Hyun Jong Song

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Ferguson Township Police Department Pa (PA)

Missing From:

State College, Pennsylvania

Summary:

Hyun Jong 'Cindy' Song was a 21-year-old Penn State senior from South Korea who disappeared on November 1, 2001, after attending a Halloween party in State College, Pennsylvania. She was last seen being dropped off at her apartment building early that morning and has never been found. The case remains unsolved, though serial killer Hugo Selenski has been investigated as a person of interest.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On October 31, 2001, Song attended a Halloween costume party at Player's Nite Club on West College Avenue in State College, PA with friends Stacy Paik and Lisa Kim. She was dressed as a Playboy Bunny in a white tennis skirt and pink shirt with bunny ears. The group left the club around 2:00 a.m. on November 1 and went to a friend's apartment to play video games for approximately two hours. Between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m., they stopped at the Uni-Mart convenience store on South Garner Street before Song's roommate, Stacy Paik, dropped her off outside the State College Park Apartments in the 300-340 block of West Clinton Avenue. Song had been drinking moderately that evening and was mildly intoxicated when dropped off. This was the last time anyone saw her alive. Investigation of her apartment revealed she had entered safely: her backpack and cellular phone were found inside, along with the false eyelashes she wore for her costume. However, her Playboy Bunny costume, purse containing her driver's license, credit cards, and keys were never found. Her cellular phone was turned off and showed no calls made or received after she was dropped off. There were no signs of struggle or forced entry in her apartment.

Additional Details:

Song's friends reported her missing on November 4, 2001, three days after her disappearance, when she failed to contact anyone and missed a shift at her part-time job at Seoul Garden Korean Restaurant. Police and volunteers searched wooded areas near campus but found no trace of her. Extensive investigation revealed no credit card activity, suspicious phone calls, or email activity after her disappearance. Evidence indicated Song may have gone to a nearby 24-hour Giant supermarket, but surveillance videotapes had been recorded over before police could check them. In December 2001, a tip from a woman in Philadelphia claimed to have seen a woman matching Song's description being forced into a vehicle by an unidentified man in Chinatown, but investigators determined the witness's story changed several times and could not be verified. The primary investigation lead emerged in June 2003 when Paul Weakley, a criminal accomplice of serial killer Hugo Selenski, told police that Selenski and Michael Kerkowski had kidnapped Song, mistaking her for a sex worker. According to Weakley's account, Kerkowski kept Song imprisoned in a walk-in safe at his property in Hunlock Creek and kept Song's bunny ears as a souvenir. Weakley claimed Kerkowski killed her and that Selenski later murdered Kerkowski in retaliation. Extensive searches of Selenski's six-acre property in Luzerne County uncovered the remains of multiple bodies beginning in 2003, with at least 12 sets of human remains eventually found, but DNA testing proved none belonged to Song. Selenski confessed to kidnapping Song but claimed Kerkowski was responsible for her death. However, investigators were unable to prove Selenski's involvement and he was never charged in connection with Song's disappearance. Selenski was convicted in 2015 of murdering Michael Kerkowski and his girlfriend Tammy Fassett and is serving a life sentence. Investigation later revealed that Weakley had researched Song's case on the internet before contacting police, raising questions about the reliability of his claims. Song's family, particularly her mother Bansoon Song, traveled from South Korea to aid in the investigation. The family presented a petition with thousands of signatures to Pennsylvania state government requesting full State Police involvement. Pennsylvania State Police joined the Ferguson Township Police investigation in May 2002. Song's family inadvertently destroyed potential physical evidence by cleaning her apartment shortly after the initial police search. Despite 21 binders of case files and continuous investigation, the case has yielded no conclusive answers. In 2014, authorities noted they had investigated every lead but with minimal evidence. Detective Brian Sprinkle initially led the investigation; Detective Jonathan Mayer later took charge. Ferguson Township Police Chief Diane Conrad confirmed the case remains open and Song's DNA is in various national law enforcement databases. The case has been featured on Unsolved Mysteries and numerous true crime programs.

Case Last Updated:

Apr 16, 2026