CHICAGO (WBBM) – A diving team that travels the country looking for submerged cars involved in cold cases traversed the Chicago River this week.
The Chaos Divers team searched from Diversey on the north branch of the Chicago River to Cicero via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.
Lindsay Bussick is the team’s manager.
“We have 10 missing persons cases in Chicago,” Bussick said.
As they were trying to solve cold cases, they came across dozens of other cars.
“Once we kind of reached that 50, 60 number point, then it was kind of like, ‘OK, this was even a little more than we had expected to find,’” Bussick recalled.
Bussick says they found over 90 cars in the depths of the Chicago river over the last few days.
More than 90 cars were found in the Chicago River system this week.
To find the cars, the team has sonars set up in the command center so they’re able to find the vehicles before they dive in.
“There’s so much that we can tell you from this,” Bussick said about the sonar equipment.
If they locate a car, they could retrieve it themselves.
But on Wednesday afternoon, they called Chicago police to take out a Nissan sedan Bussick says was damaging boats.
It was actually a stolen car from 2023. However, there are times they do solve decades-old cases.
“Thankfully, we have had the opportunity to bring 20 people home over the last four years,” Bussick said.
Two of those recoveries were in the Chicago area.
Bussick’s team found a car in the Fox River in Elgin this spring. Inside were skeletal remains of Karen Schepers, who went missing in 1983.
Chicago police and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources did not immediately detail what’s next for the 90-plus cars in the water.
“It is the most heartbreaking job that you never want to give up,” Bussick said.
Chaos Divers was in Chicago for several days before moving on to their next stop.
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