Kiely Rodni news: Body found in Prosser lake is missing Truckee teen, autopsy confirms
Autopsy confirmation ends two-week search
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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.
Police say remains found ‘more than likely’ belong to Kiely
Local authorities said they believe a body found inside a car in Prosser Creek Reservoir, Truckee, is that of missing teenager Kiely Rodni, but have yet to positively identify the remains.
The body was found by Adventures With Purpose (AWP), a group of volunteer divers dedicated to search and rescue efforts involving missing people.
“We believe it is our missing person,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannon Moon said during a press conference on Monday. “We have not been able to positively identify [her], but it is more than likely where we are today.”
An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday. Toxicology reports could take up to six weeks, authorities said.
Rachel Sharp has the story:
Kiely Rodni: Remains found in Truckee lake ‘more than likely’ belong to missing teen
A dive crew announced on Sunday that they had found a body and an overturned car in Prosser Creek Reservoir
Autopsy to take place today
An autopsy to determine whether the body pulled from Prosser Creek Reservoir is that of Kiely Rodni is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
It comes after police said a positive identification is “more than likely”.
Officials said a toxicology report shedding more light on the circumstances of the death could take weeks to conclude.
Investigators are still looking into the possibility of foul play.
Local police defend against criticism in search
Law enforcement officials offered a plethora of reasons why they had failed to find the body in the weeks since Kiely was last seen at a party in Prosser Family Campground, which 200 to 300 teenagers and young adults attended.
The Prosser Creek Reservoir, a lake next to the campground, had previously been searched extensively by law enforcement who had spent more than 20,000 hours trying to find the missing teen.
“The Adventures with Purpose folks did a fantastic job at being able to locate the vehicle as quickly as they did, based on, again, a lot of heavy lifting that the folks behind me have done over the last couple of weeks,” Sheriff Shannon Moon said, as officials with California Highway Patrol and Nevada County stood behind her.
Read more about authorities’ response here:
Truckee police defend against criticism of search for Kiely Rodni after body found
Authorities said they will de-brief their handling of the search with AWP
Kiely’s family break their silence
In a post shared on Monday, Kiely Rodni’s family addressed the public after her car and a body believed to be hers were found in Prosser Creek Reservoir on Sunday.
“We are eternally grateful for the love and support you have shown us in the last couple of weeks,” the statement read. “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 thanked the community for the outpouring of support throughout the two-week search and asked for privacy as they grieve.
Adventures with Purpose credits their success on their skills
AWP diver Doug Bishop said they have the same technology police do, but the difference is the way they employed it.
“Our sonar technology is not different from what they had,” Mr Bishop told TODAY. “It’s our ability to manipulate it.”
Local authorities are facing criticism for their search after they spent two weeks with very few developments in the investigation. On Sunday, a vehicle with remains inside believed to belong to Kiely was found by AWP.
Police defend against criticism of search for Kiely
When asked by reporters how the 16 agencies involved in the investigation had missed the car — said to be only 15 feet deep underwater, according to AWP — Captain Sam Brown with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said that since Kiely’s disappearance on 6 August, the water level had dropped a vertical three feet and a potential 20 to 25 feet off offshore.
He also said that some of the information circulating in media reports was “deceiving.”
“That’s a great question and one that everybody is going to have is, how we did not find her when we were searching? ...A lot of this equipment is high-end, very expensive, and you really need to have a lot of experience, a lot of expertise,” Captain Brown said.
Andrea Blanco has the story:
Truckee police defend against criticism of search for Kiely Rodni after body found
Authorities said they will de-brief their handling of the search with AWP
Kiely’s ex-boyfriend opens up about loss
Pending an official identification of the body found in Prosser lake, Kiely’s ex-boyfriend took to Instagram on Monday to share his pain.
“This was an insanely [expletive] up situation and it still is insanely [expletive] up and I still don’t know how to process it and I don’t think I am ever going to be able to process it,” Jagger Westfall said, according to the New York Post.
Earlier, Mr Westfall had posted a tribute calling Kiely “my entire world..”
“She wants us to be happy and she wants us to be safe and she wants us to have a good life, that’s all she ever wanted for anyone,” Mr Westfall added on Monday.
Adventures with Purpose found car and body with sonar technology
A diver for AWP told local news station KCRA-TV that the group’s sonar technology could have made the difference in the search for Kiely, whose cellphone was last traced to the edge of the Prosser Creek Reservoir on 6 August.
While law enforcement agencies deployed boats in the search, AWP used sonar radar tools to detect objects underneath the water surface – such as sunken cars.
Diver Doug Bishop later said that police also had that equipment but his team’s skills made the difference.
Gino Spocchia has the story:
Who are the AWP divers who discovered body in search for Kiely Rodni?
Sonar technology helped team of six volunteers make significant discovery
AWP to join search for another California missing person
Adventures with Purpose announced that after wrapping up their search efforts in Truckee, they will head to Selma, where Jolissa Fuentes was last seen.
Ms Fuentes was last seen at about 4am on 7 August driving a 2011 Hyundai into and out of a AM/PM gas station near her home on Nebraska Avenue and has not been heard from since.
It was not clear where she was heading, although her family told Fox News on Friday that the area is near vineyards and orchards that Ms Fuentes would sometimes visit to clear her head, especially after the death of a friend last year.
Gino Spocchia has the full story:
Jolissa Fuentes: Everything we know about 22-year-old missing in California
Fuentes was last seen at about 4am on 7 August in Selma, California
Kiely’s family breaks their silence
In a heartfelt statement on Monday, Kiely’s family thanked the community for the unwavering support throughout the search for their daughter and asked for space as they navigate grief.
“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,” the statement read.
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