Celina F. Lung

• Missing Since 10/24/1964
• Missing From Everett, Washington
• Classification Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 48 years old
• Height and Weight Unknown
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female.

Details of Disappearance

Celina was last seen in Everett, Washington on October 24, 1964. She was a telephone operator for the Everett Ambulance Service. worked late that night, and when she left at close to midnight, she said she was going straight home. She never arrived home and has never been heard from again.

The next day, Celina's car was noticed still parked at her place of employment. She didn't show up for work as scheduled the day after that, and her boss called the police at 4:00 p.m. on October 26.

They checked Celina's car and inside it was her full-length beige cloth coat, with bloodstains on the lining and a small hole, as if from a small-caliber bullet, in the side. A pair of women's shoes, scuffed as if they had been dragged across a rough surface, were also in the car. Two pairs of men's non-prescription glasses and a .fully loaded 22 Ruger pistol were found alongside the driveway of Celina's home she shared with a roommate on Route 3 south of Everett.

When he was interviewed by police hours after Celina's disappearance was reported, her estranged husband, Joel A. Lung, admitted she was dead. He said he had been reaching into the closet for a coat and knocked down a .30-06 rifle. He picked up the coat and rifle together, and the rifle accidentally discharged and killed Celina. This happened, Joel said, in the living room of his home in the 2400 block of State Street shortly after midnight on October 25.

He said he panicked afterwards and threw Celina's body into the Snohomish River at the former Eclipse Mill log dump. He said he must have taken her coat and shoes back to her car, though he claimed he had no memory of doing so.

A search of the river turned up no sign of Celina, but police found smears of blood on the wall, floor and television set in Joel's living room, as well as indications that someone had tried to clean up. Celina's watch and ring were also found in Joel's home. Joel was charged with manslaughter. The charge was later upgraded to second-degree murder, as investigators decided the shooting could not have happened the way Joel said it did.

In May 1965, after a three-day trial and five hours of jury deliberation, Joel was convicted of Celina's murder. It was the first case in Washington state history where a person was convicted of murder without the victim's body being found. He was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison. He appealed his conviction on the grounds that Celina's body hadn't been found, but the state Supreme Court upheld the verdict in 1967.

Celina's remains have never been found.