Elgin police believe Karen Schepers’ car went into the Fox River a mile or more from where it was recovered 41 years later, its locked emergency brake indicating she must have tried unsuccessfully to stop it from going into the murky water.
The new details — and the emergence of a previously unknown witness at the bar where Schepers was last seen — are among the disclosures in the most recent episode of “Somebody Knows Something,” the podcast launched in January by Elgin cold case police detectives Andrew Houghton and Matt Vartanian.
They hoped the series might help them solve the April 1983 disappearance of 23-year-old missing Elgin woman, and it did.
On March 24, a daylong search of the river, done as part of the investigation and documented in the podcast, resulted in the discovery of Schepers’ car. The 1980 Toyota Celica was found buried beneath debris in about 7 feet of water northwest of the Slade Avenue Park boat launch. The human remains inside were confirmed to be Schepers’ a few days later.
“Finding Karen and her car was one big step in this investigation, but it was not the end of this case,” Vartanian said in the podcast.
“We answered the question, ‘Where is Karen?’” Houghton said. “But now we want to answer the question what happened to Karen Schepers?”
The only thing they knew for certain was she left a bar in Carpentersville sometime after midnight after having joined coworkers there on a Friday night.
Erin Waxenbaum, a forensic anthropologist from Northwestern University, was brought in to examine the skeletal and dental remains as part of the Kane County coroner’s office’s effort to confirm identity and a possible cause of death.
“All the experts agree there were no significant structural injuries, breaks, gunshot wounds, trauma or anything else suspicious on any of Karen’s remains,” Vartanian said.
However, they can’t say with 100% certainty how Schepers died, he said.
“From a medical and legal standpoint, her death has been classified as undetermined,” he said.
Schepers’ car provided some important clues about what might have happened.
A police department traffic crash reconstruction team examined the Celica and found no major dents or damage that would indicate it had been run off the road, struck a deer or encountered something that would have sent it into the water, they said.
In fact, the car was in remarkably good condition for being submerged for almost 42 years, Houghton said.
They had an Elgin Toyota master technician with 30 years’ experience take a look at it as well. The key found in the ignition was in the “on” position, meaning the car was running when it entered the river, Houghton said. The emergency brake had been pulled and was rusted in that position, the tech told them.
New information provided by one of Schepers’ coworkers also helped put the night’s events into perspective, Houghton said.
Jane worked with Schepers at First Chicago Bank in Elgin and was with her and other bank employees at the bar that night. Police had never interviewed her, and she wanted the two detectives to know what her experience had been.
“She was very, very near and dear to me,” Jane said in the podcast. “She was always friendly and kind. She was just a wonderful person.”
Jane remembers seeing her in the bar’s vestibule talking on a pay phone. She was crying, and Jane asked if she was OK. Schepers said she was upset because her boyfriend didn’t want to join her at the gathering.
Later in the evening, she remembered Schepers taking part in a hula hoop contest, and they talked in the parking lot when the bar was closing, she said.
“I could tell that she was still upset. I just said to her, ‘Karen, please be careful going home. Make sure you are safe,’” Jane said. Telling Schepers she would see her Monday, “(Karen) smiled and waved at me and said thank you.”
She watched as Schepers got into her car alone and drove away south on Route 25.
The new account painted a richer picture of what happened that night, Vartanian said.
“I have to say, this type of witness information is what we were looking for in our investigation the entire time,” he said. “Like we always say, no tip is too small. This one was certainly a big one.”
Houghton and Vartanian shared what they think happened that early morning.
Schepers left the bar alone and likely drove home on Duncan Avenue, a route she often took. They don’t believe she drank much because she wasn’t known to be a heavy drinker, and she may have been tired having gotten up early the day before, Houghton said.
Based on what they know about weather conditions that morning, it would have been cold with little illumination from the moon and the roadways were likely slick, they said. The Fox River was high because of recent heavy storms.
There are several points on Duncan Avenue, near the Interstate 90 overpass and Trout Park, where she could have gone into the water, they said. Or, she could’ve been driving along Spring Street, a gated road open to the public in the 1980s not far from where she lived.
They may never know exactly where the Celica entered the water, but it’s likely the current could have carried the car a mile or a mile and a half downstream where it became lodged in a deeper part of the river, Houghton said.
The fact the emergency brake was on when the car went into the river was an important clue, the detectives said. Suicide and foul play could be ruled out because of it, Houghton said.
Based on the totality of the circumstances, it would seem Schepers’ death “was simply a very tragic accident,” he said.
The final episode in the “Somebody Knows Something” podcast will feature Schepers’ family.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
