There’s something unique about a cold case. Maybe it’s the history, the thought of stepping back into another time. Perhaps it’s the idea that nothing is ever too far gone to be forgotten, at least when justice is at stake. Whatever the reason, society seems to be obsessed with the idea of cold cases. 

The cold, hard truth, though, is that most such cases remain unsolved. The odds of solving most cases get worse with each passing year. Some cops in Elgin, Illinois, recently beat those odds.  

In 1983, 23-year-old Karen Schepers left a gathering at P.M. Bentley’s bar in Carpentersville, where she’d hung out with co-workers. At 1 a.m., she drove off in her 1980 Toyota Celica. That was the last time she was ever seen. 

The cold case was recently reopened by the police department, with the assigned detectives even launching a podcast called Somebody Knows Something to draw attention to Schepers’ disappearance.

On April 3, NBC News reported that Schepers’ remains had been discovered. During the investigation, it was revealed that the nearby Fox River had been unusually high and flooded around the time of her disappearance. This led police, with the assistance of nonprofit organization Chaos Divers and other volunteers, to search the area, where they located both Schepers’ car and remains.

When American Police Beat reached out to Chaos Divers for comment, they explained that they became involved when they were “contacted by the Elgin Police Department to assist in using [our] skills with sonar technology and diving…” In a post on their Facebook page, the group expressed their “deepest condolences to Karen’s loved ones and [their] gratitude to all who made this recovery possible.”

Detectives Matt Vartanian and Andrew Houghton both thanked Schepers’ family and the various volunteers who helped with the case.

“I know that by us reopening this case, the family was taking a chance that they could be let down, and we were very sensitive to that,” Houghton said. “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.”