Detectives’ true crime podcast helps dig up breakthrough in case that haunted family: ‘drew audible gasp’

What started arsenic a mode for a brace of 2 Illinois detectives to crowdsource tips to lick decades-old acold cases ended successful a shocking discovery. 

Detectives Andrew Houghton and Matt Vartanian were looking to respire caller beingness into unsolved cases by launching the true-crime podcast, "Somebody Knows Something," successful October 2024 astatine the petition of Elgin Police Department Chief Ana Lalley. Their extremity centered astir utilizing modern investigative exertion to perchance bring closure to section families.

"We some benignant of looked astatine each different and said, ‘No, I'm not truly definite that's for us’," Vartanian told Fox News Digital. "Then we took a measurement back, were open-minded successful our reasoning and objective, and thought that this could beryllium a truly bully conveyance to utilize investigative processes wrong instrumentality enforcement."

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The brace combed done unfastened acold cases wrong their area, zeroing successful connected the disappearance of 23-year-old Karen Schepers successful 1983.  

"Our thought was, depending connected immoderate lawsuit we started with oregon if we did aggregate cases, determination whitethorn beryllium radical that are extracurricular of Illinois and extracurricular of our portion that mightiness person known astir immoderate of these cases," Vartanian said. "So it was the close happening to beryllium capable to get that accusation retired determination to beryllium capable to get answers for the victims and families."

Schepers was enjoying a nighttime of celebratory drinks with coworkers at P.M. Bentley’s successful Carpentersville, Illinois – located 45 miles extracurricular Chicago. Schepers was the past of the radical to permission the barroom astatine astir 1 a.m. on April 16, 1983, and neither she nor her 1980 Toyota Celica were ever seen again, according to the Elgin Police Department. 

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Even though the assemblage had countless theories of what whitethorn person happened to Schepers, including the anticipation thing happened to her connected the mode location oregon erstwhile she arrived astatine her destination, the lawsuit ran cold. 

Schepers’ disappearance remained an unfastened probe for 41 years, and was concisely revisited by the Illinois State Police successful the precocious 1980s and again by investigators successful 2010. 

"In 2008 [and] 2009, we did a clump of billboards for that lawsuit and tried to make media interest," Houghton told Fox News Digital. "A batch of DNA was enactment into the nationalist databases that were benignant of caller connected the country astatine that time, truthful that was the caller exertion then." 

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Karen Schepers smiles successful an undated photograph. (Elgin Police Department)

Despite the aggregate attempts to lick what happened to Schepers, detectives were incapable to travel immoderate large leads, until the section launched "Somebody Knows Something." 

"When we started to look astatine the Karen Schepers case, we realized that we could enactment everything retired determination due to the fact that we had nary thought what happened to her," Vartanian said. "Whether it was an mishap oregon if it was thing intentional, and past thing successful between. There was truthful overmuch clip that had gone by, we knew that determination was a batch of contented that could beryllium there."

With support from her family, Houghton and Vartanian began digging for caller accusation regarding Schepers, utilizing a premix of old-fashioned constabulary enactment portion leaning connected updated technology. 

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"This was precise overmuch an old-fashioned ‘talk to people, get successful a car, spell sound connected doors, spell thrust around’ benignant of investigation," Houghton said. "Investigations for immoderate of our cases are inactive similar that, but this was overmuch much similar that successful the information that we had to spell look and spot what roads existed successful 1983? What bodies of h2o existed successful 1983? Because it's precise antithetic present than it was then."

The brace deed the pavement, talking to locals successful the country who knew Schepers to overgarment a representation of her last moments connected the greeting she went missing. Houghton and Vartanian worked to find what way Schepers took home, on with researching the upwind conditions and different details that whitethorn person contributed to her disappearance. 

As the detectives were pouring implicit people media, they discovered the adjacent Fox River was flooded astatine the clip of Schepers’ disappearance – a cardinal interruption successful the lawsuit that prompted them to telephone successful adept divers to hunt the assemblage of water. 

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Karen Schepers’ conveyance was discovered successful the Fox River successful Elgin, Illinois connected March 24, 2025.  (Elgin Police Department)

Detectives were capable to lucifer Karen Schepers’ licence sheet erstwhile her conveyance was discovered successful the Fox River successful Elgin, Illinois connected March 24, 2025.  (Elgin Police Department)

"Interestingly enough, we would get a batch of tips from radical that were saying, 'There's nary mode she's successful the river’," Houghton said. "‘It's excessively shallow, I food there, I vessel there.’ However, determination are antithetic parts wherever the stream mightiness beryllium 2 feet heavy oregon 1 ft deep, and determination are different spots wherever it's [up to] 15 feet deep, truthful it truly depended connected wherever you were looking."

On March 24, 2025, the Elgin Police Department called successful Chaos Divers, a non-profit squad of autarkic divers specializing successful underwater recovery, to hunt the river. 

In a melodramatic extremity to a four-decades-long mystery, Schepers and her conveyance were found. 

​​"As we each heard the quality that her car was found, clip stopped portion we drew an audible gasp," Schepers’ household said in a statement.  "When it started backmost up again, our lives took a caller way that yet included the reply to ‘Where is Karen?’ This question has been haunting each who knew Karen for galore years."

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The divers were capable to retrieve Schepers’ conveyance portion keeping the operation intact, allowing investigators to usage dental records to place her skeletal remains. 

"With this case, it was a spot of a unicorn successful the information that we had nary thought what happened to her," Houghton said. "Don't beryllium acrophobic to fail, don’t beryllium acrophobic of looking foolish. Because astatine the extremity of the day, the extremity is to find this idiosyncratic and we did that successful this case. If we bash this 5 much times and this is the lone clip it works out, truthful beryllium it. But if you bash this 5 oregon 10 times, and you find 1 lawsuit oregon lick 1 case, it's wholly worthy doing that for that family." 

Houghton and Vartanian are already readying connected the adjacent lawsuit to revive successful the 2nd play of their podcast, telling Fox News Digital it volition apt beryllium a homicide investigation. 

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Houghton and Vartanian were capable to supply her 90-year-old parent with 2 items recovered from her conveyance – her sapphire birthstone ringing and people of 1977 precocious schoolhouse graduation tassel – providing a consciousness of closure for Schepers’ loved ones arsenic the enigma surrounding her disappearance yet comes to a close. 

"We anticipation for continued occurrence connected each and each acold case," Schepers’ household said. "Miracles bash happen."