Thirty-three-year-old Karen Boren was originally from Wisconsin but had moved to St. Petersburg, Florida in 1990. She worked part-time at the St. Petersburg Times and had a three-year-old daughter. She’d also had some problems with drug and alcohol abuse in the past and had been arrested in 1996 for drunk driving and domestic battery (though this latter charge was subsequently dropped).
On April 28th, 2000, Karen left her daughter with a babysitter and spent a night on the town with her sister Sandra. The pair took a cab to T’s Pub, where they played pool, sang karaoke, and generally had a fun evening.
At some point, though, Karen decided to leave the bar while her sister stayed; no one was quite sure what time she left, but some patrons thought she might have gotten a ride with someone. It was the last time she was seen alive. On April 30th, the babysitter watching Karen’s daughter called the police and reported Karen missing, as she had never returned from the pub.
Two days later, on May 2nd, authorities discovered Karen’s vehicle, a white 1985 Ford LTD, parked in downtown Tampa with the keys under the seat. Since the car had been left at Karen’s home in St. Petersburg when she went to the pub, investigators were baffled as to who had driven the car to Tampa.
There was no further sign of Karen for several more months. Then, on December 22nd, a cleaning crew was working at the vacant Monticello Motel in St. Petersburg; the establishment had just been purchased by new owners and was being prepared for reopening. In one of the motel rooms, workers discovered the badly decomposed body of Karen Boren lying in one of the beds; she was identified through dental records. According to the post-mortem, she had died from blunt force trauma to the upper body. Her purse was found untouched in the room.
Detectives were hamstrung by the fact that Karen’s remains lay undiscovered for more than seven months, meaning the chances of finding any usable evidence were slim. They were equally frustrated by the seeming lack of motive, and the mysterious detail of her vehicle somehow ending up in Tampa, even though she hadn’t been driving it on the night she disappeared.
The case remains open, but there has been no progress for more than twenty years.
Crime Immemorial 