IL IL - Karen Koppel, 34, Chicago, 26 Apr 1980

Gardener1850

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Karen Lee Koppel[/h]Cook County, Illinois
34 year old white female

Height (inches)
64.0
Weight (pounds)
110.0

Hair: Brown; Long brown hair
Eyes: Brown

Clothing: Black blouse; grey slacks

Circumstances: In 1980, Karen Koppel was in a relationship with Ben Stein, a 67-year-old married man known around town as the “King of the Janitors” and had ties to organized crime.

The relationship began to sour after Koppel realized that Stein was not truly estranged from his wife and had no intention of marrying her. It was during this period that Koppel became pregnant and was coerced to undergo an abortion. Shortly afterwards, Koppel began making wild accusations about Stein, and demanded a large financial settlement to let things drop.

Stein asked a long-time friend – then-Chicago cop Richard "Rick" Simon, who moonlighted for Stein’s firm – to help amicably resolve things, according to police records and interviews.

Simon met with Koppel at Flapjaw's saloon, 810 N. Wabash Avenue, the night she disappeared. According to published reports Simon offered Koppel $10,000 and the free use of a Lake Shore Drive apartment in return for her agreement to exit quietly.

Koppel has never been seen since this meeting.

There was speculation at the time that the woman was murdered and dumped in the middle of Lake Michigan.

Simon said in an interview he doesn’t know what happened to Koppel, but doesn’t buy that she was murdered. Rather, he suspects she’s still alive with a new identity, having left Chicago because she was mentally unstable and horribly "humiliated" at being spurned by Stein.


https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/35006/
 
A few links that mention Karen Lee Koppel





 
I'm curious if she was given the $10,000 or just "offered." That definitely would have been a sufficient amount of money to start a new life elsewhere. This unidentified woman was found in a cornfield in 1991, she had 3x the lethal dose of cocaine in her system. Unknown if it was a homicide. It was noted she had breast implants but with no serial number, logos, or other markings. Lasalle County is about 95 miles from Chicago and had known mob connections not long before her disappearance. Same height, same age range, and 10 pounds heavier.


https:///wiki/LaSalle_County_Jane_Doe_(1991)#Exclusions
 
Looking at this I had not realised to what extent Chicago is still mob controlled and how this would impede any investigations in this (and other) cases. Rick Simon, the Chicago cop who acted as a go-between for Ben Stein subsequently took over the Stein empire in 1996 when Stein died. This empire was built on bribery of city officials for city contracts and was essentially an associate organisation of the local mob. You might have thought this would put Simon on the LE radar, but nothing of the sort. In 2022 Simon became chairman of the Chicago Police Foundation, cementing even further his close links with those who should be pursuing him. It beggars belief.
 

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