'We have weathered a storm of unfathomable force': Kiely Rodni's family breaks silence after discovery of body
TRUCKEE, CALIFORNIA: On August 6, 16-year-old Kiely Rodni disappeared while attending a high school graduation party in the Tahoe National Forest. A volunteer search group found an SUV with a body in the reservoir on Sunday evening, on August 21.
Authorities in California say the remains likely belong to the missing 16-year-old Truckee girl. But police have not yet officially identified the remains found in the Prosser Creek Reservoir. Her shocking disappearance had motivated hundreds of searchers to scour the mountains north of Lake Tahoe for more than two weeks. The first public statement from Kiely Rodni's family following the discovery of the missing teen's presumed remains was made public on Monday afternoon on August 22.
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When her daughter didn't come home after a party at the Prosser Family Campground, which is roughly 20 miles from Lake Tahoe, Lindsey Rodni-Nieman filed a missing persons report. Before leaving the party, she claimed to have received a message from Kiely Rodni telling her she would be back home soon.
According to a statement issued by the Rodni-Nieman family on Monday afternoon: "We are eternally grateful for the love and support you have shown us in the last couple of weeks. We have weathered a storm of unfathomable force, and it is purely thanks to the army of warriors, matriarchs, healers, and helpers holding us up that we continue to stand today." Volunteer searchers found what is presumed to be Rodni's corpse in an SUV that had been submerged in water close to where she was last seen, according to a statement made by Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon earlier in the day.
The Prosser Creek Reservoir is close to where Rodni's cellphone last pings came from at 12.33 am on August 6. On Sunday, August 21, a volunteer dive crew with the organisation 'Adventures With Purpose' posted on Facebook that it had made a gruesome find there. Local detectives sent out their own dive team to corroborate the information, and they were spotted dragging the car out of the water. "We recovered the vehicle last night," Sheriff Moon said Monday morning. "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."
The location had previously been "extensively searched," according to the investigators, and the water level has subsequently fallen by more than three feet. The original assumption regarding Rodni's unusual circumstances-related disappearance was that she could have been kidnapped. In addition to a significant law enforcement presence, the case gained national attention and attracted volunteer search teams. However, after ten days of searching, the area was vacant when the Adventures With Purpose crew arrived over the weekend.