Kiely Rodni news: Body found in Prosser lake is missing Truckee teen, autopsy confirms
Autopsy confirmation ends two-week search
Kiely Rodni has been confirmed dead after an autopsy positively identified her as the body found in Truckee’s Prosser Creek Reservoir.
More than two weeks after 16-year-old Kiely went missing after a graduation party on 6 August, volunteer divers from Adventures with Purpose discovered a car with a body inside at the reservoir on Sunday.
The search finally came to a tragic conclusion on Tuesday as the autopsy confirmed the body was hers.
It comes after Kiely’s family released a statement Monday afternoon, saying: “We are eternally grateful for the love and support you have shown us in the last couple of weeks.
“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.”
Investigators are still working to determine how the car ended up in the reservoir and whether foul play was involved.
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Truckee community mourns Kiely Rodni’s death
People in Truckee, who regularly interacted with Kiely Rodni, shared their shock and disbelief after the autopsy report confirmed the body discovered in Prosser lake was that of the missing teen’s.
It’s been a long two weeks, and of course, it’s one of our own and my heart goes out to her parents especially. We’re just broken. That’s all I can say,” Cindy Shippy, co-owner Cha Fine Teas, told ABC10.
Abby Bunker, who worked with Rodni, said: “It’s just hard to think that somebody you saw like a couple weeks ago is just not here anymore. It’s just hard to wrap your head around.”
She added: “If you met Kiely, she was like really honest, and she was like really bad***... She is so cool, she’s strong (and) she didn’t let anybody overpower her.”
Kiely’s family asks for space as they navigate grief
In a heartfelt post on Monday afternoon, the Rodni-Nieman family thanked the public for the outpouring of support throughout the search for Kiely.
“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,” the family wrote.
“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.”
Divers found Kiely’s body and vehicle within 30 minutes
Adventures with Purpose divers revealed on Monday that it took them only 30 minutes to make the breakthrough discovery on Sunday.
“We began our search for Kiely on August 21 at 10:40am. We placed two sonar boats on the water. By 11.15am, Nick [Rinn] detected an object underwater using cutting-edge Garmin sonar technology,” diver Doug Bishop said in a Youtube video.
“I was able to confirm that it was in fact a vehicle in roughly 15ft of water, only 55ft offshore. After marking the vehicle with our magnet. Nick suited up in his dive gear and conducted the dive.”
Kiely’s car was only visible via sonar
Nick Rinn, an AWP diver, told the Post he found a body in a car within minutes of entering the water, and while it was close to the shoreline, it had not been visible above the water – only via sonar.
“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,” he said. “Then I came out, we called the family and authorities and let them take it from there.”
Helicopters for KCRA-TV pictured the vehicle being retrieved from the Prosser Creek Reservoir.
Mr Cantu added: “Our sonar showed an object bigger than a rock that shouldn’t have been there. One of our divers went underwater and was able to identify a vehicle.”
Gino Spocchia has the story:
Who are the AWP divers who discovered body in search for Kiely Rodni?
Body pulled from Prosser lake has been confirmed to be Kiely Rodni
The weeks-long search for missing teenager Kiely Rodni officially came to an end on Tuesday when the Nevada County Sheriff-Coroner released the results of an autopsy that positively identified the remains found Sunday.
“The Placer County Sheriff’s Office and the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office are in communication with Kiely’s family and offer our deepest condolences to them during this extremely difficult time,” the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Andrea Blanco has the story:
