidence, and the suspect’s own inconsistent testimony about their final moments together.
But investigators in the Horsch case face three steep challenges: There are no bodies, no other human remains, and one potential suspect — Raymond Horsch — died last year from a lung condition at the age of 82.
Yoder, the retired FBI profiler, said a no-body homicide prosecution would require evidence that clearly shows someone else was responsible for the deaths, and said additional forensic details like metadata taken from the photographs could establish a compelling timeline. Raymond’s graphic fantasies, he reasoned, would be irrelevant to the prosecution of another suspect.
“If you say he videoed women in fake death or fake assaults on video, it’ll throw a jury through a loop,” he said. “You’re getting the point of, if they don’t believe something, they won’t believe everything.”
Gabrielle Amarando as a child. Gabrielle was missing since 2012 and police believe she was likely killed in the house on Chew Avenue in Olney.Courtesy of Karen Amarando Riley
No bodies, no closure
Regardless of the possibilities for justice in court, death declarations also generally mark the end of any hope that an individual or their remains will ever be found or properly interred.
In a 1980s article on the Orphans’ Court, a judge told The Inquirer they handled about a half dozen bodiless death declarations annually, but could not recall any in which a missing person was later found.
“Most of them just disappear,” the judge said.
Last year, Gabrielle’s mom, Karen Amarando Riley, talked to a psychic in a desperate attempt to get answers about her missing daughter.
Riley said the psychic described Gabrielle’s descent into addiction, and that she couldn’t see Gabrielle alive past the age of 27, which would have been in 2017.
The mother was shaken.
“She nailed everything … the time she started doing drugs and what drugs she did and everything in her life,” she said. “The last image she could get was Gabrielle standing in front of a brick building in a city.”
“I just wanted closure,” she said. “And she couldn’t give it to me either.”
Gabrielle Amarando with her mother, Karen Amarando Riley. Gabrielle was missing since 2012 and police believe she was likely killed in the house on Chew Avenue in Olney.Courtesy of Karen Amarando Riley
The families of the Fresses and Amarandos — and potentially others seeking loved ones who vanished in Kensington — now face the possibility of closure without the recovery of a body or, possibly, a homicide conviction.
Riley, of Ocala, Fla., last heard from her daughter Gabrielle when she called from a Philadelphia prison on Christmas Day in 2012.
“I thought maybe she overdosed because she would have been in touch with somebody, if not me, somebody,” Riley said.
She is tormented by the thought that her child was reduced from the beautiful aspiring model she once knew, falling into addiction and, police say, ultimately being lured into the home on Chew Avenue.
“It tears me up. I don’t know what he did to her before he killed her,” she said. “I always wanted closure, but I didn’t want this.”
A state correctional officer in Delaware County has been charged with numerous counts related to possessing and sharing child pornography, court records show.
David Lemmon, 45, of Clifton Heights, was charged with more than 100 counts related to possessing and sharing child pornography, according to court documents. Bail was set at 10% of $100,000, which he posted on Monday.
His lawyer, Olivia Leigh Mastrangelo, declined to comment on the case Friday.
Maria A. Bivens, press secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, said Lemmon has not reported for work since his arrest Monday.
“The Department is taking appropriate administrative action, including moving to suspend his employment, in accordance with the Department’s policy and the Governor’s Code of Conduct,” Bivens said in an email.
The Delaware County District Attorney’s Office could not be reached for comment.
Lemmon was assigned to the State Correctional Institution at Chester.
The criminal investigation began with a tip from the social media app Snapchat, NBC10 reported. Investigators questioned Lemmon at the Chester prison in June and confiscated his phone. They also searched through devices found at his home, NBC10 reported.
Iemad Saifo, the 65-year-old owner of Zena’s American Mediterranean Cuisine in Collingswood, has been released after spending two weeks in ICE detention at Delaney Hall in Newark, N.J.
Saifo emigrated to the United States from Syria in 2002 on a business visa and later sought asylum after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. He was detained during a routine ICE check-in July 31.
Saifo is the primary caregiver for his 12-year-old son, who has autism. The elder Saifo also has spasmodic dysphonia, a rare condition that makes it difficult for him to speak, as well as chronic kidney disease.
Dozens of Collingswood-area community members wrote letters and signed a petition urging the court to keep him in South Jersey with his family.
As President Donald Trump pushes his mass deportation agenda, routine check-ins have become increasingly risky for immigrants. Immigration advocates say many of those who have been arrested at ICE check-ins were simply following government protocols.
Last week, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced her office was investigating Delaney Hall after multiple detainees died there during the last year, raising concerns about the facility’s conditions and medical negligence. The privately operated detention center under contract with ICE has been the scene of fierce protests and political fights between the Trump administration and Democrats since its May 2025 reopening.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that Iemad Saifo was arrested both because he does not havepermanent status and because of a 2018 case in which he was indicted and found guilty of witness tampering and sentenced to five years’ probation.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, ICE is targeting the worst of the worst,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson wrote. “Nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.”
One of Saifo’s attorneys, Fiona Powell, credited the 150 notarized letters from community members testifying to his character with helping secure his release.
“This was an outpouring of community support like I’ve never seen before,” she said.
Those letters were authored last weekend during an event that friends, family, and community organizers hosted at his restaurant.
Many in South Jersey know Iemad Saifo from his restaurant, which opened in 2011, and from the nearly 10 years he previously spent working at a local 7-Eleven, said his 27-year-old daughter, Zena Saifo, for whom the restaurant is named.
Zena Saifo said she, her mother, and one of her brothers were granted asylum after the war began. Her father never heard back from the Department of Homeland Security on his asylumapplication, she said,so he later applied for permanent residency through his younger son, who was born in the United States.
“He’s always willing to help people, to give,” Zena Saifo said of her father.“People are really enraged and disgusted by what’s happening and doing everything they can to support him.”
Zena Saifo is still reeling from the day of his detention, she said, when she, her brother, and lawyers arrived at the Mount Laurel ICE office for the check-in around 7:30 a.m. and were made to wait until past noon. The Saifos’lawyer notified Zena her father would be detained. She tearfully pleaded with the ICE officer to let her say goodbye to him but was denied, she said.
“‘Was this the last time I saw my father?’” Zena Saifo recalled wondering in the moment. “It was just really, really devastating.”
In the period since Iemad Saifo’s detention, two of his sons,ages 24 and 26, have taken over the restaurant. His wife has stayed at home and taken care of the youngest. He turned 12 last weekend without his father present.
Zena Saifo said her father’s two requests of her in his absence were to water the family fig tree and to host a big celebration for her brother’s birthday.
On Friday morning, the family was en route to pay the $7,500 bond and pick Iemad Saifo up from Delaney Hall, Powell said.
The 2018 charge was brought up during the bond review, she said, but “in the end the judge was able to see that he’s an older man with a family who needs him and strong community ties and that he deserves to be home with his family.”
Going forward, Iemad Saifo’s legal team will do all it can to secure permanent residency for him. In the interim, Powell said, immigrants are always at risk of detention regardless of their circumstances. The Trump administration has issued 46,000 orders of removal or voluntary deportation since the start of last year in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, more than in the entirety of former President Joe Biden’s term. In New Jersey’s courts, orders of removal or voluntary departure rose 47% just between May and June, from 2,348 to 3,446.
However, to legally detain Iemad Saifo again, the government would need to show something about his situation has changed.
“It could take potentially months or years more in order to get him permanent status here, but we will continue doing everything we can to keep him here,” Powell said.
