Author: Paul Stukel

A tragic mystery that has lingered for over four decades seems to have come to an end of sorts. Yesterday, the Kane County Coroner’s Office announced that the human remains discovered in a vehicle pulled from the Fox River on Tuesday were indeed those of Karen Schepers, a then-23-year-old young woman who, on an early Monday morning in April 1983, simply vanished after leaving a bar called P.M. Bentley’s in Carpentersville. Questions remain, of course. How did Schepers’ 1983 Toyota Celica end up in the Fox River? Was it an accident or was foul play involved? Detectives Andrew Houghton and…

Tuesday’s dramatic extraction from the Fox River of the Toyota Celica believed to be the vehicle carrying 23-year-old Karen Schepers of Elgin when she disappeared in April 1983 took a surprising twist yesterday. According to a joint press release from the Elgin Police Department and the Elgin Fire Department, during Tuesday’s recovery of the vehicle at the Slade Avenue boat launchin Elgin, a person approached an Elgin police officer and reported that in 2022, while fishing near the location where the vehicle was eventually found, the sonar equipment he was using detected an unusual object in the Fox River. He…

A Yorkville man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after entering into a plea agreement for sexually assauting his stepdaughter repeatedly over a period of roughly 8 years. The victim was under the age of 13 during most of the time the assaults were committed. Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis announced yesterday that Rafael Sanchez of Yorkville had peaded guilty to the charge of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child, a Class X felony. The plea and sentence were approved by Judge Jody Gleason. A joint investigation by the Aurora Police Department and the Kendall County…

The cold case concerning the disappearance of 23-year-old Karen Schepers of Elgin in April, 1983 has potentially gotten one large step closer to resolution. On Monday, with the use of sonar technology, non-profit Chaos Divers had located several sites of interest in the Fox River and, at a location northwest of the Slade Avenue boat launch in Elgin, a vehicle was identified which bore the license plate XP8919, which matched the license plate of the 1980 Toyota Celica investigators believe Schepers was driving on the evening of her disappearance. Tuesday, according to the Elgin Police Department, Chaos Divers, along with…

A vehicle with license plates matching the vehicle of the 1980 Toyota Celica in which Karen Schepers, who disappeared at the age of 23 in 1983, is believed to have last been seen was located today in the Fox River by Elgin authorities seeking to solve the 42-year-old cold case. With the use of sonar technology, Chaos Divers located several sites of interest that were explored and, at a location northwest of the Slade Avenue boat launch, a vehicle was identified which bore the license plate XP8919, which matches the license plate of Schepers’ 1980 Toyota Celica. It is yet…

A 26-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, both from Naperville, have been denied pre-trial release after being accused of robbing a Lisle convenience store at knifepoint and attempting to rob a woman at a Naperville bank Thursday evening. Both suspects have been charged with one count of Armed Robbery, a Class X Felony, and one count of Attempt Armed Robbery, a Class 1 Felony. At approximately 5:32pm on Thursday, Naperville police officers responded to Bank of America, located at 1301 E. Ogden Boulevard, for a report of an armed robbery. According to police, the alleged victim was conducting a transaction…

On an early Monday morning in April, 1983, 23-year-old Karen Schepers of Elgin left a bar called P.M. Bentley’s in Carpentersville at roughly 1:00am after a party with her co-workers. She got into her yellow Toyota Celica and was never seen again. Monday, the Elgin Police Department will be conducting searches of the Fox River as part of a cold case investigation into her disappearance. Detectives Andrew Houghton & Matt Vartanian from the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Unit have interviewed members of Karen’s family, her close friends, and her co-workers to get a sense of who Karen was as…

A jury has found a 38-year-old DeKalb man guilty of shooting an innocent man in the face during his dinner break from work in 2021. The jury returned their verdict against Ahmad Steele, 38, after approximately two hours of deliberations following a three-day-long trial. In all, the jury found Steele guilty of one count of Attempt Murder – First Degree and one count of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm. Both counts are a Class X Felony with the Attempt Murder charge carrying a mandatory firearm add-on of twenty-five years up to natural life. Judge Daniel Guerin presided over the trial.…

The Aurora Police Department has released still images of the altercation in the early hours of Wednesday morning that led to the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Christopher Lepe of Aurora, who was a suspect in an incident in Geneva that left a Geneva police officer in hospital. In a post on Facebook, the department expressed its desire for transparency in relation to the shooting, which is being investigated by the Kane County State’s Attorney. The incident began at approximately 1:28am Wednesday, when a Geneva police officer noticed a suspicious vehicle parked in the business parking lot in the 1500 block of…

An Elgin woman was stabbed to death on Elgin’s east side Tuesday evening in what police are describing as a domestic dispute. On Tuesday at 11:20pm, Elgin police officers responded to the 800 block of Suzanne Lane for a reported stabbing where they located a woman with life threatening injuries. The victim was subsequently transported to an area hospital and later pronounced deceased. Detectives from the Major Investigations Division responded to the scene and an adult male subject was taken into custody without incident. After further investigation, it was determined that the incident was domestic-related. The suspect, a 30-year-old man…