Search for woman in cold case leads police to Fox River; Karen Schepers vanished in 1983

Elgin police will search the Fox River Monday as part of a cold-case investigation into a woman missing since 1983.

Officials announced in a release Sunday they will resume the search for Karen Schepers, a 23-year-old Elgin woman who vanished after attending a party with coworkers at a Carpentersville bar.

“These searches are being completed to ensure thorough documentation of the steps taken to find Karen Schepers,” police said in the release.

The effort is being handled by Elgin’s new Cold Case Unit, which said last year Schepers’ case was at the top of its list.

Police said she was last seen around 1 a.m. on April 16, 1983, at Bentley’s, a bar that is now closed, with about 20 coworkers. Schepers was reportedly the last person from the group to leave. She and her yellow 1980 Toyota Celica were never found.

According to police, she had a brief argument with her fiance, Terry Schultz, after she asked him to stop by and he declined, telling her he had a busy work day ahead.

Investigators said he was initially viewed as a suspect, but he cooperated with investigators until his death in 2015 and passed a lie-detector test.

Police will be assisted in Monday’s search by Chaos Divers, a nonprofit organization.

⋅ Daily Herald staff writers Charles Keeshan and Susan Sarkauskas contributed to this report

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250323/news/search-for-woman-in-cold-case-leads-elgin-police-to-fox-river/