Members with Chaos Divers searched Fox River where they found three vehicles, one of which was a car and woman missing for 42 years.
ELGIN, Ill. (WSIL) -- A southern Illinois based dive team discovered a missing Elgin woman's remains in a car pulled from the Fox River.
The 1980 canary yellow Toyota Celica pulled from the river on Tuesday belonged to Karen Schepers, who went missing in 1983; this according to our abc affiliate WLS. The Kane County Coroner reported Shepherd's skeletal remains were identified inside the vehicle after the car was retrieved.
Jacob Grubbs, owner of Harrisburg based team, Chaos Divers, says they have been following this case for months. The dive team said they headed north to begin the search as soon as the weather permitted.
Beginning the search around 9:30 a.m. Monday morning, the 5 person team discovered two submerged cars along the river, using water sonar technology. They determined they were not that of Schepers. They came across a third vehicle, depicting a clear image of an upside down vehicle on the water sonar graph.Â
The team sent a diver down to uncover anything that could identify as Schepers' vehicle in the 4-6 inch visibility. Grubbs says the car was surprisingly intact and not under significant debris.
The team did note the back window was broken, assuming by floating debris in the river. They would later safely cover the back of the car, to prevent anything inside from falling out during the removal process.Â
Lindsay Bussick, Manager of Chaos Divers, says the moment the diver rose to the surface holding the license plate was indescribable. "When Mike came up with the license plate in hand it was actually upside down and backwards to all of us on the boat. But all of us were able to pick out some piece of, you know, what he was holding and instantly knew."
After the car was discovered around 4:42 p.m., according to Bussick, they worked with Elgin Police Department, Elgin Fire Department, Kane County Coroner, and Redman's towing to arrange the car to be removed the next day.
Bussick says with family dental records, forensic specialists were able to make an identification just two days after the care was recovered. This sped up a process that would normally take weeks of an identification process using DNA.
The dive team says they are grateful to have the law enforcement's trust, the family's trust, and the honor of bringing answers to Karen Schepers' 90-year-old mother after 42 years.
"Her mom was able to go to bed on, you know, Monday night for the first time in 42 years, knowing where her daughter was," said Bussick.Â
As of now, remains unknown as to why Schepers went missing and how she died.
