(NewsNation) — Detectives from the Elgin, Illinois, Police Department’s Cold Case Unit are shedding new light on a decades-old mystery through their podcast “Somebody Knows Something.”

Karen Schepers, 23, vanished on April 16, 1983, after leaving a bar in the Chicago suburbs. Despite a lengthy investigation, her disappearance remained unsolved — until now.

Earlier this year, the department launched the podcast to generate new leads on older cases. Detective Mark Vartanian and Detective Andrew Houghton joined Banfield to discuss how the podcast helped Schepers’ case.

Remarkably, just weeks after releasing Schepers’ story in January, tips started coming in. In March, divers discovered her car in a river, six miles from where she was last seen, with her remains still inside. Detectives said they were even able to uncover some of Schepers’ items.

“I think it was a pretty emotional moment for everyone. I mean, being able to give some of those items back to her mother, who is 90 years old, was just really great. It was a nice way to kind of bring everything full circle,” Houghton said.

Among the items detectives could give Scephers’ mother was a birthstone ring that she wore and the metal part of her 1977 Class of Sycamore High School tassel.

Podcast helped garner more attention to Karen Schepers case

Vartanian said the podcast will still have four or five episodes that revolve around Schepers’ case, just to see if they can get additional details for her family.

As for what happened to Schepers, detectives said they are still looking into it.

“We want to be able to make sure we have everything in front of us before we can make that determination because… the family really deserves that,” Vartanian told NewsNation. “Her mom is 90. To be able to give her some closure to this is just truly… profound for both of us.”

Vartanian believes the podcast really helped generate more tips and garner media attention.

“Media outlets kind of thought that (the podcast) was an interesting thing and picked that up as well, so those were helpful ways for us to get information,” Houghton said.

As for the next case on their podcast, Vartanian said it would most likely be a homicide case.