Matt Vartanian, '06, Helps Solve 42-Year-Old Cold Case as Elgin Police Detective
By Tony Scott
Sgt. Matt Vartanian '06. (Photo by Elgin Police Department)
When Matt Vartanian, ’06, and his colleagues at the Elgin, Illinois, Police Department began a new podcast called “Somebody Knows Something” in early 2025, little did they know that it would lead to the solving of a cold case more than 40 years old.
Vartanian and his podcasting partner, Elgin Police Detective Andrew Houghton, were also part of a new Cold Case Unit, which Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley created in May 2024 to investigate unsolved murders, missing persons cases and other serious crimes.
Vartanian and Houghton were putting together the Cold Case Unit, determining which cases would get priority, when Lalley told them she wanted them to do a podcast. Vartanian said while the pair looked at Lalley “like she was crazy” – they had no previous podcasting experience – they were excited to see where it would lead.
“We’re cops, we’re not podcasters; we have no experience in this at all,” Vartanian said. “Then we took a step back and thought objectively and open-mindedly and realized that this could be a really powerful tool for us as law enforcement to generate public interest again and get these cases back out there.”
Vartanian said one purpose of the podcast was to encourage people to come forward with tips, no matter how minor they may think they are.
“That was our big thing, we didn’t care how small of a tip it was, we were going to track it down,” he said. “We wanted people to understand that.”
He continued, “Our idea was, well, maybe there's somebody in Texas or Colorado or New York that used to live in Elgin, and they remember some of these cases. And maybe this kind of jogs their memory a little bit to provide the information. And for whatever reason, they didn't before, maybe they will now. So that was a big thing, and the excitement was to be able to get that reach out there, which was really powerful.”
The first cold case they would tackle for the podcast was that of Karen Schepers, a 23-year-old Elgin woman who was last seen alive leaving a Carpentersville, Illinois, bar in her vehicle the night of April 16, 1983.
Vartanian said the Schepers case received attention in the 1980s and then again when the Elgin department looked at the case again in the 2000s. The challenge was that they had no car, and no body.
“There were 42 years of what-ifs out there,” he said.
Throughout the podcast, they not only examined the possibilities of what happened to Schepers, but they also talked with family members and former co-workers about Schepers and who she was as a person. The podcast gave a portrait of Karen Schepers, the human being, as opposed to just a victim or statistic.
Thanks to the podcast, they learned more about Schepers’ case and, ultimately, via the work of a company called Chaos Divers, Schepers' vehicle and remains were found in the Fox River in March of 2025. After 42 years of not knowing what happened to her, Schepers’ family gained some closure and were finally able to lay their loved one to rest.
The discovery of the car, Schepers’ remains, and the podcast were covered by Chicago-area and national media.
Vartanian said most likely Schepers lost control of the vehicle and drove into the river on that late night in 1983.
“We believe that it’s an unfortunate accident that happened,” he said. “We know that the river was at flood stage a couple days before that night, we know that the conditions were pretty poor that night.”
There was no damage to the car, and the gearbox – the yellow 1980 Toyota was a manual transmission – was in fourth gear, which meant it most likely was going at a good speed when it went into the river, Vartanian said.
Vartanian said that after news of the car recovery had gone public, the team had heard from a co-worker of Schepers who had seen her the night of her disappearance, just before leaving the bar.
“They had an exchange where she said goodbye to her and she watched Karen get into her car by herself,” he said. “So that piece further helps paint the picture that there was nobody else in the car.”
Vartanian said it was important to note that the recovery and solving the cold case was a team effort.
“Our big message that we want to share with other agencies that want to do this type of work is you have to do it full time; you have to have dedicated individuals that will do it,” he said. “And you must be able to work with agencies that are not law enforcement. That’s why we worked with Chaos Divers, and you have to be able to work with families too.”
Learning to Love Law Enforcement
Vartanian, who earned a bachelor’s degree in management from NIU, was recently promoted from detective to sergeant. He joined the Elgin police in 2008, following an internship with the Geneva, Illinois, Police Department.
Vartanian attended high school in St. Charles, Illinois, and took classes at Elgin Community College after graduation before going on to NIU.
When he got to NIU, he wasn’t entirely sure what he would focus on, but a friend of a friend’s dad was a detective sergeant at the Geneva, Illinois, Police Department, and he learned about an internship there. He talked with the connection at Geneva, and then the College of Business worked to custom fit an internship with that police department.
“That’s when I fell in love with law enforcement,” he said. “They took me on like a new police officer, put me through the whole process. I did everything from ride-alongs to traffic stops and took law tests and firearms training. And I was like, yeah, I think I really love this career.”
Vartanian said he had several people at the department tell him while he was going to NIU that he didn’t have to have a criminal justice degree to be an officer.
One has to be well-rounded to be a good officer, he said.
With all of the experience he has now, including this year of cold case work, Vartanian looks forward to guiding new officers.
“I can share everything that I have been taught with new police officers that come in, and mentor the next generation that’s coming up to make sure they’re doing the right thing,” he said.