Elgin police were searching the Fox River Monday in the hope of finding evidence linked to Karen Schepers, a 23-year-old Elgin woman who disappeared 41 years ago.
The police department’s Cold Case Unit is working with Chaos Divers, a nonprofit organization that uses state-of-the-art sonic equipment to find missing people in bodies of water. The search right now is focused on a possible route along Duncan Avenue that Schepers might have taken when returning home on April 16, 1983, from a bar in Carpentersville where she had joined coworkers for a party.
Schepers was never seen again, and the cold case is now the subject of a podcast, “Somebody Knows Something,” in which Elgin detectives Andrew Houghton and Matt Vartanian look at different theories about the unsolved mystery.
One premise is Schepers accidentally drove into a body of water, supported by the fact her 1980 canary yellow Toyota Celica was never found.
“Everybody has their theory. This is one of the many theories of what happened to her,” Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley said Monday. “It’s important we exhaust all investigative methods, including this, because there are always going to be questions. The purpose of the Cold Case Unit is to find answers and, more importantly, bring some peace and closure to the family, if we can.”
Lalley wouldn’t say how long they might commit to the search.
“If it takes us a day, or if it takes us a couple of days, we’ll be here,” she said. “We have an opportunity to do this and want to do it the right way.”
To listen to the podcast, go to www.spreaker.com/podcast/somebody-knows-something–6488643?fbclid=IwY2xjawJObEtleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHeKlroZ7h4xXkGeVcFPIj8afouDUBdCQ7-WwSPHdZXTc4myKWwBr9NVu1Q_aem_q3BeoMYI38AzqPqAtWalJQ.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
