Police Want Callback from Tipster on Missing Student Cindy Song

[TJ]

http://kdka.com/local/local_story_014141741.html

(KDKA) (State College, PA) Authorities are hoping a tipster who claimed to have information about a Penn State University student who's been missing for more than a year will call them back.
"Either she didn't write the phone number down correctly or she decided not to call. We're still waiting to hear from her." -- Trooper Joseph Cigich
Cindy Song, 22, disappeared without a trace in November of 2001 after a friend dropped her off at her apartment following a Halloween party.

Since detectives didn't find any signs of a struggle or forced entry, officials say Song either left her apartment with someone she knew or was abducted while walking to a nearby store.

The case got even national exposure in September, when the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" featured Song's story on one of its broadcasts.

Though investigators say they still get occasional phone tips about Song, they say they haven't gotten any substantial leads so far.

Now, however, they're hoping a woman who called the state police barracks at Rockview last week will call them back with new clues in the case.

Since the woman didn't want to give her name, she was told to call Centre County Crime Stoppers; but Trooper Joseph Cigich told the Associated Press, the tipster never did so.

"Either she didn't write the phone number down correctly or she decided not to call," said Cigich. "We're still waiting to hear from her."

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Centre County Crime Stoppers at 1-877-99-CRIME (1-877-992-7463) or Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4-PA-TIPS (1-800-472-8477).

[TJ]

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive...03dnews-17.asp

Court TV to feature search for Cindy Song

The case of missing Penn State student Cindy Song will be featured on a Court TV documentary Feb. 27.

"Psychic Detectives," a program that will highlight criminal investigators who have worked with psychics to solve cases, will include the Ferguson Township Police's ongoing search for Song, who has been missing since Nov. 1, 2001.

Ferguson Township police called in Carla Baron, a psychic from California, in May to help solve the 22-year-old's disappearance. A film crew followed Baron and recorded her work with the police department.

The Song investigation was also featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries Sept. 18.

Song was last seen wearing a white shirt, pink tank top, brown knee-high boots and a red hooded jacket.

Anyone with any information regarding Song's whereabouts is asked to contact the Ferguson Township police at 237-1172 or (800) 479-0050.

[TJ]

CBS show to look into Cindy Song disappearance

The Associated Press
2/24/03 4:53 PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The CBS television show "Without a Trace" will be the latest to highlight the case of Penn State University student Cindy Song, who has been missing for more than a year.

Jeffrey A. Lampinski, special agent in charge of the FBI's Philadelphia Division, announced Monday that the show would profile Song on Feb. 27. Each episode of "Without a Trace" features a short segment about a real missing person.

Song, a computer graphics student from South Korea, was last seen early on the morning of Nov. 1, 2001, when friends dropped her off at her apartment after a Halloween party.

Investigators have had few leads and have actively pursued television coverage in hopes of publicizing the case. The show "Unsolved Mysteries" aired a segment on the case last August, and Court TV has talked with investigators for an upcoming segment on its show "Psychic Detectives."

"Sooner or later, somebody is going to say, 'I know something about that,' " said Ferguson Township Police Chief Edward J. Connor.

[Dandy]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...&dept_id=4551\
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Mount Olivet Road property was house of horrors


By Edward Lewis , Citizens' Voice Staff Writer 10/07/2003


Affidavits that justified six search warrants related to the
investigation of five bodies found in Kingston Township outline a murder for
hire by Kimberly Kerkowski, the murders of at least 16 people and a dog
carrying a human arm in its mouth.

Also listed are the alleged abduction of a Penn State co-ed who was
kept in a safe until she died, two bodies seen in a well, and bone fragments
and jaw bones discovered under the porch at 479 Mount Olivet Road, which was
a crime scene for 35 days from June 5 through July 9.

The information contained in the affidavits are being followed up on
by authorities, said state police Lt. Frank Hacken.

"We are aggressively pursuing those items," Lt. Hacken said. "But it's
a step-by-step process. We're not just going in all directions. We're
focused, and we're taking things one at a time, but those items will be
addressed."
The affidavits were unsealed on Monday. Each one justified the search
of the property on Mount Olivet Road, several vehicles, and a storage shed.

The affidavits were developed from interviews with Patrick Raymond
Russin and Paul Weakley, two informants who allegedly told authorities that
the bodies of missing pharmacist Michael Jason Kerkowski and Tammy Lynn
Fassett were buried at the Mount Olivet Road property, owned by Christina
Strom.
No charges have been filed so far in regards to the strangulation
deaths of Kerkowski and Fassett.

Strom lived at the home with her boyfriend, Hugo Marcus Selenski, who
was charged with two counts of homicide for the May 15 shooting deaths of
Frank James and Adeiye Ossasis Keiler.
Russin was also charged for his alleged role in their deaths.

According to the search warrant affidavits, Weakley told authorities
he helped Selenski move the bodies of Kerkowski and Fassett from a wooded
area near the Dallas High School's football field in Dallas Township to the
Mount Olivet Road property on May 6, 2002.

Selenski wanted to move the bodies because he didn't trust Russin, who
allegedly helped him strangle Kerkowski and Fassett to death sometime
between May 3 and May 5, 2002.
The bodies were placed in the trunk of Selenski's vehicle, a Honda
Civic, and Weakley's vehicle, a Dodge Avenger. After removing the bodies
from a shallow grave near the football field, Selenski and Weakley drove to
a home on Miller Street, Luzerne, where Selenski and Strom had lived.

At the time, Selenski and Strom were in the process of moving to the
Mount Olivet Road home, purchased by Strom on April 30, 2002.
Weakley said the bodies were wrapped in a bed comforter, and their
hands were fastened behind them with a plastic cuffing device, according to
the search warrant affidavits.

Weakley told authorities that when they arrived at the Mount Olivet
Road property, Selenski dug a 3-foot hole and placed the bodies on each
other. He also said Selenski had purchased bags of soil from a store in
Dallas that he used to bury Kerkowski and Fassett.
Weakley also told authorities that Selenski had indicated to him that
Kerkowski's wife, Kimberly, had paid Selenski $30,000 to murder her husband
and Fassett, according to the search warrant affidavits.

Mrs. Kerkowski could not be reached for comment last night.
Attorney Bruce Phillips, who represented Mrs. Kerkowski in a civil
case where she tried to recover bail money posted by her late husband, could
not be reached for comment.
Selenski was promised additional money from Kimberly Kerkowski once
the estate was settled. Kimberly Kerkowski filed for divorce from her
husband in April 2001.

On June 6 of this year, Weakley was led around the Mount Olivet Road
property and pointed out to authorities where he had seen bodies, bone
fragments and jaw bones.
Weakley told authorities that Selenski had indicated to him that
Selenski had killed a white drug dealer from Binghamton, N.Y., and that
Selenski's dog was carrying his arm in its mouth sometime in summer 2002.

Also in summer 2002, Weakley said that a fresh mound of soil was on
the property and that when he asked Selenski about it, Selenski replied, "He
had another one for the burner."
Weakley described seeing the bodies of James and Keiler wrapped in a
blanket on the property in mid-May.
When Weakley worked on Selenski's water system in summer 2002, he
removed the cover of the well and allegedly found the bodies of a black
female and a black child.

While working on Selenski's water system under the porch, Weakley told
authorities he allegedly found bone fragments and a jawbone with four teeth.
Weakley also told authorities he drove Selenski to Green Road,
Kingston Township, where Selenski left for a short time only to return with
two shovels and a pick. When Weakley asked what he was doing, Selenski
allegedly replied, "Taking care of business," according to the search
warrant affidavits.

Weakley also led investigators to the Back Mountain Trail, where he
helped Selenski get his vehicle out of mud. Selenski allegedly told Weakley
that he "just buried one."
In June 2002, Weakely said he was called by Selenski and was told to
meet him at the East Mountain Inn. When Weakley arrived, Selenski was in the
company of four other men who loaded bodies wrapped in blankets in Weakley's
vehicle, a Ford Aerostar van.

One man took Weakley's van. When it was returned several days later,
the van had been cleaned.
In April 2002, Weakley said he was with Selenski and Strom, and
Selenski was concerned that he was under surveillance by the FBI.
When Weakley asked why, Selenski allegedly told him that he and
Kerkowski had gone to State College and abducted Hyunjong Cindy Song.

Song, 21, was reported missing on Nov. 1, 2001. She was kidnapped
after returning to the parking lot of her apartment complex following a
Halloween costume party. Song was dressed as a bunny.
According to the search warrant affidavits, Selenski told Weakley that
Song was taken back to Kerkowski's home on Pritchards Road in Hunlock
Township. Weakley told authorities that Selenski had indicated to him that
Kerkowski "had his way with her" and kept her in his gun safe until she
died, according to the search warrant affidavits.

Weakley said he didn't know who Song was or why Selenski was referring
to her. Weakley told investigators he did research on the Internet and
learned Song had been kidnapped from State College.
Weakley told authorities that Selenski was upset at Kerkowski because
Kerkowski kept the "bunny ears" from Song's costume as a souvenir.

Authorities searched Weakley's apartment in Kingston and learned
Weakley had downloaded and printed information about the Song kidnapping.
According to the search warrant affidavits, Weakley had direct
knowledge of approximately 16 homicides.

Information from Weakley has proven correct. It led authorities to the
bodies of Kerkowski and Fassett, and the remains of James, Keiler, and the
unidentified person at the Mount Olivet Road property.