WEBVTT - Season 09 Episode 01: Beneath the Moon's Pale Beams 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:13.680 Halloween, that time of year when, for those in the 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:17.240 northern hemisphere, the air is full of mischief and the 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.880 skies have darkened so perceptibly that we can almost feel 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.480 the quickening hand of winter laying ice upon our necks. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.400 Some of us celebrate by going trick or treating with 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:32.640 our kids. Others might dress up in elaborate fancy dress 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:35.959 or in the image of whatever current bogey man has 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:40.880 gripped the zeitgeist to shock our friends at parties. More 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.280 still will probably end up sitting at home watching scary movies, 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:50.279 listening to podcasts, or, for the braver among us, participating 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:53.760 in a seance or two. It's the time of year 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:56.720 when the veil between this world and the next is 0:00:56.760 --> 0:01:00.760 said to be at its thinnest, when spirits walk the earth, 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:05.280 displaced and restless, to knock on doors and reminders of 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:11.319 their absence. Alloween or All Hallows Eve, has its roots 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.400 in the ancient Celtic festival of Sowin, a feast marking 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.200 the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.760 As part of the festival, offerings of food and drink 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:26.840 were left out to honor and appease the dead, ensuring 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.240 their good will and protection through the dark months ahead. 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.959 Strict adherence to the ritual was paramount lest the ace 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.880 she or fairy folk punish the human population of the 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:47.200 land with visitations, spoiled yields, disappearances, and even death. The 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:50.080 act of dressing up or guising is thought to have 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.800 begun more than two thousand years ago, with people adorning 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:57.840 animal hides and garish masks in an effort to blend 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.600 in with any malevolent spirits that might appear from the 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:06.320 other world. The idea being that if the spirits couldn't 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.960 see the human underneath the disguise, they would simply let 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:14.040 them be. Should you fail to dress up or maintain 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.760 the disguise at just the wrong moment, however, there was 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:23.040 no telling just what might happen. You're listening to Unexplained 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:35.720 and I'm Richard McLean Smith. It was Halloween night in 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:40.160 two thousand and one. In the early hours of November one, 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.959 Down at the Player's Nightclub in State College, Pennsylvania, a 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:47.919 Halloween party was in full swing. The club on West 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:51.919 College Avenue, located just a stone's throw from the central campus, 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:55.919 was a popular hangout for college kids from Penn State University. 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.440 Among the crowd of revelers that night, dying up dance 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:04.160 floor with a warm, alcoholic buzz with twenty one year 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:09.600 old seniors Stacy Pack, Lisa Kim, and Hyung Jong Song, 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:15.240 also known as Cindy the Trio. Like most of everyone 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:19.359 else there were in fancy dress for the occasion, Cindy 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.960 had opted for a simple bunny costume, complete with ears 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:27.040 and bushy tail. All three young women had met through 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:31.440 the close knit Korean Undergraduate Student Association and had soon 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:36.160 become inseparable. The Player's nightclub was one of their favorite hangouts. 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.600 They could often be found there most Thursday nights, as 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.760 Cindy wasn't working her weekly shift at the university's laptop library. 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.840 That night had been an especially fun occasion for them. 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.080 It wasn't just the buzz of it being Halloween and 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.600 how such nights seemed to charge the air with just 0:03:55.680 --> 0:04:00.720 that little bit more electricity. It was Cindy herself, or 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:05.080 rather the old Cindy. For the best part of a month, 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.360 Cindy had been carrying the weight of a broken heart. 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.600 She and her ex had been seeing each other for 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.480 six months and even shed an apartment together before he 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:19.800 abruptly called the whole thing off and moved out. For 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.760 the Korean student, so far from home with no close 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:27.280 family to turn to, it had been a difficult few weeks, 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:31.200 but slowly the bright smile for which she had become 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:36.479 renowned on campus was returning. That night, down at the 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.839 Player's nightclub, it seemed as though she was finally back 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:44.120 to her usual self. Shortly before two a m. With 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.560 the night club about to close, Stacy suggested they head 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.920 to another party at a friend's place in the university's 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:55.080 park Hill apartment complex, a short drive away along East 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:59.920 Beaver Avenue. The three young women, joined by another friend, 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.280 emerged from the club moments later and stepped out into 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:09.359 the chill autumn air up above a large waxing gibbus 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:20.960 dissolved intermittently between passing clouds as they clambered into Stacy's car. 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.520 The party at park Hill was petering out by the 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:29.680 time Cindy and her friends arrived. After another hour or so, 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:36.000 they decided to call it a night. Around three thirty am. Stacy, Lisa, 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.360 and Cindy stepped back out into the chilly morning air, 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:44.719 bundled back into Stacy's car, and set off towards Cindy's apartment. 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.120 As the car made its way through town, they passed 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:53.920 the occasional eerily costumed straggler swaying drunkenly on the sidewalk, 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:58.200 like a lost extra from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.679 before long they were heading out beyond the crowded bars 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.720 and well lit downtown streets, to where the roads grew quieter, 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:12.839 the houses further apart. Inside the car, the girl sat 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.680 in a kind of dreamy silence, half drunk, half tired, 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:20.400 watching the spindly silhouettes of the trees as they passed, 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:24.560 in that strange early morning calm that comes after hours 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:29.160 of noise and dancing. The smell of smoke, cheap vodka, 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:33.960 and perfume hung in the air Up above. The moon 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:38.960 seemed to follow them, sliding silently between drifting clouds, keeping 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:44.880 pace over the rooftops and empty sidewalks. Finally, they arrived 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:50.200 at Cindy's apartment, just off West Clinton Avenue. The College 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:54.599 Park complex where Cindy lived was purpose built student accommodation, 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:59.680 comprising a dozen or so buildings, each with about twelve apartments, 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:04.040 and so A light, misty rain was falling as they 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:08.600 pulled up Stacy and Lisa said their goodbyes to Cindy 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:12.040 as she stepped out of the car. The complex was 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:15.520 deadly silent, with not another soul in sight as they 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.800 waved her off. They watched on for a moment as 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:22.480 she drew closer to her door, Then, eager to get 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:27.080 to bed themselves, Stacy started up the engine and drove off. 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.120 It was sometime in the afternoon the following day that 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:41.400 Yong Chu Kim, also known as Katherine, Cindy Song's flatmate, 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:46.800 returned home. Katherine had missed the previous night's celebrations, having 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:50.800 been away in Philadelphia. She and Cindy had made plans 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.600 to hang out that afternoon, and she was looking forward 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:57.400 to catching up on any gossip from the party. When 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:01.160 Catherine arrived, she found the front door locked from the outside, 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.320 so it wasn't a huge surprise to find no sign 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.600 of Cindy inside, But as the afternoon turned to evening, 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:13.880 Cindy was still yet to appear. Text to Cindy's phone 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:19.160 went unanswered, but Catherine wasn't immediately concerned. There were countless 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.600 places she could have been. Perhaps she'd hooked up with 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.520 someone the night before, she thought, or had picked up 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.080 a last minute shift at one of her two jobs, 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:30.960 but when there was still no sign of her the 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:36.880 following morning, Catherine began to worry. Weirdly, Stacy and Lisa 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:39.880 hadn't heard from them either, since they'd last seen her 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:44.320 two nights before. It was around this time that Catherine 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:48.200 spotted the fake eyelashes Cindy had warned for Halloween on 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.960 her bedside table, suggesting she had at least made it 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:56.720 back inside the apartment after Stacy dropped her off. Catherine 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.880 also found a bag that Cindy had used that night, 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.920 containing a change of clothes and something else too, her 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:08.679 mobile phone. It had been in the apartment the whole 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:12.520 time that Catherine had been trying to contact her. Now 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:17.080 Cyndy's friends were really starting to panic. Calls were made 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:20.400 to the laptop library and the Korean restaurant where Cindy 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:25.080 also worked. Her ex boyfriend and Cindy's aunt, Young Kim, 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:29.240 who lived in Virginia, were also contacted, but neither had 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:33.640 spoken to her recently. It appeared incredibly that at some point, 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.559 after being dropped off by Stacy and her flatmate, returning 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:41.480 the following day, she had completely vanished off the face 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.880 of the earth. When there was still no word from 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:49.040 her by the morning of Sunday, November fourth, Stacy contacted 0:09:49.080 --> 0:10:03.600 the Ferguson Township Police Department and reported Cindy missing. Yon 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:08.280 Jong Song or Cindy, who like many of her Korean friends, 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.280 took an anglicized name to ease her transition into America, 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:16.080 was born and raised in Seoul. After moving to the 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.400 United States in the mid nineteen nineties, she lived with 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:25.280 her aunt Young Kim in Springfield, Virginia. After graduating high school, 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:29.440 she enrolled at Pennsylvania State University, where she majored for 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:34.000 a bachelor's degree in integrative arts. Her ambition must to 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:38.360 one day be a successful graphic and fashion designer. Though 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.560 things had been hard initially moving to a whole new 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:45.920 country and culture, by two thousand and one America felt 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.280 very much like a second home. She had a close 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.840 knit circle of friends and an active social life, and 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.280 often took to her personal penn State web page to 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.679 share her various loves like Van Goch and Ben and 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.280 Jerry ice cream, or to proudly promote things that her 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:07.000 friends had been working on. She enjoyed running and swimming, 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:12.160 but disliked fakers and selfish people. Fun, she said, was 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:17.040 anything except hardcore drugs. When police first arrived at her 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.880 apartment to investigate, they began by questioning her friends about 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.959 her last known movements. All shared what they knew, which 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.960 in essence wasn't much. Cindy had been in good spirits 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.440 that night, they said, Stacy had dropped her off at 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:36.000 her apartment, and though she hadn't seen her enter the property, 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.800 the fact they later found her fake eyelashes, bag and 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.680 phone inside was clear evidence that she had made it home. 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:48.440 A more thorough inspection of the apartment revealed no signs 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:53.199 of a struggle inside or outside. Nothing of Cindy's, as 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:57.000 far as anyone could tell, appeared to be missing, except 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:00.200 for her keys and wallet, which contained her ID and 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.960 credit cards. Detective Brian Sprinkle, who led the case, wanted 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:08.480 to keep an open mind, hoping that maybe she'd just 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:13.400 left spontaneously for some time away, but certain details made 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:18.880 him wonder if she'd done something far more drastic. Cindy's 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.319 friends said she'd been in good spirits the night she disappeared, 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:27.360 but in reality things were a little more complicated. Although 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.480 she'd been doing better in recent days, She'd also been 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.240 taking medication and seeing a therapist to help get over 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:39.319 her break up. Cindy's home in America outside of university 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:44.040 was her aunt Young Kim's house in Springfield, Virginia. As 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.640 her aunt quietly explained to the police, the last time 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:54.199 she'd seen Cindy, she seemed unusually quiet and distant. Cindy's mum, Benson, 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.880 back in South Korea, who Cindy was much more open 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.800 with than her aunt, was horrifying to learn that her 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:05.719 daughter was missing. She too, recounted how devastated Cindy had 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:10.280 seemed after the break up. Then police discovered this on 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:15.120 Cindy's personal Penn State web page, written just a week 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:21.679 before she disappeared. Sad but happy, crying but laughing, ugly 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:27.640 but pretty, hungry but full, hurt but fine, weak but strong. 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:39.760 I pretend and this is me. Despite the mounting evidence 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.760 that Cindy might have killed herself, in truth, the idea 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:48.360 never really sat right. The more detective Sprinkle learned about her, 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.559 the more out of character it seemed. She was studious 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:56.640 and a reliable employer. The owner of the Sole Garden 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:00.240 restaurant where Cindy worked part time as a server was 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:04.800 effusive about her dependability and work ethic. She even dropped 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.600 in occasionally on her days off to spend time with 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:11.520 the owner's young children and to do something without even 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:16.640 leaving a note. It just didn't fit. When officers searched 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.400 Cindy's apartment, they found tickets for a Britney Spears concert 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.920 due the following week that she'd been hugely excited about. 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:28.160 Pinned to her wall. Alongside that was a letter and 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.920 resume she'd been working on for a graphic design internship 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:36.360 that she was hoping to get onto the following year. Perhaps, 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:40.760 then wandered Detective Sprinkle, maybe she really had just simply 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.800 run away and wanted to be alone for a short time. 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:48.360 But as the days went by, that supposed alone time 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:53.480 just got longer and longer, and Cindy didn't come back. 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.960 To Detective Brian Sprinkle and many of his colleagues, it 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:03.120 was beginning to look like something altogether different had happened. 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.040 Across the road from Cindy's apartment was the twenty four 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:12.520 Hour Giant Supermarket. It was often used by students on 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:16.680 a late night essay binge looking for refreshments, or indeed 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.560 by anyone who might just be looking for snacks to 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.720 stave off a hangover in the early hours of the morning. 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:26.760 That Cindy appeared to have left the flat only with 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.280 her wallet and keys could imply that she merely left 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:32.960 to go to the store with the full intention of 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:37.680 coming home immediately after. After all, what would she need 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:40.320 her phone for on a quick dash to the shops 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:44.520 at five am in the morning. If this is what happened, 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.400 there were only a few likely possibilities for what had happened. 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.000 She'd been the victim of a hidden run that someone 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.840 had tried to cover up, or she'd been deliberately attacked 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:02.520 or abducted and possibly murdered. On her student web page, 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:08.120 Cindy listed her strong qualities as creativity, responsibility, and her 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:13.600 unbounding energy. Under weaknesses, she said that she was too gullible. 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.920 Others agreed she had a tendency to naively assume the 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:23.320 best of everyone. Perhaps some wondered she'd been approached by 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.840 someone on her way back from the supermarket asking for help, 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.400 and Cindy had stopped to speak with them, only for 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:35.880 them to then attack her. Either way, all speculation was useless. 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:41.440 What the police needed was evidence something to point to 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:52.800 a crime being committed. Just over a week after Cindy disappeared, 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:57.640 the first search teams assembled outside Cindy's apartment block while 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.240 the heavy hum of a police search helicopter buzzed overhead. 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.360 Numbering about twenty to thirty people, the team was compiled 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.720 from members of the Ferguson Township Police, as well as 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:14.440 Center County and Elk County Search and Rescue departments. They 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:18.080 focused first on the wooded area and bike paths immediately 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:22.160 to the west of Cindy's apartment, but eventually stretched across 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:26.640 to Brier Green on the eastern edge of town. Teams 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:31.440 worked methodically plodding along under colorless skies as they searched 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:36.760 for a body, jewelry, clothing, bank cards, or anything else 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:41.720 belonging to Cindy. Search docs yanked at their leads, eagerly 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:46.920 sniffing at whatever patch of undergrowth they could find. CCTV 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:50.960 from the Giants Superstore was investigated, and Cindy's email and 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:55.639 bank cards were monitored. Cindy's ex boyfriend and others were 0:17:55.720 --> 0:18:00.800 questioned over their possible involvements while all over town. Cindy's 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:05.280 face with her characteristically bright smile peered out from posters 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:11.280 and leaflets with requests for any information. They detailed Cindy's particulars. 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:16.200 Twenty one year old Asian female, black hair, brown eyes, 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.320 height around five foot two, last seen in the early 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:24.280 hours of November first, wearing a rabbit costume consisting of 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.879 a pink sleeveless shirt with a rabbit imprinted on the front, 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.840 a white tennis skirt with a cotton bunny tail attached 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:36.520 to the back, brown sweded knee high boots, rabbit ears, 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:41.280 and a red knee length hooded parker, but all of 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:46.040 it was to no avail. The CCTV footage had already 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.880 been taped over by the time the police got to it. 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:54.360 Cindy's e mail and bank carts remained inactive throughout. All 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:59.399 potential suspects were eliminated, and the search teams found nothing. 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:05.639 After three solid weeks of investigating, Detective Brian Sprinkle and 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:09.440 the Ferguson Township Police Department had failed to find one 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.520 single clue as to what might have happened to Cindy. 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:18.200 Due to complications with Cindy's father's health, it wasn't until 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:22.680 late November that Cindy's mother Pensun and brother Kihor were 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:25.199 finally able to fly out to the States to do 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:30.440 what they could to help for Cindy's mother, especially already 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.440 enduring a life away from her daughter on the other 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:37.359 side of the world. It's impossible to articulate the sadness 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.080 she must have felt as she sat for the first 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.800 time on her daughter's bed, surrounded by all her things, 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.040 feeling for all the world as though she might step 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:50.840 through the door at any minute. They were adrift on 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:55.720 a sea of grief. Cindy's brother vowed that they would 0:19:55.720 --> 0:20:00.760 stay in town until Cindy's case was resolved. As November 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.720 turned to December, the nightmare showed no sign of ending. 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:16.160 Around one thirty am in the morning of Friday, December seventh, 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:20.280 police received an anonymous phone call from a woman claiming 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:25.040 she had some vital information relating to Cindy's case. Police 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:28.320 tracked the call back to a phone line located downtown 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:31.439 on East College Avenue, but they never heard from the 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:36.240 caller again. Penn State University put up a twenty seven 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.560 thousand dollar reward for any information that would lead to 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.479 a breakthrough in the case, but as two thousand and 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:45.359 one came to an end, no one came forward with 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:50.439 anything useful for Cindy's family. The lack of movement in 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:54.800 the case was devastating. After a further month of nothing, 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:59.679 they conducted a press conference accusing Ferguson Township PD of 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.960 fail to commit sufficient time and attention to Cindy's disappearance. 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.640 On New Year's Day two thousand and two, thirteen year 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:14.040 old Alicia Kazakivich was abducted from her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:18.800 After a fevered search was mounted for her, involving fifty 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:23.359 FBI agents, Alicia was eventually found alive three days later, 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:28.560 chained up at the home of her abductor. Cindy's family 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:32.360 wanted to know why it was that the disappearance of Alicia, 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:36.639 who was white, had merited such a profoundly different response 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:40.000 to Cindy's disappearance, for whom it took the police a 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.360 whole week before they began searching for her in earnest. 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:47.520 Though Alysia was a minor compared to the more self 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.360 reliant and autonomous twenty one year old Cindy, who had 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:56.560 possible reasons to electively disappear, there was some considerable justification 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:01.120 to the anger. The police department's response was to cut 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:06.480 off all communication with Cindy's family. Either way, none of 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:12.040 it brought Cindy home. Then, on February thirteenth, the police 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:16.080 received a possible tip off. It came from a woman 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:20.080 in Philadelphia, nearly two hundred miles from where Cindy was 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:24.800 last seen. The caller claimed she'd spotted someone that looked 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.600 like Cindy in a car in the city's Chinatown district. 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:32.719 The young woman appeared distressed and even called out for 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:36.919 help before the man she was with quickly intervened, telling 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:41.919 the witness to get lost. According to investigators, however, the 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:46.600 witness's story changed so many times following her initial testimony 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:51.879 they couldn't verify her statements in any meaningful way. Several 0:22:51.920 --> 0:22:55.200 attempts were made to identify the man, who was described 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:58.840 as having an olive or light brown skin complexion and 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:05.280 medium length hair, but nothing came of it. Detective Sprinkle 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:09.879 described Cindy's disappearance as the most baffling case he'd ever 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:14.680 been involved with. By May two thousand and two, he 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:17.879 was at a complete loss and just about ready to 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:23.280 accept any kind of help. Back in September, two thousand 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:27.240 and one, nineteen year old Penn State student Ryan Buell 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:33.040 established the Penn State Paranormal Research Society. The twenty five 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:37.160 member strong group had been in discussions with self described 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:41.160 psychic Carla Barron about giving a talk to the organization 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:45.160 when it occurred to Buell that maybe she could help 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:50.320 the investigation. Detective Sprinkle felt he had nothing to lose. 0:24:01.119 --> 0:24:04.119 Carla Barron was based in Los Angeles, but had a 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:08.439 connection with Pennsylvania, having graduated from lock Haven High School, 0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:13.159 about forty miles north from where Cindy disappeared. With her 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:17.920 own radio show, The Crystal Palace and regular appearances on MTV, 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:22.200 Barron claimed to have assisted in over fifty criminal cases 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:25.639 in Mexico and the United States, including the O. J. 0:24:25.840 --> 0:24:30.560 Simpson and John Bennet Ramsey cases. Over a number of 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:34.479 phone calls with Detective Sprinkle in May, Barron made the 0:24:34.520 --> 0:24:39.959 startling claim that she'd made contact with Cindy's spirit. There 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:43.639 were three to four men involved. She'd said they'd loaded 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:46.600 her into a vehicle with the intention of carrying out 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:50.960 a sexual assault. It wasn't very long before she crossed over, 0:24:51.240 --> 0:24:55.399 she added solemnly. Over the next few weeks on the 0:24:55.480 --> 0:24:59.560 phone to Sprinkle, Barren relayed a series of visions she 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:05.440 claimed to have regarding Cindy's disappearance. According to Baron, she'd 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:08.520 seen the image of an Asian word carved into a 0:25:08.600 --> 0:25:12.720 tree in Two Deck Park, a small recreational ground right 0:25:12.760 --> 0:25:17.600 next to Cindy's apartment complex. Another vision involved a wooded 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:21.040 area and water, as well as some kind of electrical 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:25.680 device lying close to a railroad crossing. She couldn't say 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:28.679 what any of it meant exactly, only that all of 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:34.760 it was linked to Cindy. In August, Sprinkle invited Baron 0:25:34.840 --> 0:25:38.000 to come down to State College to investigate the area 0:25:38.080 --> 0:25:43.439 for herself. Walking together through Two Deck Park, Carla found 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:46.720 herself drawn to one of the trees at the park's periphery. 0:25:47.720 --> 0:25:51.720 Moving closer to it, Detective Sprinkle felt the hares stand 0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:55.199 up on the back of his neck. An Asian word 0:25:55.320 --> 0:26:00.119 had been carved into it. Later, the pair made their 0:26:00.119 --> 0:26:03.040 way out to Curtain Village, the site of an old 0:26:03.080 --> 0:26:06.840 iron works nestled away on the banks of Bald Eagle Creek, 0:26:07.240 --> 0:26:11.719 about twenty miles north of State College. Although the works 0:26:11.720 --> 0:26:15.480 had closed down in the nineteen twenties, the vacated buildings 0:26:15.520 --> 0:26:19.560 remained Today, it's preserved as a kind of ghost town. 0:26:20.600 --> 0:26:24.160 It was eerie enough out there in the pastoral silence, 0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:28.760 surrounded by the old furnace stack, gristmill, and the long 0:26:28.800 --> 0:26:35.439 abandoned grand iron Master's mansion house. Detective Sprinkle eyed it 0:26:35.520 --> 0:26:39.919 all suspiciously, wondering if this was where Cindy had been taken, 0:26:40.600 --> 0:26:44.920 or if her body might even still be there. Having 0:26:44.960 --> 0:26:49.560 found nothing untoward, Detective Sprinkle and Carla headed into the 0:26:49.560 --> 0:26:54.000 surrounding trees until they stumbled upon a railroad crossing, where 0:26:54.119 --> 0:26:58.199 right beside it was some kind of electrical device, just 0:26:58.240 --> 0:27:02.440 as Carla claimed to have seen her visions. The detective 0:27:02.720 --> 0:27:07.320 was astounded, Though none of it led to anything concrete. 0:27:07.400 --> 0:27:11.840 At that point in time, Detective Sprinkle remained convinced that 0:27:11.960 --> 0:27:15.639 quote a good deal of the information Carla had provided 0:27:16.080 --> 0:27:20.080 would help them crack the case. On the twenty first 0:27:20.119 --> 0:27:23.480 of that month, Cindy's case was featured on an episode 0:27:23.480 --> 0:27:27.480 of Unsolved Mysteries, leading to another bump of public interest. 0:27:28.560 --> 0:27:32.160 A string of tips and apparent sightings followed, but once 0:27:32.240 --> 0:27:36.719 again all of it came to nothing. Over time, with 0:27:36.880 --> 0:27:40.600 no solid leads to bring investigators any closer to finding 0:27:40.640 --> 0:27:51.520 an answer, interest in the case began to fade. It 0:27:51.600 --> 0:27:55.320 was late March two thousand and three, eighteen months since 0:27:55.359 --> 0:27:59.720 Cindy Song vanished into thin air, when Luzerne County Homicide 0:27:59.760 --> 0:28:03.800 to Teensive Lieutenant Gary Kapitano got a call out of 0:28:03.880 --> 0:28:07.480 the blue from an old friend. The man was calling 0:28:07.520 --> 0:28:11.000 on behalf of his niece, Ellen Smarker, from Wilkes Barry, 0:28:11.400 --> 0:28:14.119 a town about one hundred and forty miles east of 0:28:14.160 --> 0:28:17.119 State College, who had fallen victim to a string of 0:28:17.160 --> 0:28:21.480 recent burglaries. He wanted to know if Detective Capitano could 0:28:21.560 --> 0:28:25.360 do him a favor and look into it. Happy to oblige, 0:28:25.480 --> 0:28:28.320 Capitano had called Ellen and asked if she had any 0:28:28.359 --> 0:28:32.840 idea who the perpetrators might be. She gave him two names, 0:28:33.280 --> 0:28:38.560 Hugo Celenski and Paul Weekly. Ellen had grown up with Hugo, 0:28:38.800 --> 0:28:42.000 who had a string of prior charges of robbery. Paul 0:28:42.000 --> 0:28:46.160 Weekly was his flatmate. As it happened, Weekly was at 0:28:46.200 --> 0:28:50.000 that point in prison serving time for an unrelated robbery. 0:28:50.920 --> 0:28:53.520 It seemed reasonable to think there was a good chance 0:28:53.720 --> 0:28:58.480 he had also robbed Ellen's house, so Detective Capitano decided 0:28:58.520 --> 0:29:02.280 to pay him a visit. Weekly thankfully agreed to talk 0:29:02.320 --> 0:29:08.040 with him, alongside his attorney, Tom Cometta. Capitana was somewhat 0:29:08.040 --> 0:29:12.080 surprised when Weekly quickly informed him that he couldn't possibly 0:29:12.120 --> 0:29:16.160 have robbed Ellen's house on the night in question. That night, 0:29:16.400 --> 0:29:20.320 he was wearing an electronic ankle bracelet while on federal probation, 0:29:21.080 --> 0:29:24.800 and records showed he was home at the time. Why then, 0:29:24.960 --> 0:29:28.440 thought the detective had. He agreed to speak to him, 0:29:28.800 --> 0:29:32.200 as weeakly explained, then he wanted to inform on the 0:29:32.200 --> 0:29:35.120 guys who actually did it, in the hope that his 0:29:35.160 --> 0:29:39.560 present sentence would get reduced. When Detective Capitana agreed to 0:29:39.600 --> 0:29:42.920