Was She Murdered Because They Thought She Was A Prostitute? Updated October 6th, 2024

"Under Construction

sad but happy

crying but laughing

ugly but pretty

hungry but full

hurt but fine

weak but strong

I pretend

and this is me."

10.25.01 -Cindy Song

Hyun Jong Song who was known to her friends as Cindy was open-minded and fiercely independent. Her friends said that she was also studious and willing to work hard to achieve her goals. This bright and vivacious woman liked dance and paintings and aspired to become a graphic and fashion designer.

Born on February 25th, 1980, to Ban Soon Song in Seoul, South Korea Cindy moved to the United States in 1995 to live with her aunt and uncle in Springfield, Virginia.

She attended Hayfield Secondary School and then transferred to Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal, Virginia, where she graduated in 1998. She then got an apartment and enrolled in Pennsylvania State University, where she majored in integrative arts. She also joined the Korean Undergraduate Student Association, the American Red Cross and Advertising Club. She was scheduled to graduate during the spring of 2002, but sadly that day would never come.

On Halloween night in 2001, a 21-year-old Cindy was dressed as a playboy bunny which consisted of a pink sleeveless shirt with a rabbit design imprinted on the front, rabbit ears, a white tennis skirt with a cotton bunny tail attached to the back, brown suede leather knee-high boots and a red knee-length hooded parka. She went partying with friends at Player's Nite Club (now The Basement Nightspot) in the 100 block of west College Avenue. Around 2 a.m. they went to play video games at another friend's house. At 4 a.m., she was dropped off at her apartment 363 by her roommate Stacy Paik at State College Park Apartments in the 300 block of west Clinton Avenue (Alight State College on Blue Course Drive). Cindy had been drinking that evening and was mildly intoxicated when taken to her apartment. Palik watch Cindy as she walked towards the door but couldn't confirm she went inside. 

Later that day when Paik returned from visiting her family, the door to their apartment was locked from the outside and there was no Cindy anywhere to be seen. Paik wasn't too concerned at the time because allegedly short absences weren’t entirely uncharacteristic. However, after missing shifts at the Seoul Garden Korean Restaurant (The Koop: Korean Chicken and Cuisine) and her failing to contact anyone, Cindy's friends reported her missing on November 14th, which was three days after she was last seen.

When police arrived at her home the door, they found eyelashes on the kitchen counter, which were part of her costume she had been wearing. They also found her backpack and her cellphone. Her keys and her purse, containing her credit cards and driver's license, were missing as well as the rest of her bunny costume. Her cellular phone was turned off, and she didn't place any phone calls from her apartment after returning home, nor was there any indication of a struggle or foul play at the scene. Bloodhounds and search parties were sent into the woods and other areas surrounding her apartment with no results.

Cindy's mother Ban Soon and brother Ki Ho traveled from South Korea to the United States after her disappearance. They cleaned her apartment shortly after the initial police search, inadvertently destroying what physical evidence that might have been there. They hired Jin Han, an attorney from New York to help be their spokesperson. Ban Soon was quite distraught but was very active in placing posters around town.

The theory that Cindy ran away was quickly ruled out. She had already registered for classes for the next semester. She had a computer ordered and she had Britney Spears tickets. She did not have any travel plans in November 2002 and her loved ones maintained that she was not suffering from any personal problems at the time of her disappearance. There has been no activity on her credit cards since her disappearance.

Cindy had broken up with her boyfriend months before her disappearance, but her roommates say she was getting over the breakup and was not depressed about it.

Some people speculated that Cindy was abducted from her apartment, while others theorize that she had entered the apartment after she was dropped off but decided to leave again to travel to a nearby 24-hour supermarket she often frequented and was abducted going to or from there.

On December 5th, 2001, 35 days after Cindy was last seen authorities received a tip from a woman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The witness claimed that she saw a woman matching Cindy's description inside a vehicle with an unidentified male in the city's Chinatown district. The witness said that the woman called for help, but the man interrupted her and told the witness to leave. Authorities have not identified the man allegedly seen by the woman. The man was described as having an olive or light brown complexion with medium-length hair. Allegedly it was found out that the lady that the witness had seen was not Cindy.

In January of 2002 there was a prank call by a woman claiming to be Cindy. And by the beginning of February there was no active leads to go on.

In the spring of 2002 Ban Soon said through an interpreter “It is spring now, and there are flowers, and she is not here to see it.”

In June 2003 a career criminal named Paul Weakley was facing a felony burglary charge and told police that his associate and bank robber Hugo Marcus Selenski along with a man named Michael Kerkowski Jr. had abducted Cindy while she was walking down the street. Weakley said that Kerkowski had mistaken Cindy for a prostitute. Cindy was then allegedly taken to Kerkowski’s house in Hunlock Creek, where she was kept inside a walk-in safe where the two men had their way with her until she died. After that Weakley said that they then buried Cindy's body in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

Selenski was arrested and several sets of human remains, believed to be from between five and twelve people, were found in his backyard. None of the remains were from Cindy.  Kerkowski could not confirm or deny Selenski's account because he was one of the people buried in Selenski's backyard.

Weakley said Selensky had killed Kerkowski after learning that he had kept Song's bunny ears as a souvenir of the crime. One of Selenski's friends, told police that Selenski had bragged about the murder to him.

Weakley initially claimed that he only helped bury the bodies of the victims found at Selenski's house. It turned out he actually assisted Selenski with two of the murders. 

Selenski and Weakley had conspired to rob $60,000 from Kerkowski’s home and Kerowski's girlfriend Tammy Fassett was killed because she happened to be there.

Investigators are skeptical about Weakley's claims that Cindy was abducted and killed by Selenski. A search of Weakley’s computer revealed that he had downloaded several articles about Cindy, so he could have learned about her case online. Selenski has always denied any involvement in Cindy’s disappearance.

Paul Weakley is serving life in federal prison after pleading guilty in connection with the murders of Kerkowski and Fassett.

Investigators have been unable to prove Selenski's involvement in Cindy's disappearance, but they have not ruled him out as a suspect either. Selenski went on trial for the murders of Frank James and Adeiye Keiler, which were two of the bodies buried on his property. He was acquitted of the murder charges against him but was convicted of two counts of abuse of a corpse in March 2006. He was charged with the murders of Kerkowski and Fassett and after being convicted at trial in 2015, he received a life sentence

At the time of Cindy's disappearance, she was 5'1 - 5'3 tall, 110 - 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Her playboy bunny costume that she was wearing consisted of a pink sleeveless shirt with a rabbit design imprinted on the front, rabbit ears, a white tennis skirt with a cotton bunny tail attached to the back, brown suede leather knee-high boots and a red knee-length hooded parka. Her ears and navel were pierced.

Ferguson Township Police Department

814-237-1172

800-479-0050