A spooky breakthrough is finally in the cold case of Karen Schepers, 23, who disappeared more than 40 years ago in Elgin, Illinois, a suburb outside Chicago.
The Elgin Police Department announced on Monday that they found Karen's yellow Toyota Celica from 1980, buried in Fox River.
The vehicle was located for the first time near a boat launch before a diver found the car and the license plate, which matched Karen's.
The Toyota is planned to be removed from the river on Tuesday afternoon with the help of professional divers, the Elgin Fire Department and the Kane County Coroner office.
As soon as the vehicle has been recovered safely, the authorities are planning to look for the remains. Police chef Ana Lalley said in a statement that the investigation is still open and that the recovery process is expected to take some time.
“As the recovery of the vehicle is made, it is important to emphasize that this is the start of what is still considered an open and active investigation with many questions that still have to be answered,” said Lalley in a media update.
“While we continue to investigate this case, we remain steadfast in our determination to give answers and close the Van Karen family.”
Lindsay Bussick, the manager of Chaos Divers, a non -profit organization that assisted in the search, told the Chicago Tribune that authorities used Sonar technology to determine the vehicle license plate and the model.
Karen Schepers, 23, disappeared without a track on April 16, 1983, after she went to a bar with colleagues
The police announced on Monday that they finally established Karen's vehicle in a river with the help of advanced Sonar technology and are planning to remove it on Tuesday afternoon
Chaos diverse, a non -profit organization, helps in the search to restore the vehicle, the authorities believe it has been immersed for more than 40 years
“With this case and with her that is missing for so long, we look a little differently,” Bussick added.
“We are looking for shadows because we have to take into account deterioration and things like that in the water and the flow of the water over that vehicle.”
Chief Lalley told the grandstand that the authorities are committed to restoring the vehicle, regardless of how long it took.
'If it costs us a day, or if it costs us a few days, we are here. We have the chance to do this and want to do it in the right way, “she said.
A renewed interest in the case came last year when detectives Andrew Houghton and Matthew Vartanian Karen's disappearance revise for a podcast entitled Somebody Knows Something.
Since the podcast was launched, the Department has received tips from the community with additional information about Karen's disappearance.
The Saga started on April 16, 1983, when the young woman ventured for a night in the city with her colleagues.
Karen was last seen in a bar around 1:00 am before she disappeared. There were no observations of her and no indications about what happened to her.
Detectives Andrew Houghton (left) and Matthew Vartanian Re -investigation Karen's business on their podcast, someone knows something
A podcast launched by detectives at the Elgin Police Department has aroused a renewed interest in the Karen case
Very little evidence was discovered at the time of her disappearance and suspects who were viewed to were quickly excluded.
Investigators discovered that Karen had called her fiancée, Terry Schultz, at a certain moment in the night and asked him to come to the bar.
He rejected her offer that resulted in an argument. Terry was investigated as a suspect, but he worked with the police and succeeded in a lie detector test.
'In many cases you have a body that has been found or a vehicle. In this case there is none of them, “said detective Vartanian de Daily Herald.
“We don't have a body, we don't have a car, we don't have a crime scene.”
The detectives investigate several theories, including that Karen accidentally drove into the river after leaving the bar.
Karen's credit cards and bank statements were never touched after she had disappeared, so that researchers suspect that she has not deliberately disappeared.
However, the boot launch where the Toyota was located was far from the route she had taken home from the bar.
The investigators who investigate the case said that there was a half moon the night that Karen disappeared, which means that the road on which she drove was dark.
Elgin has also grown over the past 40 years, so there would have been less slight pollution in the Night of Karen's disappearance.
Weather data showed that the temperatures were under freezing with heavy wind, which contributed to the theory that Karen could have accidentally driven off the road.
The detectives also started investigating theories that Karen had deliberately caused himself damage, wanted to leave Elgin without having a trail or was harmed by someone else.
The police are now investigating new tips in the cold case and hope that the discovery of her car will finally give her family answers
Karen was only 23 years old and had just bought a new yellow Toyota Celica before she disappeared
Authorities found the vehicle and confirmed the license plate at Karen's car, but the police chief warned the public that it could take days to discover the car properly
Another mysterious connecting detectives discovered a potential relationship between Karen's case and the disappearance of an Illinois teenager named Barbara Glueckert.
She disappeared in 1976 after she left her rural house for a concert. The police believed that a man named Thomas Urlacher killed her.
Urlacher had a history of attacking women and although the police obtained a letter that they claimed was a confession, he was never prosecuted for crime.
The man was killed 20 years ago, but the police discovered that he was the last tenant in Karen's apartment before moving in.
None of the theories in Karen's case has ever been proven and her disappearance is still considered an open and active investigation.
Chief Lalley said in a press release that authorities finally want to give Karen's family answers, and hopefully a sense of peace after 42 years of asking what happened to the 23-year-old woman.
