Podcast
Somebody Knows Something
Hosted by EPD Cold Case · EN
In May of 2024, Elgin (IL) Police Chief Ana Lalley created the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Unit to take a fresh look at unsolved homicides and missing persons cases with the belief that dedicating resources and using new technology will help solve these cases. As part of this new unit, the Elgin Police Department launched a podcast dedicated to Elgin cold cases to seek information from the public.
Somebody Knows Something: The Elgin Police Cold Case Podcast was created by the Elgin Police Department and is recorded with assistance of WRMN 1410 in Elgin, Illinois. Detective Andrew Houghton, Detective Christopher Hall, and Detective Matt Vartanian of the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Unit host the podcast and take listeners along as they investigate missing persons and homicide cases in real time and seek justice for the victims and closure for their families. This podcast includes actual police interviews, re-creations, and information that has never been released publicly as the Elgin Police Department seeks assistance from the community.
Season 1, Where is Karen? follows Detectives Andrew Houghton and Matt Vartanian as they investigate the disappearance of 23-year-old Karen Schepers, who, along with her car, disappeared without a trace after a night out with co-workers on April 16, 1983.
Season 2, Elgin: The 1970’s follows Detective Andrew Houghton and his new partner, Detective Chris Hall, as they review five cold case homicides and one missing person case, all from the 1970s. Over the course of this season, they investigate the shootings of Guadalupe Alanis in 1971 and Maynard Chester Holley in 1975, the murder of 16-year-old Lori Bolger and the disappearance of 14-year-old Barbara Glueckert in 1976, the stabbing of Cayce Kyles in 1977, and the murder of Renee Tovar in 1979.
Season 3, Wyteria is Missing follows Detectives Andrew Houghton and Chris Hall as they re-investigate the disappearance of 45-year-old Wyteria Jones, who vanished from the Douglas Hotel in downtown Elgin in the fall of 1982. A new member, Detective Beth Sterricker, also joins the unit and Sergeant Matt Vartanian returns to assist with Wyteria's investigation.
Anyone with information on any of the cold cases discussed are encouraged to contact the Elgin Police Department via email at ColdCaseTips@elginil.gov or via phone at 1-847-289-COLD. A list of all cold case missing persons and homicide cases as well as additional information about the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Unit can be found at www.ElginColdCases.com.
DISCLAIMER: This podcast is based on information sourced primarily from police reports and media reports, but certain names and other identifying details may have been changed or altered for privacy and security reasons. While the events and cases discussed are based on real investigations, some aspects may be simplified for time and for narrative purposes. Voice actors may be used to read from statements or docu...
Somebody Knows Something: The Elgin Police Cold Case Podcast was created by the Elgin Police Department and is recorded with assistance of WRMN 1410 in Elgin, Illinois. Detective Andrew Houghton, Detective Christopher Hall, and Detective Matt Vartanian of the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Unit host the podcast and take listeners along as they investigate missing persons and homicide cases in real time and seek justice for the victims and closure for their families. This podcast includes actual police interviews, re-creations, and information that has never been released publicly as the Elgin Police Department seeks assistance from the community.
Season 1, Where is Karen? follows Detectives Andrew Houghton and Matt Vartanian as they investigate the disappearance of 23-year-old Karen Schepers, who, along with her car, disappeared without a trace after a night out with co-workers on April 16, 1983.
Season 2, Elgin: The 1970’s follows Detective Andrew Houghton and his new partner, Detective Chris Hall, as they review five cold case homicides and one missing person case, all from the 1970s. Over the course of this season, they investigate the shootings of Guadalupe Alanis in 1971 and Maynard Chester Holley in 1975, the murder of 16-year-old Lori Bolger and the disappearance of 14-year-old Barbara Glueckert in 1976, the stabbing of Cayce Kyles in 1977, and the murder of Renee Tovar in 1979.
Season 3, Wyteria is Missing follows Detectives Andrew Houghton and Chris Hall as they re-investigate the disappearance of 45-year-old Wyteria Jones, who vanished from the Douglas Hotel in downtown Elgin in the fall of 1982. A new member, Detective Beth Sterricker, also joins the unit and Sergeant Matt Vartanian returns to assist with Wyteria's investigation.
Anyone with information on any of the cold cases discussed are encouraged to contact the Elgin Police Department via email at ColdCaseTips@elginil.gov or via phone at 1-847-289-COLD. A list of all cold case missing persons and homicide cases as well as additional information about the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Unit can be found at www.ElginColdCases.com.
DISCLAIMER: This podcast is based on information sourced primarily from police reports and media reports, but certain names and other identifying details may have been changed or altered for privacy and security reasons. While the events and cases discussed are based on real investigations, some aspects may be simplified for time and for narrative purposes. Voice actors may be used to read from statements or docu...
32episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
S3E10: Still Waiting
2w ago00:22:05Summary readyThe Detectives look back on this season, and the new information updating a decades long investigation. They are still looking for Wyteria, but now have an updated case to help bring her home. Thank you to all those who have helped in this season. Follow for more information on upcoming cases and episodes.
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S3E9: Tennessee
3w ago00:18:25Summary readyThe Detectives finally located some extended family for Wyteria who agreed to assist them with this case and who agreed to provide the DNA that they need for Wyteria’s investigation. For this episode, Beth, Andrew, and Chris work further on this case and travel to Tennessee to collect DNA and hopefully another lead in the case.
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S3E8: Family Trees
Jun 2900:25:12Summary readyIn this episode, the Detectives discuss their work on Wyteria’s case as they continue their search for her. Wyteria would have turned 89 just last month on May 1st, if she is still alive. And while that is possible, it may not be very likely. So, we have to at least consider the possibility that Wyteria Jones is dead and still waiting to be found. And the Detectives have a few tools in their tool box. This episode includes AI-generated content.
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S3E7: Unidentified Remains
Jun 1700:23:40Summary readyOver the past several episodes, the detectives have travelled to Elgin, Joliet, Aurora, and Chicago as they seek more information in Wyteria’s case. Now, they want to look at the forensic options they have moving forward. For this episode, the detectives turn their attention to a group called the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System or NamUs, which is currently the only national repository for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons in the country. This system might just be exactly what they need to bring Wyteria Jones home.This episode includes AI-generated content.
SummaryS3E6: Chicago
Jun 100:31:36Summary readyIn this episode, we are travelling outside of Elgin once again to the City of Chicago to see the neighborhood where the Jones family lived in the late 1960’s before moving to Aurora…the same neighborhood that Waymon Jones lived in November of 1967 when he was arrested for murder.
SummaryS3E5: Aurora
May 1800:22:23Summary readyThis episode takes them to Aurora, a city with deep ties to Wyteria's past and a direct bus line that could have brought her right to her old doorstep. But Aurora also means revisiting the man who reported her missing: her husband, Waymon Jones. With family members alleging years of physical abuse, a prior battery arrest, and Wyteria herself on record reporting violence in the home, the detectives can't ignore what the statistics say - that women are far more likely to be harmed by someone they know. And just when they think they've mapped the edges of Waymon's past, one more record surfaces. Somebody Knows Something returns - and the investigation is far from over.
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S3E4: Joliet
May 400:30:28Summary readyDetectives leave Elgin and head southwest to Joliet, Illinois — chasing one of their strongest theories in the search for missing woman Wyteria Jones. Could she have quietly slipped away to another city in 1982? The detectives trace every route she might have taken — Greyhound, Trailways, RTA buses, commuter trains — uncovering just how complicated that journey would have been. Then, when they go looking for the hotel a witness said Wyteria was headed to, they hit a wall. The "Joliet Motor Lodge" doesn't exist. But what they find in its place is a connection that changes everything. Along the way, they shine a light on other long-forgotten Will County disappearances, reminding us that every missing person leaves behind a family still waiting for answers.
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S3E3: Longer Than We Knew
Apr 2000:22:19Summary readyIn this episode, newly uncovered records turn the entire investigation upside down — revealing a timeline no one expected and connections to Elgin that run far deeper than anyone knew. Detective Beth Sterricker joins the team to break it all down, and what they find forces them to rethink everything. How long was Wyteria really here? Where did she go before Elgin? And does any of it point to what happened to her in 1982? The answers will surprise you.
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S3E2: Elgin
Apr 600:36:51Summary readyIn 1982, Wyteria Jones vanished from a rundown Elgin, Illinois hotel where she was living as an outpatient of the Elgin Mental Health Center. Over 40 years later, her case remains unsolved. In this episode of the Elgin Police Department's Cold Case Podcast, Detectives walk the same streets Wyteria walked — from the historic Douglas Hotel to the bus stops of downtown Elgin — piecing together her final known movements. With one witness account, a rainy October day, and a building that's been completely gutted since 1982, the trail is cold. But somebody knows something.
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S3E1: Wyteria Is Missing
Mar 2300:30:36Summary readySeason 3 of Somebody Knows Something — the Elgin Police Department's Cold Case Podcast — opens a brand new case: the 1982 disappearance of Wyteria Jones.Detectives Andrew Houghton and Chris Hall introduce listeners to Wyteria, a Black woman from rural Tennessee whose family roots stretch back to the Civil War Era. After moving north to Illinois, Wyteria found herself in Elgin in the spring of 1982, staying at the Douglas Hotel while receiving mental health treatment. When the hotel closed that October, she walked out with her luggage — and was never seen or heard from again.What makes this case especially challenging? Her disappearance wasn't reported to police until January 1983, nearly four months later. The case file is thin. And the detectives are left with more questions than answers: Where was she going? Did she make it there? And why did she stop cashing her government checks and contacting her children — forever?In this season opener, the detectives share what little is known, lay out five working theories, and make a direct appeal to the public for help. If you knew Wyteria, lived at the Douglas Hotel, or have any information about her whereabouts in the fall of 1982 — somebody knows something.Tips can be submitted at www.ElginColdCases.com or by calling the Cold Case tipline at 847-289-COLD.
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