ELGIN, Ill (WGN) — An Elgin Fire Department dive team discovered the vehicle that was pulled from the Fox River in connection to Karen Schepers 42-year-old cold case years beforehand, but left it where it was, according to a press release from the Elgin Police Department.
During emergency crews’ recovery of a vehicle on Tuesday that was linked to Schepers’ disappearance in April 1983, police said a person told an officer on scene that he discovered an unusual object with sonar equipment while he was fishing the same area on the Fox River in 2022.
After making the discovery, the person reported what he found to the Elgin Fire Department, which deployed a dive team to investigate.
Police said the EFD dive team identified what appeared to be a small vehicle submerged in the water using an underwater, remote-operated vehicle with a camera and sonar technology.
A diver then entered the water and made physical contact with a tire, which they prematurely concluded was an ATV or UTV tire due to its small diameter. No further investigation was conducted.
EPD said they had no prior knowledge of the dive until that person told them of the EFD dive team’s activity in 2022 on Tuesday.
“When this information came to my attention, I immediately met with Elgin Police Chief Lalley to discuss the incident,” Elgin Fire Chief Robb Cagann said. “Upon careful review, I concluded that more should have been done in 2022, including a comprehensive underwater examination of the vehicle.”
“It is of vital importance to me that this information be provided to the public and more importantly, to the family of Karen Schepers, so all know that a thorough review of the incident was conducted as soon as this information came to my attention,” Cagann continued. “The fire department will also ensure that the circumstances surrounding this incident never happen during any dives.
“Since that time, the fire department’s dive team leadership has changed, and the department has updated its operational protocols and technological capabilities to ensure the most efficient and effective dive operations.”
Cagann added that he did not want his department’s actions to take away from the work done by EPD on Schepers’ case.
“Upon learning of this information, I met with Chief Cagann to address the matter,” Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley said. “Chief Cagann offered a sincere apology on behalf of the Elgin Fire Department, acknowledging that the initial handling did not meet their established standards. I appreciate the manner in which Chief Cagann has handled this incident and want to convey my appreciation for both Chief Cagann and the members of the Elgin Fire Department for the exceptional work that is done each day.
“While we are disappointed by the initial oversight, I am incredibly proud of the extraordinary collaborative efforts that have unfolded in recent days. The work of the Elgin Police Department, Chaos Divers and all involved parties demonstrates our unwavering commitment to finding answers for Karen Schepers and her family. We will continue to pursue this case with the same dedication and focus that has brought us this far.”
*The sections below were excerpted from a previous WGN News article on EPD’s investigation into Karen Schepers’ 42-year-old cold case. The full article can be read by clicking here.
How we got here
Monday night, divers equipped with sonar technology and the Elgin Police Department (EPD) located a vehicle northwest of the Slade Avenue boat launch with a license plate number that matched Schepers’ Celica.
Due to diving conditions on the Fox River at the time, efforts to safely remove the vehicle from the river were moved to Tuesday at 12:30 p.m., when divers, the Elgin Fire Department and the KCCO could resume work to remove and examine the vehicle.
Around 2:40 p.m., emergency crews began pulling the vehicle from the waters of the Fox River. 10 minutes later, they had the car lying upside down on dry land. The vehicle was then taken to the KCCO for further examination.
Background on Karen Schepers’ cold case
Schepers and her Toyota Celica went missing around 1 a.m. on April 16, 1983, after leaving a Carpentersville bar named P.M. Bentley’s in the Meadowdale Shopping Center following a night out with co-workers in the northwest suburbs.
EPD detectives Andrew Houghton and Matt Vartanian launched the “Somebody Knows Something Podcast” on Jan. 20 of this year, hoping to renew interest and spark new leads as they documented their investigation into Schepers’ decades-old disappearance case.
In the podcast’s introductory episode, Houghton and Vartanian laid out six theories they planned to investigate, with a search of local bodies of water being the final theory they planned to dive into, no pun intended.
As their investigation progressed over the past several months, searching local waterways became an increasingly pivotal part of their look into Schepers’ cold case, leading to Elgin police bumping up a water search strategy ahead of other theories they previously planned to explore.
In the podcast’s latest episode, Houghton and Vartanian explore two possible routes Schepers could have taken home the night she disappeared.
A recap of that episode can be found by clicking here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
