Seven missing women have been linked to the house that was shared by 44-year-old Eugene Horsch and his late father, Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, in the Olney section of Philadelphia.

With five of the seven women feared dead, Philadelphia police and the FBI are conducting a massive investigation of the home. Law enforcement has said Raymond Horsch, who died in 2025 at the age of 82, is the suspected killer. Eugene Horsch has not been charged with any homicides or missing-person offenses related to the missing women.

The Horsch house investigation raises questions about serial killers and whether mental health professionals can identify a person at risk of becoming one. The early identification of psychopathy can potentially prevent an escalation of antisocial behavior.

As a forensic psychologist, I conduct psychological evaluations to help courts make decisions when someone’s mental health is relevant. I’ve conducted hundreds of forensic psychological evaluations, including dozens with individuals with psychopathic characteristics.

I’m not surprised that a previous psychological evaluation of R.C. Horsch, done in the mid-1980s, did not identify him as a potential psychopath. That’s because reliable tools for identifying psychopathy were not available at that time.

Psychopathic personality disorder, or psychopathy, is not an officially recognized disorder in the current version of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM. This is the primary diagnostic resource used by mental health professionals in the United States.

Although a version of psychopathy was included in prior editions of the DSM, more recent editions have eliminated the diagnosis. This is because of the difficulty in assessing some of the emotional characteristics of psychopathy.

Instead, the DSM includes a diagnosis for antisocial personality disorder, which focuses primarily on the........

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