In Elgin, Illinois, skeletal human remains were discovered in a car retrieved from the Fox River, leading to a breakthrough in a cold case that spans decades, as announced by the Kane County Coroner on Thursday.
The body was confirmed to be that of missing Elgin woman Karen Schepers.
The video in the player above is from a previous report.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
Finally after 42 years, Schepers officially has been found after the official identification by the Kane County Coroner.
The skeletal human remains found in a 1980 yellow Toyota Celica recovered from the Fox River have been identified as belonging to Schepers, who disappeared in 1983, according to officials.
The Kane County Coroner said forensic specialists used dental records provided by the family to make the official identification.
Initially, Elgin police anticipated that the process of confirming the identity could extend over several weeks, but remarkably, it was accomplished just two days after the retrieval of her vehicle from the Fox River.
RELATED | Car linked to 1983 Elgin missing woman cold case unknowingly found in 2022, but was not recovered
Search teams with a nonprofit group called the Chaos Divers found the car near the Slade Avenue boat launch on Monday.
Police said the car was taken to a secure storage location for further investigation.
Schepers was 23 years old when she was last seen attending a party with coworkers at a bar in Carpentersville in the early hours of April 16, 1983. Neither Karen nor her 1980 Toyota Celica were seen again, until now.
As for why she went missing and how she died, that is still a mystery.
This all comes after the cold case was revived early this year in a podcast launched by the Elgin Police Department called Somebody Knows Something.
Copyright © 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
