Childhood friend remembers victim in Olney investigation: 'She was a wonderful soul'

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The childhood best friend of a woman who Philadelphia police say appears to be among two missing women dead inside an Olney home said she's struggling to process the disturbing news.

"It doesn't quite seem real yet. It seems like something out of a movie, really," Ashley Levin said.

Levin says she met Gabrielle Amarando in third grade, and the two quickly became close friends.

"We were instant friends," Levin said.

The two eventually drifted apart as adults. Levin said Amarando disappeared around 2012, and friends and family grew increasingly concerned when they stopped hearing from her.

"We started to worry because no one had heard from her," Levin said.

READ MORE | Images from Olney home appeared to show 2 missing women dead, Philadelphia police say

On Wednesday, nearly 14 years later, Amarando's family received the confirmation they had been waiting for.

A nearly two-month investigation into 44-year-old Eugene Horsch and his home on West Chew Avenue in Olney uncovered images that police say show two women alive and later deceased.

Police identified Amarando as one of the women.

Maribel Fresses, who disappeared in 2018, was identified as the other. Neither woman's body has been found.

"Her mom felt all along like she wasn't here anymore, but never got that confirmation. Now that she has it, it sucks. It's devastating. It's heartbreaking," Levin said.

Levin said she hopes Amarando is remembered for who she was, rather than the circumstances surrounding her death.

"She was a wonderful soul. She really was," Levin said. "Drug addiction and mental health can take people to some really terrible places, but that doesn't define that person. Gabby was just, she's so much more than that."

Hope for families of the missing

The investigation is also giving another Philadelphia family a renewed sense of hope.

Amanda De Guio has been missing since 2014. Her family says the mother of two disappeared from her Upper Darby home without taking her belongings.

"She disappeared. She literally disappeared. Everything is at home. She left her phone, no purse, no credit cards, just her phone," her sister Nicole DeLio and mother Joanne De Guio said in an interview with Action News.

There is no indication De Guio's disappearance is connected to the Olney investigation. But her family is hopeful investigators could uncover information that might help other families searching for missing loved ones.

"I think we're hopeful that other missing women have been found or could be found there... however, we're anxious. This is such a horrible outcome, and we don't want that for my sister," they said.

Police say they recovered hundreds of thousands of images, videos, writings and manuscripts during their investigation and are continuing to examine evidence.

"Is it possible? Yes. And that's what's scary, is now I'm waiting for my phone to ring," De Guio said.

Police are urging anyone with information to contact them.