STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — October 31, 2022, marks 21 years since a Penn State student vanished, a case that remains unsolved in Centre County.
Thousands of students from all over the world find their home for four years on the campus of Penn State University Park in State College.
In 2001, Cindy Song was one of them. She was born and raised in South Korea, attended high school in Virginia, then set her sights on Penn State, where she was studying integrative arts.
On Halloween night in 2001, like many of her peers, Cindy went out with friends. Dressed as a bunny, she attended a party at a bar on West College Avenue. Hours later, her friends dropped her off at her apartment complex. That was the last time she was seen.
Investigators said Cindy's cell phone was left in her apartment, but her purse and wallet were gone.
The case went cold quickly but got a lead almost exactly two years later.
That lead brought police from Centre County to Luzerne County to investigate an alleged connection to one of the most notorious criminals in our area.
In 2003, Newswatch 16's Jon Meyer spoke with the lead investigator on Cindy's case about a tip that she was kidnapped and killed by Hugo Selenski.
"This has given us a little hope here in this case. It has been our best lead, and we're going to follow up until we disprove it or prove it," Ferguson Township Police Detective Brian Sprinkle said in 2003.
Selenski is a convicted murderer and robber from Luzerne County. The tip tying him to the Song case came from one of Selenski's co-conspirators in a double murder — Paul Weakley.
Investigators were never able to connect Selenski to the case. And just like the rest of Cindy Song's case, that lead also went cold.
But police in Centre County and Cindy's family in South Korea have not abandoned the search for answers.
The Ferguson Township Police Department in Centre County is still in charge of Cindy Song's case. They did not want to be interviewed but said the case is still open and active.
The department formed a cold case task force because of Cindy, which has resulted in charges in a case from 2016, set to go to trial in the coming months.
Watch more Action 16 Investigates stories on YouTube: