Karen Schepers. 23, disappeared in the 1980s. Now, the Elgin Police, with a new cold case unit, is discovering new information about her disappearance. Sandra Torres has more.
Editor's Note: Updates to this story can be found here. Our original story continues below.
More clues are expected to emerge Tuesday in a decades-old cold case out of suburban Elgin after a car believed to be have belonged to a missing woman was found Monday in the Fox River.
The vehicle, a yellow 1980 Toyota Celica, was located by divers northwest of the Slade Avenue boat launch on the Fox River during a renewed search Monday, officials said. The divers, along with Elgin Police detectives, conducted the search after the department recently launched a cold case unit and a podcast.
According to officials, the car is believed to belong to Karen Schepers, a 23-year-old Elgin resident who went missing in 1983. Tuesday morning, Elgin authorities are scheduled to remove the vehicle from the water and provide an update into their latest discoveries.
What happened to Karen Schepers?
On April 16, 1983, then 23-year-old Karen Schepers went to a Carpentersville bar with coworkers. Neither Karen nor her yellow 1980 Toyota Celica were seen again, and it remains unclear to this day if Schepers made it back to her apartment.
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According to police, Schepers' whereabouts "remain unknown," but theories remain.
"Here we are 40 years later, and we're exhausting every investigative lead that we can," Elgin Police Department Chief Ana Lalley said. “One of the theories our detectives discussed is that her vehicle went into the water the evening she went missing.”
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In their department's podcast "Somebody Knows Something," police have said there is no record of any searches for Schepers or her car in the water in the 1980s, despite the Fox River and several other ponds being near potential routes home from the bar.
"Over the years it settles into a dull ache and a lack of expectations," Schepers' brother Gary told NBC 5's Courtney Sisk. "It has an effect, it’s always had an effect, and will continue to have an effect. It would be good to know.”
Gary described his sister as intelligent, a talented pianist and very kind. He said her family in Sycamore has held onto hope over the past several decades that she will come home.
"Part of the reason we have this house and haven’t torn down the old barn or even painted it a different color is there’s still the outside chance that if she might be out there somewhere, and want to come back, we want her to be able to see the place and know it’s the same place," he said.
