Episode 1 - Reported Missing

Summary

Somebody Knows Something: Episode 1 - Reported Missing

Introduction

In the inaugural episode of Somebody Knows Something, titled "Reported Missing," Detectives Andrew Houghton and Matt Vartanian from the Elgin Police Department's Cold Case Unit delve into the mysterious disappearance of Karen Schepers. This episode sets the stage for a comprehensive investigation, blending real police interviews, witness testimonies, and detective insights to unravel the circumstances surrounding Karen's vanishing in 1983.

Meet the Hosts

Chief Anna Lalli opens the podcast by introducing the mission of the Cold Case Unit and the podcast’s goal to shed new light on unresolved cases:

Chief Anna Lalli [01:02]: "We believe that the Elgin Police Department and our community can work together to bring closure to cold cases because we know that in these cases, somebody knows something."

Detectives Houghton and Vartanian then introduce themselves and outline the focus of Season 1:

Detective Matt Vartanian [01:51]: "This season we are investigating the case of Karen Schepers, who disappeared on April 16th of 1983."

Background on Karen Schepers

Karen Schepers was a 23-year-old woman who disappeared without a trace after a night out with co-workers on April 16, 1983. The detectives provide a detailed physical description to humanize Karen and emphasize the importance of visualizing the missing person:

Detective Andrew Houghton [03:19]: "Karen was 23 years old... about 5 foot 7, weighed about 125 pounds and had long brown hair and brown eyes... very pretty, very friendly, someone who really made friends easily."

Timeline of Events

The episode meticulously reconstructs the hours leading up to Karen's disappearance:

1. Morning of April 16, 1983 [04:19]:

   • Karen wakes up around 7 AM to prepare for work.
   • Deposits over $1,000 from her tax return into her bank account [04:47].
   • Lives alone in an apartment at 311 Level Street, Elgin [05:00].

2. Commute to Work:

   • Drives a canary yellow 1980 Toyota Celica, a manual transmission vehicle [05:17].
   • This detail is crucial as it implies that anyone who might have taken her car must know how to drive a stick shift [06:12].

3. Evening at Work:

   • Karen informs her co-workers she will attend a party after work [07:47].
   • The detectives plan to explore whether she stopped at home to change clothes before heading out [08:08].

4. Night at PM Bentley's Bar [09:24]:

   • The party is located in Carpentersville at the Meadowdale Shopping Center [09:57].
   • Karen is last seen participating in a hula hoop contest around 12:30 AM [17:08].
   • No one recalls seeing her leave the premises after the contest [18:08].

Witness Accounts and Interviews

A significant portion of the episode revolves around interviews with Karen's co-workers, particularly Marianne, who provides crucial insights:

Marianne [11:54]: "I remember yelling across the parking lot, Karen, don't forget we have the meeting at 9am tomorrow."

Marianne recounts seeing Karen around 9:30 PM in the parking lot and hearing her express frustration over a phone call with her boyfriend, Terry:

Marianne [13:53]: "I could see her gestures, and she was frustrated... she did put... She tried to go on in a positive way... I'm gonna have fun tonight."

These testimonies help establish a timeline and Karen's state of mind during the evening.

Theories Discussed

Detectives present six main theories regarding Karen's disappearance, emphasizing an open-minded approach to the investigation:

1. Voluntary Disappearance or Self-Harm [20:36]:

   • Karen may have left to start a new life or taken her own life.
   • Context: Recently called off an engagement and had financial means to leave.

2. Incident at the Bar [21:28]:

   • Potential abduction in the parking lot or an encounter with someone met at PM Bentley's.
   • Possible involvement of bikers or other patrons.

3. Drive Home [22:15]:

   • Something happened during her commute, such as an encounter with a serial killer active in the Fox Valley area during the 70s and 80s.

4. Returned Home and Encountered Trouble [22:43]:

   • Possible incidents within her apartment complex, including interactions with neighbors or stepfamily members.
   • Previous tenant was a suspect in a separate 1976 kidnapping and murder.

5. Boyfriend’s Involvement [23:31]:

   • Despite reports of estrangement, Terry could have played a role in her disappearance.

6. Accident Involving Water Bodies [24:01]:

   • Karen might have crashed into a body of water during her drive home.

Detectives Houghton and Vartanian stress the importance of exploring each theory without bias:

Detective Andrew Houghton [20:36]: "We just can't assume that something happened. We have to look at it from all angles."

Investigative Plans

The detectives outline their investigative strategy for the season:

• Next Episode Focus [24:42]: Investigate the possibility that Karen left willingly, exploring her background and personal motivations.

• Subsequent Episodes: Each theory will be examined in depth through interviews, new witness statements, and the introduction of potential suspects.

Detective Matt Vartanian [24:31]: "We really have to explore the different routes that she may have likely taken home that night from PM Bentley's."

Conclusion and Call to Action

Chief Anna Lalli reiterates the call for public assistance, providing contact information for anyone with relevant information:

Chief Anna Lalli [25:48]: "If you or anyone you know has information about this case or any other cold case in Elgin, please contact the Elgin Police Department Cold case [e-mail] or the cold case tip line at 847289 cold."

Detectives Houghton and Vartanian emphasize the collaborative effort needed to solve cold cases:

Detective Andrew Houghton [26:24]: "We're going to make statements kind of try to come to life. We're going to release some of those documents and reports for the first time publicly in this podcast."

Final Thoughts

"Reported Missing" serves as a compelling introduction to Somebody Knows Something, laying a robust foundation for the season's investigation into Karen Schepers' disappearance. Through meticulous exposition and engaging storytelling, the podcast invites listeners to participate in unraveling the mystery, honoring Karen's memory by seeking the truth behind her vanishing.

Transcript

[Narrator]

This podcast is based on information sourced primarily from police 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 have been used to read from statements or documents. All information presented is intended solely to inform and raise awareness. Hosts may discuss theories regarding the cases examined in this podcast, but such discussions are not intended to and should not be considered by the listener to be legal. Conclusions all persons discussed are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Listener discretion is advised.

[Chief Anna Lally]

This is Chief Anna Lally. Welcome to Somebody Knows Something, a podcast from the Elgin Police Department's Cold Case Unit. In this podcast, we will shed new light on cold cases in the city of Elgin by sharing untold details and by encouraging anyone with information to come forward. You will come along with real cold case detectives as they investigate active cold cases in real time and seek justice for the victims and closure for their families. We believe that the Elgin Police Department and our community can work together to bring closure to cold cases because we know that in these cases, somebody knows something.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

My name is Detective Andrew Houghton and.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

I'm Detective Matt Vartanian. This season we are investigating the case of Karen Shepers, who disappeared on April 16th of 1983. In this episode, we walk through what we know about the hours leading up to Karen's disappearance to give our listeners a structure of what happened and led to this investigation. We will also talk with several of Karen's co workers who were at the party the night she disappeared.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Throughout this season, you will go with us to sites that were related to Karen's disappearance and you'll hear us talk directly with people who knew Karen and the people involved in her case. And you will hear from new witnesses who were never spoken to until now. You know, Matt, like you said, in this episode we are going to have some actual people we talk to. We're going to play portions of two actual police interviews that we recently conducted as part of this investigation and throughout this season. We're going to use real audio from police interviews and from actual people involved in this case as we investigate it in real time. Unfortunately, because some of the people in this case are dead. We're also going to use voice actors and statements. We're going to have people read actual documents and statements from our case and we're going to make those statements kind of try to come to life. We're going to release some of those documents and Some of these different reports for the first time publicly in this podcast. And our goal is to recreate that information to kind of help Karen's case come home to people and be something that is interesting to listen to, but also brings the case to life.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. So with that, I think it might be helpful for us to start with a physical description of Karen.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, that's a great idea. So Karen was 23 years old on April 15th in 1983. She's about 5 foot 7, weighed about 125 pounds and had long brown hair and brown eyes. She was kind of described by everybody we spoke to as very pretty, very friendly, someone who really made friends easily, things like that. And there's some photographs of Karen on our website, so we encourage people to go and check that out. I think visualizing Karen and other people in our cold case homicides and victims and missing persons is helpful as well, because it really humanizes who those people are and shows that they're not just some random person, they're actual people.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah, I mean, they are. They're people, right? The victims and the missing people from these cases, they aren't, you know, statistics. They had lives, they had friends, families. You know, in some cases they had children. They had their own goals and ambitions. We really want people to understand that this case and other cases are not just some case that's sitting on a shelf. These represent real people and their families who deserve justice and answers.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

We're going to start with Karen's Morning. So April 15th. We kind of looked into the weather for that time period, and on that day it was pretty windy. It was a little below freezing in April. Kind of what you would expect in Chicago in April, that, you know, late winter, early spring kind of weather that we get. It was just above freezing. And around 7am she would have probably been getting up to go to work because she got to work around 8:00 ish, somewhere in that timeframe. And the weather is going to be kind of important as we get into this later on.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. And April 15th was tax day. So Karen had just gotten her tax return that week and deposited about a little over $1,000 into her bank account. And her bank account is also something that becomes kind of important later in the case.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, it definitely does. So we know Karen lived at a house. She lived in an apartment, actually inside of a house that was located at 311 Level street in Elgin, which is on the east side of Elgin. The house was separated into an upstairs and downstairs apartment, and she lived alone in that Apartment on the second floor of the building.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah, we're gonna visit that location in a future episode.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, that episode should be an interesting one for all the listeners to hear. We know she goes to work that morning. We should probably talk about how she got there. So she lived at 311 level, which again is on Elgin's east side, and Elgin separated by the Fox River. So she worked at the First Chicago bank card, which was on the west side of Elgin in a single story office building off of Davis Road. So she had to drive to work. She didn't live close enough to walk. She didn't carpool with anybody else. So she drove across the river on April 15 in her vehicle, which was a canary yellow 1980 Toyota Celica. It had distinctive accent stripes, these red stripes along the side, and it had an Illinois license plate of XP8918.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

And that vehicle was a manual transmission vehicle, right?

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, it was a stick shift, you're right.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Okay, so that's kind of an important detail, I think. I mean, I know that some people can drive stick shift, but it's not like every person knows how to do that. And not a lot of cars nowadays have that. Most of them are automatics. I think it's a skill that someone would have had to have learned, you know, from somebody. And since we know that her car also went missing, it's important for us to kind of remember that it's not just her that went missing, it's also the vehicle as well.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

The car is a big part of this case.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. And I mean, in the 1980s, it was a lot more common. Like I was just saying, you know, for there to be a manual transmission than kind of what we see today.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, it's a good point. I mean, we have to remember the car is a big piece of this. So a lot of times you have these missing person cases where the person just up and disappeared. But in this case, not only did she disappear, her car disappeared. If someone drove her car off, they would have to know how to drive a manual. So we know she worked all day and she drove up to this bar, but someone, if she didn't drive her car, someone else did. They have to be able to drive that car.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. So I'm looking at her bank record right here. So she was paid $344.88 that day. So she had gotten her tax return and her paycheck. That total amount would have been somewhere around like 1500 bucks, is that right?

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, that's right. So it was her payday so like you said, she got paid that Friday. She got paid that day.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Okay. So she would have had money if she needed it for something. So we know that she had already paid off her car, so she owned it outright. She had her rent, but there were not a lot of other bills. I mean, she was attending classes at Elgin Community College, and she would have been paying for things like that and gas, groceries or other normal, like day to day things. But she was making pretty good money in 1983 as a single woman who was living alone.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. So she was making somewhere around 25 grand a year, which is pretty good money for her at that time. And she had told a coworker when she got off work sometime around 4 or 5pm that she was going to head up to this party. And she told them, hey, if my boyfriend Terry calls, if he calls my desk, let him know I'm just going up to the party. That kind of makes me think that it must have been fairly common for her to call her at work.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah, I mean, that was. It sounds like it's not uncommon that that happened. And then it sounds like that they left work and that we believe that she went home and possibly changed clothes before the party. Right.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. There's a little bit of a dispute when you go through the case file and some of the newspaper articles. We're not 100% sure if she went home and changed and then went up to the bar. But she definitely went to the bar.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

So she may have made a stop and changed clothing and then gone up there. But that's something we don't know. It may be important. We're still trying to track that information down. So one thing we've never given out was her full clothing description. I know in missing person cases now that's something we typically do give out, that was never given out publicly before. So we are giving that out publicly now for the first time. There was some information about her clothing. Wearing a tan corduroy coat with a hood. But we know that she attended this party and she was wearing a black and white striped blouse and blue jeans along with that jacket.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. And so we're also, you know, kind of going through and updating all the missing person websites and things like that to reflect this information. So it's out there for the public. She was also wearing a fairly distinguishable watch. I mean, that information was released before, but in case people didn't know, it was a Wittenour brand wristwatch.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. So she potentially went home and changed clothes or maybe she wore what she wore to work to the party. But we know she goes from Elgin to Carpentersville. Because this bar is not located in Elgin. That becomes kind of an issue too. Yeah, P.N. bentley's is a bar up in Carpentersville. She lives in Elgin. She works in Elgin. The bar was located in the Meadowdale Shopping center, which was a place kind of loan. It was kind of known for live music at the time. It's just north of Route 68 on Route 25 in Carpentersville.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

And she drove there again in her yellow Toyota Celica.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yes. So she drives the Celica either to her house and then up to the bar or directly to the bar from Elgin.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Okay. So she parked at the bar, headed inside, started to hang out with coworkers and have a few drinks with them. And it sounds like by all accounts, everyone was having a great time. They were listening to the band, having some drinks. Didn't really seem like there was any issues.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, the coworkers said that she parked somewhere in the first few rows from the bar in the parking lot. And it's kind of a shopping center. So it's a big parking lot that runs along the bar there. We know that at least 16 different co workers come to this party at some point throughout the night. Now, they leave at various times. Some leave pretty early. Others stayed until about 1:30 or 2am and the bar closed at 2am and.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

At this point, no one really remembers or kind of knows when or if Karen left specifically.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, they know some key things throughout the night, but no one remembers the exact time that she would have left or recalls seeing her leave.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

And I mean, from what we know, one of those events involved her co worker, Marianne. Right?

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yes. So originally the coworkers had kind of limited information about their interactions that night, which in going back and talking with them, it sort of makes sense. This party was not Karen's party. It wasn't her birthday. Right. So it's not a situation where people are keying in on what she's doing throughout the night. It was a party for this program that they had completed. They were doing a new project as well. So it was a celebration just for the company kind of overall and her group overall. And so no one's really paying specific attention to what everything that Karen's doing.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Right.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

But we know that talking to Marianne, she recalls now, since we've re interviewed her, that she did have an interaction with Karen in the parking lot around 9:30. And that was not reported back in 1983.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Right. Okay. So Marianne saw Karen get out of her car around 9:30pm and that interaction then happened in the parking lot.

[Marianne]

I remember yelling across the parking lot, Karen, don't forget we have the meeting at 9am tomorrow.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Okay. Do you remember around what time you left?

[Marianne]

Probably around 9ish maybe.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Okay. Because I know she stayed. So did you maybe see her in the parking lot, like going to her car or something? But you, you remember seeing her in the parking lot and having that interaction with her at some point?

[Marianne]

Some people just stayed for a drink. A drink. But okay, I had, along with some other folks, had something to eat as well as I was drinking. Iced tea, I believe.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Okay.

[Marianne]

I'm not a big drinker.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

So around 9:30 you walked out and Karen also had walked out and gone to her car.

[Marianne]

About several of us went out at the same time.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Okay. And then you're saying you yelled across the parking lot to her, like, hey, don't remember, don't forget we have a meeting on Monday or something. Okay. And then you left and I went home.

[Marianne]

Yeah.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

I mean, Marianne also said that she was not drinking. So her account holds, I would think, more weight than others, right?

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, she's not drinking, so she seems a little bit more reliable. She said she was having some iced teas and hanging out and then she leaves around 9:30 and she's pretty confident that's around the time that she left. So she sees Karen out there in the parking lot. But we know Karen goes back in the bar because some other specific things definitely happen after 9 or 9:30pm you're.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Talking about the phone call to Terry, right?

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yes. Karen called terry sometime between 9 and 9:30. We don't have an exact time, but somewhere in that timeframe. And she called from a payphone at the bar. So we do know that they talked because we talked to some of her co workers and some of the police interviewed Terry. So we know the phone call happened and we know he answered it. And we can corroborate some of that telephone call and that we know that it connected. You know, in fact, one of Karen's co workers, Eloise, actually saw Karen on the phone with Terry and she described the call to us.

[Marianne]

Well, I think at one point I went out into the entryway for some reason. Maybe the washrooms were that way. I can't really remember. But I, I do remember her being on the phone because at that time, of course, what did we have? Pay phones?

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Sure.

[Marianne]

And I remember her being over there in the corner and I couldn't hear the words. But I could see her gestures, and she was frustrated.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Pretty animated.

[Marianne]

Yeah. And she wasn't on the phone all that long because by the time I got back to the table, she was there pretty quickly after that.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Okay.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Did you talk to her about, like, the contents of the phone call or what she was, who she had called?

[Marianne]

Things like that I didn't talk about to her, but she kind of let the. Everyone at the table know she had just tried to call Terry and that he couldn't come.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Okay.

[Marianne]

And she was not happy with that.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Okay.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Did you say anything else about her conversation with Terry that you recall?

[Marianne]

No.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Okay.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

And just to kind of clarify, Terry never showed up at the bar that night?

[Marianne]

No.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Okay.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Just a phone call.

[Marianne]

Yeah.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Okay.

[Marianne]

And actually, once Karen relayed that information from the phone call, it was like she did put. She tried to go on in a positive way. Not that she was devastated by shit, but, you know, it's just like, I'm not gonna let that.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

I'm not gonna be dragged down by this. Yes.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

She's kind of annoying, but, like, you know, whatever.

[Marianne]

Whatever. I'm gonna have fun tonight.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. So she was apparently kind of annoyed that he didn't come up to the party. And he later claimed that he had a reason why he didn't want to be out too late. I mean, he had to work the next morning pretty early. Cause he had some morning preparations to cater a dinner for his job. So he declined to come to the bar and meet her.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. And so he said he told Karen, well, hey, you can stop by the bar after you get out if you want to. And according to different people in the investigation, it was probably common for her to go down there on the weekends maybe, and stay at his house, because they did live separately.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Right. So Terry, he lived in Elgin, too. So he lived in the 500 block of Barrett street, which is in the downtown area of Elgin here on the east side, kind of the near east side, if you will. That's the same side of the river as Karen's house and the same side of the river as PM Bentley's as well.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yes. So it's also important we remember that. That all three of these locations are on the east side of the Fox River.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Right. Again, that might be something that is important here.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Absolutely. I mean, when we talk about the different theories of what could happen, that plays a role in some of the things that we look at.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Unfortunately, Terry died in 2015, so we can't get details from him. We just have to rely on what he told the police at the time the interviews that he gave to local area newspapers, things like that.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah, true. I mean, but some of the, some of Karen's co workers did shed some light on her end of the phone call since she complained to them after she hung up on Terry.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. So it sounds like Karen was kind of annoyed, like Terry didn't come up there. She's frustrated that he's not coming to the bar. She takes the effort to go down and call him to come up there, but she kind of tells her, hey, I'm not going to let this ruin my night. I'm still having a good time.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Okay. I mean, so the, the phone call clearly happened. I mean, Terry was at his house in Elgin around 9pm or 9:30 that night and talked to Karen. Coworkers can definitely, like, kind of corroborate that. And they did say that he did tell her that he was not going to come up to the bar.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. And she almost makes it sound like when she tells her friend Karen that she's not going to go to Terry's house afterwards. Kind of a tit for tat. Like, if you're not going to come out and see me, then when I'm done here, I'm not going to come down and see you either. But, you know, that could change. We don't know.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Right. Yeah. And then, I mean, that kind of really comes down to the final thing that people really remember about Karen that night, and that's the hula hoop contest.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. So the band had promised this hula hoop contest. They had a live band that night. And by midnight, they still hadn't had this contest that Karen wanted to take part in. We talk about Karen's background. She was very musical. She played piano, she played saxophone. She liked music. So they go out there and see this live band and she wants to get up there and dance and have a good time. And so she takes it upon herself to go up to the band and say, hey, when are you going to start this contest? I want to do this hula contest. And so she goes up there and the Contest happens about 12:30am Multiple people see her go talk to the guy in the band, Right. And the band lead singer, who has since died in the interview to police in 1983, remembers Karen coming up and talking to him. He describes that same black and white blouse that she's wearing and jeans and says, yeah, she wanted to have the hula hoop contest. So then we had the contest that would have been about 12:30am on the 16th?

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. So, I mean, after that, no one really has any specific memory or recollection of seeing Karen at all, right?

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, that's right. I mean, we know that at least six employees were there for the contest based on the timelines they gave us. Roughly. Yeah. And then people kind of start filtering out of the bar. It's probably around 1:00. And no one remembers specifically seeing her leave, at least at this point.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. So, I mean, April 16, 1983, at about 12:30am or so, that's really the last time that she's seen him. We can verify that, right?

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, we think she left potentially around 1, but 12:30 is the last verified sighting that we can get, at least at this point.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. So we should, I mean, definitely mention that Terry did work that day. So he worked catering at a spaghetti dinner for the American Legion in Elgin. Reportedly from the early morning hours to, like, the late afternoon hours. He never called Karen and reported that he did not see her on April 16, which was a Saturday.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yes. So Sunday rolls around. It's Sunday, April 17, and Terry says that he did call her several times, but again, this is a landline to her apartment. Kind of like we talked before. We know Terry's in his apartment at 9 or 9:30 on the 15th because she calls him on a payphone and it's a landline. There's no cell phones. And then again, he calls her from his house on the 17th. From his house on the landline to her house on a landline because there's again, no cell phones.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. So Monday rolls around and Terry still hadn't heard from Karen. So he called her work and learned that she wasn't there at all, didn't show up to work, and that was when he decided that he needed to file a report with the police.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. So it's April 18, 1983, at 2:56pm Terry reports Karen missing. And that's what makes this case more difficult because you have over 48 hours basically to account for from 12:30am on the 16th until 2:56pm on the 18th.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Right. I mean, and so, I mean, here we are almost 42 years later, looking back at this case and, you know, just trying to determine, like, what actually happened to Karen. I mean, I know that we've discussed this at length, you know, as we kind of have read through this case and started to investigate it on our own end, basically, we've kind of decided. Right. That there's six different main theories, you know, that could have happened to her. You Know, during that night. And that is kind of like the reason that we're going to investigate it, because there's just so many different directions that this kind of could go. I mean, I think it's. It's really important that we, you know, kind of take the tactic that nothing is off the table, and we're going to just kind of dig into it and investigate it with really, an open mind, kind of like a fresh perspective. We just can't assume that something happened. We have to look at it from all angles.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. So we want to make sure we look at every option, and we're being open to all of them. So let's kind of run through the six theories on our case here, Matt. I'll do the first one. The first one is that Karen made some kind of decision. So she either left voluntarily to start a new life somewhere, or she took her own life. At the time, police believed maybe she just left to blow off some steam and would come back. And they had some reasons to think that. I think it was a kind of common thought process for missing persons in that time period.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Karen had just gotten her paycheck, her tax return. She had paid off her car, so she had a substantial amount of money in her bank account. She would have the means to leave. You know, she'd been living on her own for a while, so she knew how to do that.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Right.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Police learned that, according to Terry, he and Karen had just called off their unofficial engagement a few weeks before she went missing. And she was somewhat estranged from some people in her family, most notably her father, who she hadn't really spoken to in person in a number of years.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Did Karen just leave, or did she harm herself in some way? We have to at least kind of consider that as one of the possibilities.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. Theory number two, I mean, would be something happened at the bar. Something happened at PM Bentley's that night. You know, was Karen abducted in the parking lot, or did she agree to go somewhere else with someone that she had met at the bar? One witness claimed that, you know, she saw her talking to some bikers that were kind of both inside and outside the bar. Did she go home with one of them? Did one of them take her? Could, you know, something, Somebody that's there at the bar actually had something to do with her disappearance. Did she leave drunk and left with somebody kind of willingly or otherwise? I mean, we kind of need to look at all the people that Karen may have met, as well as the people who worked at the bar and frequented PM Bentley's in the spring of 1983.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

And then theory number three is the drive home. So if we bypass one and two, we assume that Karen has left willingly in her car and she drives away. Did she stop somewhere? Did she meet someone along the way? Or have something happen on her drive home? There are a number of different serial killers that were operating in the Fox Valley area in the 1970s and 80s. And there are some victims that have some similarities to Karen's case. So do any of those have anything to do with her disappearance? We have to take a look at that too.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Right? Theory number four. Karen made it home. She arrived in Elgin at her apartment, possibly under the influence of alcohol and something happened. We will look into people who lived and worked in Karen's building, including the previous tenant for her apartment, who was the prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder of a 14 year old girl in 1976. In addition to the people that lived and worked in the building, it was reported that Karen kept the location of her apartment secret from her stepmother. There are some reports that Karen's stepmother may have learned the location of Karen's apartment and. And that Karen did not have a great relationship with her. Could Karen's neighbors from 1983 have new information? Could her stepmother have some insight? Is Karen's apartment and the people associated with where she lived the key to solving what happened to her?

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah, we definitely have to look at the apartment and then we have the boyfriend, you know, the typical the boyfriend did it kind of scenario. So like we said before, unfortunately, Terry passed away. He did work with law enforcement and he worked with some different psychics and different things trying to track Karen down. But could something have happened involving Terry? Despite her statement to her co workers that she was not going to go to Terry's house when she left the bar, did Karen change her mind and go down there? We definitely have to look at Terry as a viable option in this case.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Yeah. And then the final scenario, you know, theory six. Karen crashed into a body of water somewhere between Elgin and Carpentersville. Something happened on her drive home. Did she run off the roadway, you know, and go into the Fox river or, you know, other, you know, bodies of water that was along her route, like a lake or a pond. We really have to kind of explore the different routes that she may have likely taken home that night from PM Bentley's. I mean, really both to her home or to Terry's house.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Yeah. Because she could have gone to Terry's.

[Detective Matt Vartanian]

Right. You know, and just kind of really have to dig into that theory and kind of see, like, what do we have? And with that, we kind of plan to bring some updated technology to kind of help us in that search.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

Next episode, we're going to look into the possibility that Karen left willingly. This would be our theory number one that we just talked about. So did she decide to start a new life somewhere or did she take her own life? We're going to talk a little bit more with some of the people that knew Karen best to kind of evaluate those different possibilities about her character, what she was doing, things along those lines. And then in the coming episodes, we're going to look at each of these six theories kind of in depth. We're going to conduct interviews with people, past witnesses, we're going to search for and we are going to interview new witnesses. We're even going to interview some potential suspects in this case and review the case without us assuming anything about any of those six options. This season on Somebody Knows Something, we will dive into all six of these theories regarding what could have happened to Karen Shevers. In our next episode, we will begin our investigation as we talk to Karen's family and introduce Karen's backstory to our listeners. Hopefully, learning more about her background will help us evaluate each of these different theories and lead to some new information. To answer the question, where is Karen?

[Chief Anna Lally]

If you or anyone you know has information about this case or any other cold case in Elgin, please contact the Elgin Police Department Cold case [e-mail] or the cold case tip line at 847289 cold. You can also review cold case information on the Elgin Police Department's Transparency Hub by going to elginil.gov and navigating to the Elgin Police Department's Transparency Hub, where every cold case, homicide and missing persons case is listed with photographs and information about each case.

[Detective Andrew Houghton]

SA.