Karen Lee Koppel was 35 when she was last seen on a spring evening in Chicago in 1980. She met Richard Simon at Flapjaw’s Saloon on North Wabash Avenue wearing a black blouse and grey slacks; accounts say she left the bar alone that night and never contacted family or friends again.

Koppel had been involved in a turbulent relationship with 67-year-old Ben Stein. After she became pregnant and reportedly underwent a coerced abortion, Koppel sought a financial settlement to remain silent. Simon, a longtime friend of Stein who was a Chicago police officer and also worked for Stein’s janitorial firm, met Koppel allegedly to negotiate a resolution; he reportedly offered her $10,000 and use of an apartment on Lake Shore Drive.

There was early speculation that Koppel might have been murdered and her body disposed of in Lake Michigan, but no evidence supporting that theory has emerged. A grand jury in the early 1980s looked into the disappearance; Simon refused to testify. No charges have ever been filed, no one has been officially cleared, and the investigation remains open but not being actively worked.

Does anyone have information about Koppel’s last movements that could help explain what happened after she left the saloon?