A dedicated team of volunteers is making waves across the United States, including the Chicago region, by diving into rivers and lakes to help families find closure for their missing loved ones.
These individuals aren’t part of any official law enforcement or investigative agencies.
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Yet, they are successfully tackling cases that have baffled authorities for extended periods, sometimes spanning several decades.
Their efforts are significantly impacting the realm of cold case investigations.
On a recent bright morning, a modest group of scuba divers set out on the Chicago River, ready to embark on their mission.
This team, known as the Chaos Divers, is committed to their extraordinary goal of reuniting missing individuals with their families and providing long-awaited answers.
The team of volunteers travels thousands of miles a year, searching waterways for vehicles and the people who disappeared along with them.
The dives can be dangerous. Conditions are unpredictable and visibility underwater is often just inches.
“As soon as I went underwater, I couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t see the car in front of my face. I put the car right up to my face, and still couldn’t see it, right up to my mask,” Jacob Grubbs said.
They rely on touch, feeling along cold metal and glass to confirm what’s beneath the surface.
“Feel the windows to see if they’re up. Do your assessments with your hands and try to figure out what type of car it is. You look for an emblem, and then you try to find where the license plate should be,” Grubbs said.
Many times, what they find are stolen and abandoned cars.
“We discovered over 100 cars now, literally piles of 20 cars in some of these dumping grounds. It’s incredible. You would never think that there would be this many cars hidden under the water,” Darick Langos said.
But sometimes the discovery is far more personal.
“Every single case means something. Every single case is important. I remember every person we have brought home. But I remember those cases that we haven’t brought home even more,” Lindsay Bussick said.
Using side-scan sonar, they map the riverbed in real time, looking for bright spots.
“Jacob can see the vehicle or the object in question on this sonar. So what we do is drop the magnet down right below it. He can see that magnet. That allows us to stick that magnet to it. That goes in the water. From there he can go back and check everything,” Bussick said.
In the cold, murky water, they dive on the cars below, resurfacing with evidence, often car decals or license plates.
The chaos divers have helped to solve nearly two dozen cold cases nationwide.
Several of those missing people were found in Chicago and across parts of Illinois.
The dives are not funded by police department budgets.
Instead, they’re powered by donations from online followers and sponsors.
Every tank of air and every gallon of gas are paid for by strangers who believe in their mission.
“It’s very important work. And if we’re able to help families, that’s an incredible thing,” Langos said.
“To give them answers of where their lost loved one is, it’s amazing,” Grubbs said.
Qiana Jackson was one of the people the Chaos Divers helped.
“My dad was amazing. I mean all little girls are going to say that about their dad, but seriously my dad was awesome,” Jackson said.
In July of 2023, the Chaos Divers were scanning the Calumet River for 71-year-old James Jackson.
He disappeared after visiting a friend on Chicago’s South Side 11 months earlier.
“Not only did he go missing, but his car was missing. Nobody has seen or heard from him. Like I’ve never heard of anyone disappear and everything vanished,” Jackson said.
“He had early-onset Alzheimer’s. He was showing beginning signs of everything,” Bussick said. “We’re pretty sure that instead of taking a right to get on a highway, in his confused state, he took a left and went directly off the road and into the Calumet River.”
After days of searching near the last pinged location of Jackson’s cell phone, the divers found him inside his white Ford cargo van at the bottom of the Calumet River.
“They never stopped searching. They kept going, kept pushing forward,” Jackson said. “They are amazing. Words can’t describe how awesome they are.”
For many families, hope fades with time. For Karen Schepers, her family waited more than four decades.
“We put our boat on the Fox River, and found Karen that very first day after 42 years,” Bussick said.
Schepers went missing in the spring of 1983 after going to a party with coworkers at a bar in Carpentersville.
Her canary yellow Toyota Celica also disappeared, until it was found by the Chaos Divers.
“First he could see the yellow on the car. Which her car was yellow so we already had a good idea that this was Karen. But then he came up with that plate in his hand and there was just this roar of emotions,” Bussick said.
Schepers’ family still doesn’t know what happened to her that night.
But for many, even partial answers can mean an end to decades of uncertainty.
“They were able to give her mom back a ring that Karen had on her finger that night. To be able to see that and to witness that it’s heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time,” Bussick said. “This is the most heartbreaking job that you never want to give up.”
