PA PA - Hyun Jong "Cindy" Song, 21, State College, 1 Nov 2001

[Dreamcherry]

We were all friends. It was a joke! We all understood that.

Oh good! Carry on then

 

[Linzerd22]

Hi all--just signed up today so apologies if repeating info or formatting is wrong.

I got into this case recently both because I teach international students as well as being originally from the Luzerne county area. I had never heard of the case before recently, so jumped in.

Earlier in this thread, someone mention the Danelle Hallan video about this case, and one of the YouTube comments gave me pause (

). A YouTube account posted 5 years ago with the username @thergcap claiming to be R. Gary Capitano, the homicide detective who was charging Selenski at the time, and in his comment he mentions the following:

"Hello Danielle, I just had the opportunity to watch your video re Cindy Song. I recently retired from the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office after 32 years being a homicide detective. On 6/5/03 I served a search warrant on the residence of Hugo Selenski. The bodies of Tammy Fasset and Michael Kerkowski were recovered. The search also included a fire pit on the property. Multiple bones, teeth, were found including three lower mandibles. Forensic anthropologist Anthony Falsetti was consulted. His belief was that there was sufficient bone mass for a minimum of 12 people having been burned in that fire pit. Hugo Selenski had an accomplice, Paul Weakley. Both are doing life imprisonment. Weakley was a cooperating witness. Weakley told me that Selenski had kidnapped and murdered Cindy Song. Falsetti was able to reconstruct 3 skulls from the bone fragments in the fire pit, he was able to determine one was a female. There was also three lower mandibles recovered. Samples were sent by me to the same lab that ID'd the WTC victims on 9/11. The process utilized by Selenski, gas/tires/hardwood, created at fire that destroys DNA. However, based on Weakley's information, the fact that we did recover the lower mandible, lends creadence that Selenski was involved. He was a frequent visitor at PSU. His girlfriends credit card shows expenses there for that weekend. Im presuming she had dental records which could be compared to that female's mandible. Just a matter of somebody doing it. I tried to accomplish this but was admonished by superiors that I was crossing jurisdictional boundaries." Comment for me was the second one on the video.

While I couldn't really verify the account actually belonged to the homicide detective, the full name on the account is his, and it would've been posted around the time before he passed away in 2021 (aside: poor dude retired and passed away shortly after). IF this is him, is this information new? Maybe not to the police, but is it new to the public? I know, according to news reports around the time of Selenski's trials and the confession of him or Weekly having taken Song and killed her, the police said it was not Song's remains. But what if they never really checked if the burns were so bad to the remains found that they could never verify with DNA?

Again, apologies if this is repeated info or not useful--this YouTube comment was just scratching at my brain ever since I saw it.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

The only thing I have seen is this: Penn State History Lesson: The Disappearance Of Cindy Song

It says:

Another theory that has yet to be proven correct or incorrect says that Song’s disappearance is connected to Hugo Selenski, a Pennsylvanian serial killer. According to WNEP 16, Selenski’s co-conspirator Paul Weakley brought forward the lead that Selenksi was involved in her kidnapping.


Multiple bodies were uncovered on Selenski’s property in 2003, but Song’s remains were not discovered. While many still believe he had a hand in the crime, no further evidence has come forward to tie him to Song.

There is surprisingly little on Selenski.

One problem is "that weekend." Song disappeared on Thursday 11/1/01, around 4:00 AM. That really wasn't "that weekend." He could have misremembered.

 

[Linzerd22]

That's true--definitely possible he misremembered if this is him in this YouTube comment. I wonder how 'that weekend' could have fit--the weekend before? The weekend after? The problem is we could construct many reasons to make the time frame fit, but they're all just guesses. Though I can imagine Selenski being on Penn State's campus for several days straight would've come up.

At this point, the only people who might know would be people who worked/are working on the case. It's curious they never reported whose remains could've been on Selenski's property--possible active investigation info or maybe they truly have no clue? Also possible Capitano was on Selenski's case for long enough that he figured he killed Song and he was trying to make the timeline fit.

I guess what bothers me with this statement Capitano could've made in this YouTube comment was that it implies that they never actually cross-checked the mandibles found on the property with Song's dental records, getting the remains caught in limbo. It contradicts the statement made to the public that the remains weren't Song's. Though, perhaps after Capitano retired, another detective took the case and did compare and the public was never informed.

 

[dotr]

2022

‘A light should burn’ | 21 years on, Penn State student Cindy Song remains missing

Before Nov. 1, 2001, if you sent an email to “[email protected],” you may have begun a conversation with a young woman about any number of topics.

www.psucollegian.com

''But by June 2003, the biggest break in the case up to that point took place as state police searched and excavated the property of Hugo Selenski.

Selenski, who owned a large wooded property in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, was accused by a former criminal accomplice of having abducted and murdered Cindy with another man — Michael Kerkowski.

But upon searching his land, state police found Kerkowski and his girlfriend to be two of the five bodies they eventually recovered. Three other partial sets of human remains were found in Selenski’s large outdoor burn pit.

According to Mayer, no DNA ever recovered from Selenski’s property matched Cindy’s.

Paul Weakley, who is serving a life sentence in an Indiana federal prison, reported that Selenski and Kerkowski had picked Cindy up, and Kerkowski “had his way with her,” eventually leaving her to die in his home.

It was revealed, though, that Weakley had researched the case independently and had downloaded information on Cindy’s disappearance from the internet before having discussions with police.''

Hugo Selenski, center, is led into the Luzerne County Courthouse, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, for day three of jury selection in his double homicide trial. Selenski is charged in the strangulation deaths of a drug-dealing pharmacist and the pharmacist's girlfriend in 2002 and burying their bodies in his yard. (AP Photo/The Citizens' Voice, Mark Moran)

 

[J. J. in Phila]

That's true--definitely possible he misremembered if this is him in this YouTube comment. I wonder how 'that weekend' could have fit--the weekend before? The weekend after? The problem is we could construct many reasons to make the time frame fit, but they're all just guesses. Though I can imagine Selenski being on Penn State's campus for several days straight would've come up.

Snipped for emphasis only.

If it was a weekend, Selenski would have had to be stalking her for days. It is possible that he could have; he was in his late 20's and could have passed as a student.

I think that there are three broad possibilities, assuming foul play.

A. Someone was stalking her and waited until she left the apartment.

B. She went out and someone grabbed her randomly, at 4:00 AM

C. She went with someone she knew and/or trusted.

Because of the time, I am skeptical of B.

 

[Linzerd22]

That's true--he definitely could've passed for a student. I guess what feels off about the timeline is surely someone would've noticed him hanging around, such as some of Song's friends. The random information from Weakley is perplexing because he did lead the police to Selenski's property and pointed out the place where they should dig, but also him looking up Song's disappearance before claiming to the police that Kerkowski and Selenski got to her is suspect. I guess you could make the argument that he looked it up to see if it truly was a random brag from Selenski to check if it was actually true. I'm definitely not someone who's able to understand the mind of someone like that, though. I know that the police have noted Song's remains are definitely not among those on Selenski's property, it would be nice if the remains were identified so we could completely discount the possibility and continue searching other leads. I'd rather Song never have encountered Selenski at all.

Too, what feels weird about someone randomly taking the opportunity to grab her and basically get away with it is 1. they would have been good at kidnapping enough to not have gotten caught (hinting at some sort of experience) or 2. they were extremely lucky to have gotten away with it (which is also possible). That would lead me to look into other disappearances and missing person cases around Penn State, but surely someone would've noticed a pattern if there was one? Though I suppose the benefit of abducting someone around Penn State is that, outside the university area, it's rural with lots of open land. Too, if she went out for snacks often enough, it doesn't seem out of the ordinary for her to do so again after partying that night.

It leads me into the theory that she went with someone she knew, though why not bring your phone or fully change? Why leave instead of talking at your apartment? Unless she expected to only briefly talk with whoever showed up, bringing only her keys and wallet, expecting to be back fast enough.

I'm sure someone has already done so, but I'm going to spend some time going through missing and unclaimed persons around Pennsylvania/New York/New Jersey for anything that's been posted recently on NamUs.

 

[Rikissa]

That's true--definitely possible he misremembered if this is him in this YouTube comment. I wonder how 'that weekend' could have fit--the weekend before? The weekend after? The problem is we could construct many reasons to make the time frame fit, but they're all just guesses. Though I can imagine Selenski being on Penn State's campus for several days straight would've come up.

At this point, the only people who might know would be people who worked/are working on the case. It's curious they never reported whose remains could've been on Selenski's property--possible active investigation info or maybe they truly have no clue? Also possible Capitano was on Selenski's case for long enough that he figured he killed Song and he was trying to make the timeline fit.

I guess what bothers me with this statement Capitano could've made in this YouTube comment was that it implies that they never actually cross-checked the mandibles found on the property with Song's dental records, getting the remains caught in limbo. It contradicts the statement made to the public that the remains weren't Song's. Though, perhaps after Capitano retired, another detective took the case and did compare and the public was never informed.

In 2001 Halloween was on 31 October, and Song went missing 1 November, so the "weekend" could mean the "Halloween weekend".

 

[J. J. in Phila]

In 2001 Halloween was on 31 October, and Song went missing 1 November, so the "weekend" could mean the "Halloween weekend".

Halloween was on a Wednesday in 2001. Definitely not a weekend. If Zelenski was there on a weekend, he could not have kidnapped Song.

 

[Rikissa]

Halloween was on a Wednesday in 2001. Definitely not a weekend. If Zelenski was there on a weekend, he could not have kidnapped Song.

What I meant was that maybe he thought of period from the Halloween Wednesday until Sunday 4 November as a "weekend", especially if he had time off. Did Zelenski have a job, working Monday to Friday, or could he take time off during workweeks?

*correcting month*

 

[J. J. in Phila]

What I meant was that maybe he thought of period from the Halloween Wednesday until Sunday 4 December as a "weekend", especially if he had time off. Did Zelenski have a job, working Monday to Friday, or could he take time off during workweeks?

If you mean November 4, that would still be an unusual way of expressing it.

From what little I could find about Zelinski, he had some connection to drug dealers.