Police believe body of missing teen Kiely Rodni found in California reservoir
TRUCKEE, Calif. — Officials made the grim announcement on Monday that the body discovered in a California reservoir by volunteer divers appears to be missing teen Kiely Rodni, who disappeared after a nearby party on August 5.
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said that the body is “more than likely” 16-year-old Rodni after a YouTube diver team on Sunday night said they discovered Rodni’s remains inside her Honda CRV submerged in the Prosser Creek Reservoir.
“We recovered the vehicle last night, we have located a decedent inside the vehicle, we believe it is our missing person, we have not been able to positively identify, but it’s more than likely,” said Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon.
“At this time, our commitment is to this family. It’s still a very active investigation.”
Police said an autopsy will be conducted Tuesday and they don’t expect the toxicology report to be returned for at least a month. They warned the public that it could take weeks to put together all the pieces of the investigation.
Authorities would not rule out any scenarios and provided few details on what they currently know, including if any clues to how Kiely ended up underwater were in the car.
Following the press conference, Kiely’s family said they are “eternally grateful for the love and support” they’ve received in the last two weeks.
“Mr. Rogers famously told a story of ‘looking for the helpers’ whenever he saw scary things in the news. We have not had to look for the helpers, as you have all come to our rescue in full force,” the Rodni-Nieman family said in a statement.
“While we accept this sadness cast under death’s shadow, the rising sun shines light upon us, reminding us not to mourn our loss, but to celebrate Kiely’s spirit and the gift that we all received in knowing her. Kiely will surely remain with us even though we will not get her back,” the family continued.
Kiely’s loved ones say they will now take time to mourn, asking the public to “kindly excuse us as we retreat and dance privately to life’s song while we celebrate our daughter’s spirit and heal our souls.”
Adventures With Purpose (AWP) — the dive crew recruited by law enforcement to assist in the search — found the 2013 Honda CRV that Rodni drove to a graduation party near the lake Sunday afternoon.
AWP divers said the license plate of the vehicle matched Rodni’s and that there was a body inside.
The car and body were found about 20 to 40 feet from the water’s edge near a section of Prosser Family Campground where the party was held. The area is known to locals as “The Sanctuary” and overlooks the Prosser Creek Reservoir.
Rodni was last seen at the park in Truckee, California, on Aug. 5 and had told her mom she would be leaving the party around 12:30 a.m. Aug. 6. Fellow attendees had reported that she had been drinking at the party.
Before Sunday’s discovery, authorities conducted an exhaustive, two-week-long search of the area via land, air and water.
At least three police dive teams had already searched the reservoir, but AWP said it used advanced sonar that detected the car upside down in about 14 feet of water.
“Police told us they did a rigorous search of this body of water,” said diver Josh Cantu, 31. “They gave us a grid map and made us confident we didn’t need to search here.”
After searching the rest of the remote town of Truckee, the private group of divers decided to look in the reservoir as a last-ditch effort. Within a few minutes of diving, team member Nick Rinn found a body in a car close to shore.
“I went down and did my inspection. I saw the vehicle upside down, verified the license plate and that there were remains in the vehicle,” Rinn, 48, told The Post Sunday. “Then I came out, we called the family and authorities and let them take it from there.”
The water levels in the reservoir had been higher two weeks ago during previous police searches, Rinn added.
Police said Monday that they will review their search effort to understand what they missed and why they didn’t find the body and car in the reservoir when they searched it.
“Tracking underwater is an extremely difficult thing to do,” Capt. Sam Brown of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said at the presser.
“I also could say that we eliminate a lot of areas that we would still be searching if we didn’t have all the great people out there,” he said, defending the county police’s efforts.”
Some locals were shocked that the volunteer rescue team found Kiely so quickly after the drawn-out search by authorities produced no clues.
“It is disappointing the police didn’t find Kiely,” said Pamela Dalton, who knew Kiely well and is the grandma of one of her friends. “It would have saved Kiely’s family and friends a lot of anguish,” Dalton said law enforcement failed Kiely’s family and community by making assurances they had thoroughly searched the water where Kiely’s car was found.
“It wasn’t through lack of trying. But you would think the FBI has good sonar and ways to search underwater, the way Adventures With Purpose can,” she said. “The FBI should have that expertise and equipment. The FBI should have found her.”
