A Quiet Street Hid A Killer Who Turned His Yard Into A Cemetery:Hugo Selenski

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
They say evil doesn't announce itself.

(00:02):
Sometimes it creeps in quietly,hides in plain sight.
In a quiet neighborhood ofnortheastern Pennsylvania, a man
lived next door who buried morethan just bad debts.
He buried bodies.
This is human wreckage.
I'm Thomas, and today we examinethe horrifying case of Hugo
Zelensky robber, home invasionsuspect and convicted double
murderer whose backyard became acemetery.

(00:24):
This episode we will trace thearc of Zelensky's life, how he
turned from bank robber tograveyard operator, the night of
the home invasion that unleasheda chain of bodies, the trial and
the questions that still hauntinvestigators, what compels a
man to bury human remains in hisown yard, and how did the locals
walk past the graveyard nextdoor without knowing it?

(00:45):
Let's begin.

(01:24):
For Hugo Zelensky, born inPennsylvania in the early 1970s,
the seeds were scattered amongcrime and ambition.
Little is publicly documentedabout his childhood.
What we know is that Zelenskyfirst came to law enforcement
attention in the 1990s.
In 1994 he was convicted of abank robbery.
According to court filings, thiswas not a spur of the moment

(01:46):
act, it appears part of apattern.
After his release, Zelenskydrifted back into serious crime.
In 2003, he was charged with ahome invasion and robbery.
Even at this stage,investigators believe he was
cultivating a network of violentcrime, one that included drug
deals, robberies of drugdealers, and extortion.
The leap from bank robbery tomurder may seem dramatic, but it

(02:09):
was a logical extension of alife already steeped in fearless
risk.
Why does someone escalate?
You can imagine.
Money dominance fear.
For Zelensky, what followedsuggests something deeper than
mere financial gain.
In the early 2000s, Zelensky'scriminal portfolio expanded.
Investigators described apattern, targeting drug dealers,

(02:31):
obtaining large quantities ofmoney or drugs, then burying
troublesome witnesses.
For example, in 2006, charredremains of suspected drug
dealers were found on Zelensky'sproperty, but he was acquitted
in those cases.
It was the missing couple casethat thrust him into the
national spotlight.
Enter Michael Kerkowski, apharmacist under joint scrutiny

(02:52):
for operating an illegalprescription drug ring, and his
girlfriend, Tammy Facet.
In May 2002, they vanished fromKerkowski's home in Luzerne
County, Pennsylvania.
Investigators believe thatZelensky and at least one
accomplice forced their way intoKerkowski's house, beat him to
reveal the hiding place ofmoney, then strangled him and
Facet.

(03:12):
Their bodies were interred inZelensky's backyard.
Details are chilling.
One prosecutor described howKerkowski was tortured to reveal
tens of thousands of dollars hekept at home, and that flex ties
were used to strangle bothvictims.
Consider the audacity of thecrime.
A home invasion, torture,murder, and then burial on your
own land.

(03:33):
That kind of impunity speaks toeither hubris or a deeply
disturbed mind.
In Zelensky's case,investigators found at least
five sets of human remains onhis property near Wilkes Bar,
some of them charred, someunidentified.
One media account says there mayhave been up to twelve victims,
which raises a grim question.
Was the Kerkowski case simplythe tip of the iceberg?

(03:54):
May 2002.
Michael Kerkowski and TammyFassett vanish.
Initial investigations yieldlittle.
It's more than a year beforeauthorities dig up Zelensky's
yard and uncover whatinvestigators call the Garden of
Bones.
In June 2003, under a searchwarrant, detectives unearthed
decomposing remains on the landowned by Zelensky near Wilkes

(04:16):
Bar.
Among them were the bodies ofKerkowski and Facet, beaten and
strangled.
At least three other sets ofhuman remains were also located,
two of them victims linked tosuspected drug deal robberies,
their bodies charred and buried.
One victim remainedunidentified.
From court records.

(04:42):
In 26, he beat two otherhomicide charges in the deaths
of two suspected drug dealerswhose charred remains were also
found in his yard.
The fifth body found on theproperty was never publicly
identified.
This discovery changedeverything.
The property became crime scenecentral, investigators scrambled
to identify remains.
Bodies were exhumed and forensicteams labored to link each set

(05:06):
to a missing person.
An interesting sidebar at thetime of the murders, Kukowski
was about to be sentenced forrunning an illegal prescription
drug ring.
It's believed that Zelenskytargeted him precisely because
of his large stash of money anddrugs.
What's particularly gruesome isthe method of disposal.
Some remains were charred,suggesting attempts to
obliterate evidence, otherssimply buried.

(05:29):
Investigators described thepattern as kill and bury, and
the killer seemed comfortableoperating from his own backyard.
The local community was stunned.
As one survivor's son wroteafter the verdict, I will never
have my father back.
Maybe now there can be closureand justice for my family.
But closure was far fromcertain.
The wheels of justice turnedslowly in this case.

(05:52):
In 23, while awaiting trial onhomicide charges, Selensky made
headlines with an escape fromthe county lockup.
He fashioned a rope out oftwelve bed sheets, climbed down
and was free for three daysbefore turning himself in.
That brazen escape added to hisnotoriety and cast a stark light
on how he operated.
Bold, unafraid, willing to breakrules.

(06:14):
Yet even while behind bars hewas linked to yet more crimes.
The first murder trial ended inhis acquittal.
He was tried for the murders oftwo suspected drug dealers whose
charred remains were found onhis property, but was not
convicted in those cases.
In 2015, after years of legallimbo, a jury convicted Zelensky
of two counts of first degreemurder for the killings of

(06:35):
Kerkowski and Facet.
The jury spared him the deathpenalty, instead sentencing him
to life without parole.
At the sentencing hearing, theprosecution described a man who
has repeatedly used fear andlies and pain and death to
obtain material things.
From one news article, thedefense tried to cast Zelensky
as a good father, brother anduncle even behind bars.

(06:57):
Two of Zelensky's daughters andfour of his sisters spoke of
their love for him, calling himan intelligent and caring man.
That dichotomy family man versusgraveyard butcher is hard to
reconcile.
But even after the conviction,many questions remained
unanswered.
How many bodies were on thatproperty?
Were there victims who werenever identified?
And was he responsible for otherdisappearances?

(07:20):
Reports suggest he may be linkedto as many as twelve victims on
that one property.
The case also highlightssystemic failures, slow forensic
turnaround, delayed indictments,suspects walking free for years.
Here are the questions thatstill haunt this case.
How many victims did Selenskyreally have?
Some investigators and insidersbelieve the number could be

(07:41):
significantly higher than thefive publicly confirmed.
Who was the unidentified bodyfound on the property?
Some remains have never beenmatched to missing persons.
Was Zelensky connected to thedisappearance of Cindy Song, the
Pennsylvania college student whovanished after a Halloween party
in 2001?
Some informants suggest so,though no charges have been

(08:02):
filed.
How did he operate for so longwithout detection burying bodies
in his yard, multiple murderswhile engaged in other crimes?
And what changed in the justicesystem that allowed a conviction
more than a decade after theinitial disappearances?
Beyond the questions, the legacyis chilling.
For the families of victims,those still unaccounted for the
storyline is one of slowjustice, lingering pain.

(08:24):
For the community, the memory, aquiet suburban setting, a man
next door whose lawn hit agraveyard.
In a local editorial titled StopIdolizing a Murderer, the
newspaper wrote, We saw thissort of idolization of a killer
locally.
People became fans andsupporters.
Some fell for his boyish charm.
It speaks to another dimensionof true crime, how figures like

(08:47):
Zelensky can capture attention,sometimes dangerously so.
But perhaps the biggesttakeaway?
No matter how quiet theneighborhood, evil can be
present, and the work ofuncovering it often depends on
persistence, tip lines, forensicscience, and sheer luck.
As we close this episode, I wantyou to remember a few things.
A man who began with bankrobbery, escalated through home

(09:09):
invasion and extortion, andended with bodies buried in his
own backyard.
A community unsettled.
Families are still searching.
Evidence that lingers.
For the survivors and themissing, justice may have come
for some, but not for all.
The bones remain in the ground,the questions remain in the air.
Thank you for listening.
Stay safe, watch the shadows,and remember, sometimes the

(09:33):
wreckage we leave behind speakslouder than the ones we see.