Woman missing since 1983 found in car pulled from Illinois river

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ELGIN, Illinois -- Skeletal human remains have been found inside a car linked to a decades-old cold case, the Kane County coroner confirmed on Tuesday evening. The WLS-TV news helicopter was over the scene as crews removed the 1980 canary yellow Toyota Celica from the Fox River on Tuesday just before 3 p.m. following hours of work.

Search teams with a nonprofit group called the Chaos Divers found the car, believed to have been submerged for 42 years, near the Slade Avenue boat launch on Monday.

"I want to stress that this is an extensive recovery process and it is expected to take some time ensuring the structural integrity of the vehicle remains intact," said Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley.

A license plate match made during Monday's initial search confirmed investigators' suspicions. It belonged to Karen Schepers, an Elgin woman who disappeared more than 40 years ago. Karen was 23 years old when she was last seen attending a party with co-workers at a bar in Carpentersville in the early hours of April 16, 1983. Neither Karen nor her 1980 Toyota Celica was seen again, until now.

"We were pushing against a brick wall for 42 years, and now, it's starting to give," said Gary Schepers, one of Karen's eight siblings. Gary spoke with WLS over the phone on Tuesday, after crews recovered Karen's car. "It adds questions more than it answers them," Gary said.

"The only search I know of that was done in 1983 was my dad, who was an airline pilot, rented a plane and flew over the area, hoping he could spot her yellow car." But police said Karen's car was not easily seen from above. Instead, all this time, it was submerged in the Fox River.

WLS's news partners at the Daily Herald shared photos of the teams using sonar technology to locate the now-faded vehicle.

"I wish they looked in the river and found her car 42 years ago," Gary said.

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