'Where is Karen?': Police who started cold case podcast find woman's remains after 42 years

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Remains found in an Illinois lake have been positively identified as a woman who went missing more than four decades ago.

The remains were inside of a car that was fished out of the Fox River in Kane County last week. They have since been identified as those of 23-year-old Karen Schepers, who was last seen around 1 a.m. on April 16, 1983, the Elgin Police Department said in a news release.

Police said the Kane County Coroner’s Office identified the remains using a forensic dentist and dental records.

“Even with this positive identification, we understand questions remain and the police department will (remain) focused on providing the most concise information to the Schepers family,” police said. “This investigation remains open and active.”

Police declined to respond to a question from Paste BN on Wednesday about whether they suspect foul play in Schepers' death, citing the ongoing investigation.

Here's what you need to know about the case, including what Schepers' family says.

Woman was an ‘accomplished trailblazer with a very bright future’

In a statement released through police on Wednesday, Schepers' family thanked Elgin police leaders and investigators for keeping the case alive.

“As we each heard the news that her car was found, time stopped while we drew an audible gasp,” her family said. “When it started back up again, our lives took a new path that finally included the answer to "Where is Karen?"

They said they've been haunted by that question for decades, adding that Schepers was “a young, independent, accomplished trailblazer with a very bright future.”

What happened to Karen Schepers?

According to police, the department opened a Cold Case Unit in May 2024 to look into inactive cases. Cold Case Unit Detectives Andrew Houghton and Matt Vartanian thought advanced investigative techniques could help solve some of these cases.

The Cold Case Unit reopened Schepers’ case in October, poring over the facts again.

The last night Schepers was seen, she had gone out to celebrate with coworkers. The group went to a bar called P.M. Bentley’s in Carpentersville, Illinois, about 45 miles northwest of Chicago, police said.

She was the last person in her group to leave the bar and was driving a yellow 1980 Toyota Celica at the time. Neither she nor her car were ever seen again, police said.

Since she went missing in 1983, the Illinois State Police revisited the case in the late 1980s but still, nothing was found. Her case was again reviewed in 2010, allowing investigators to gather identifying information that they hoped would help, to no avail.

Podcast helped detectives find missing vehicle, remains

In January, the Elgin Police Department began airing its podcast, “Somebody Knows Something,” and highlighted Schepers' case to generate leads.

Hosts and Houghton and Vartanian spoke to her friends and looked at possible theories about what could have happened to her, including that:

1. Schepers made a decision to start a new life somewhere.
2. Schepers died by suicide.
3. Something happened to Schepers at the bar (i.e. she was abducted or left with someone she met at the bar).
4. Schepers stopped somewhere on her drive home or met someone (possibly crossing paths with a killer).
5. Schepers made it home and something happened to her there.
6. Schepers went to visit her boyfriend after leaving the bar.
7. Something happened to Schepers on her way home (possibly running off the road).

The detectives thought it’d be a good idea to search the Fox River since it’s along the route she may have taken home in 1983. They also found that at the time she disappeared, the river had flooded and was “unusually high,” police said.

Chaos Divers, a nonprofit group of volunteer searchers, joined the effort and used sonar technology to locate sites of interest. The team found a potential vehicle and when they searched the area, they found a license plate that matched Schepers’ missing car. Investigators later found skeletal remains inside the car, which turned out to be a match for the missing woman, police said.

‘Miracles do happen’

Schepers’ family said it is a miracle that she was found, and they also thanked Chaos Divers for helping find her.

“Their expertise enabled such a complete recovery of Karen and her personal effects that very likely could have been lost to the river if the recovery had been completed any other way,” her family said. “Miracles do happen.”

The family’s matriarch and Schepers' mother, Liz Paulson, is “overwhelmed” by the support her family has received, they said.

“We very much appreciate the love of friends and family and the prayers for our beloved Karen,” her family said.

Detective Houghton said he is grateful the Schepers family trusted the department to bring their daughter home.

“I know that by us reopening this case, the family was taking a chance that they could be let down,” he said in a statement. “We were very sensitive to that. I also want to thank them for being open enough to allow us to do a podcast which allowed us to bring attention to Karen and her case.”

How to listen to the department's podcast

Those wanting to learn more can listen to the police department’s “Somebody Knows Something” podcast via Apple, Amazon and Audible, YouTube, or Spotify.

The Schepers case is the first and only case featured on the podcast so far, Houghton told Paste BN.

"Through this podcast, the department has received information from many people, and I want to thank everyone who has provided information," police said.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on Paste BN's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.