Cindy Song

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Ferguson Township Police Department (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. Investigators discovered her backpack, phone, and the false eyelashes she wore for her costume, indicating she had returned safely. Over two decades later, the case of Cindy Song's disappearance remains open and unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Song attended a Halloween party during the early morning hours of November 1, 2001 at the Player's Nite Club in the 110 block of West College Avenue. She departed from the party at 2:00 a.m., then stopped by a friend's home for two hours. Another friend dropped Song off outside of her residence in State College Park Apartments in the 340 block of West Clinton Avenue at approximately 4:00 a.m. She had been drinking that evening and was mildly intoxicated when taken to her apartment. An investigation of her apartment, where she was last seen, revealed no signs of struggle or anything being out of place. Inside Cindy's apartment, investigators discovered her backpack, phone, and the false eyelashes she wore for her costume, indicating she had returned safely. The only items missing were Cindy's bunny costume and her purse, which had her keys, credit cards, and ID.

Additional Details:

Song's friends reported her as a missing person when she failed to contact anyone by November 4, three days after her disappearance. Cindy's mother, Bansoon Song, arrived from Seoul on November 16. She spoke little English and communicated with police through interpreters, yet she began hanging missing-person fliers almost immediately. Her brother, Kiho, arrived a week later and moved into Cindy's apartment. In early December, Bansoon had to return to Korea to care for Cindy's father, who was ill, leaving Kiho on his own. Members of the Penn State Black Caucus called the search effort inadequate and helped form the Coalition to Find Cindy Song. When investigators considered marking the case inactive in early 2002, the family's attorney, Jin Han, and the coalition held a press conference to keep it open. Students gathered more than 15,000 signatures on a petition, and Pennsylvania's governor urged Ferguson Township to accept full-time state police help. On Dec. 5, 2001, 35 days after Song was last seen, Ferguson police investigated its first promising lead — a tip from Philadelphia. The lead involved a witness who claimed to see someone matching Cindy's description being forced against their will into a vehicle by a man in the Chinatown section of the city. Inconsistencies in the witness's statements weakened its credibility. The tip was eventually deemed unreliable. In June of 2003, a murderer and informant named Paul Weakley shocked police with a chilling story. Weakley told police that the men had abducted a woman who they believed to be a sex worker from State College. He stated that the two men had taken her to Selenski's house. Weakly claimed they kept her in Selenski's walk in vault until she died. The woman he described matched Cindy's description. Law enforcement searched Selenski's house and made a grim discovery: the charred remains of multiple bodies buried in his yard. However, Cindy Song's body was not among those found. Cindy's case remains an open missing-person investigation with the Ferguson Township Police Department. Working with the FBI, investigators collected DNA from Cindy's mother and family in South Korea, and her DNA profile and dental records are in national databases, including CODIS and NamUs.

Case Last Updated:

Oct 21, 2026