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.
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Autopsy to identify body scheduled for Tuesday
Investigators said Monday that the body found inside a vehicle is believed to be that of the missing 16-year-old.
During a press conference on Monday, authorities said that an autopsy scheduled for Tuesday will determine a cause of death. However, toxicology reports to find whether there are traces of alcohol and illegal substances in the body will take several weeks.
Autopsy confirms recovered body is Kiely
An autopsy performed Tuesday has confirmed what police suspected - that the body found in Prosser Creek Reservoir is that of Kiely Rodni.
“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,” officials shared on social media.
Kiely’s ex-boyfriend paid tribute before autopsy results
Before the autopsy results were shared on Tuesday, Kiely’s ex-boyfriend Jagger Westfall, 18, posted a heartbreaking video on his Instagram Sunday.
The video showed the young couple joking around together.
“You were my entire world and you always will be. I will never love someone the way I loved you,” he wrote.
“I missed you even when I was holding you in my arms. I could never get enough of you. I promised I would be with you until the end and I was serious. #LLK🕊.”
Kiely’s family speaks out after body found in lake
Volunteer divers discovered a car with remains inside at the Prosser Creek Reservoir in Truckee on Sunday. Adventures With Purpose (AWP), a search organisation which helps find missing people, said that the silver 2013 Honda CRV was upside down 14 feet underwater and that a body — which has not been confirmed to be Kiely yet — was inside.
In a heartfelt statement on Monday, Kiely’s family said: “Kiely will surely remain with us even though we will not get her back.
“There are certain occasions when words fail. Perhaps this is why our human nature has given us art, dance, and music, which all are often more effective ways to connect us to each other and our rawest emotions.
“Kindly excuse us as we retreat and dance privately to life’s song while we celebrate our daughter’s spirit and heal our souls.”
Autopsy confirms body pulled from Prosser lake is Kiely Rodni
Authorities in California have confirmed that the body found in a lake on Sunday is that of missing teenager Kiely Rodni.
An autopsy performed by the Nevada County Sheriff-Coroner on the remains pulled from the Prosser Reservoir in Truckee positively identified the deceased as the 16-year-old, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said on Tuesday.
Andrea Blanco has the full story:
Authorities confirm body pulled from Prosser lake is missing Truckee teen
An autopsy was performed on the remains pulled from the Prosser Reservoir
Kiely’s ex-boyfriend opens up about his grief and frustration
Kiely’s ex-boyfriend, Jagger Westfall, posted a tribute calling her “his entire world” on Monday, and wrote that “I missed you even when you were in my arms.”
Mr Westfall opened up again later that day to share his frustration and grief.
“This was an insanely [expletive]-up situation and still is insanely [expletive]-up,” Mr Westfall, 18, said in a video posted on Instagram, according to The New York Post. “I still don’t know how to process it and I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to process it.”
“I know it [expletive] hurts and I know it hurts all of you,” he added holding back tears.
Mr Westfall remember Kiely fondly and thanked his close friends and the community for helping in the search.
Adventures with a Purpose, the volunteer dive team that found Kiely
A volunteer diving team found Kiely’s body inside her car more than two weeks and tens of thousands of law enforcement hours spent searching for the missing teenager.
Adventures With Purpose (AWP), a group of volunteer divers dedicated to search and rescue efforts involving missing people, announced Sunday that it had found a car and body in California’s Prosser Creek Reservoir after police invited the group to help with the case.
“Car is upside down in only 14’ of water,” AWP posted on Facebook. “Family Notified. Law Enforcement on their way.”
The sonar technology used to find Kiely
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.
Mr Cantu added to the Post that even Sonar technology can miss objects underwater if operators are not fully trained or experienced.
Gino Spocchia has the full story here:
Who are the AWP divers who discovered body in search for Kiely Rodni?
Sonar technology helped team of six volunteers make significant discovery
Police had same sonar technology used by amateur divers, 'skills made the difference’
Adventures with Purpose diver Doug Bishop credited his team’s expertise and skills for the findings on Sunday.
“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.
Divers reveal Truckee police told them not to bother searching water
A team of divers who claim to have recovered the body and car of missing Californian teen Kiely Rodni alleged that the police told them not to bother looking in the area where they made the discovery.
On Sunday, the diving group Adventures With Purpose - which had been invited by police to join the search - said it had found an upturned vehicle about 14 feet underwater at Prosser Creek Reservoir, near to where the 16-year-old was last known to be.
Josh Cantu, a spokesman for the diving group Adventures With Purpose, told the New York Post about the discovery on Sunday and said: “Police told us they did a rigorous search of this body of water. They gave us a grid map and made us confident we didn’t need to search here.
Gino Spocchia has more.
Divers searching for Kiely Rodni say police told them not to bother where body found
Nearly 20,000 law enforcement man hours came before volunteer’s finding