As investigators ramp up the search for a Tahoe area teen who has been missing for more than a week, her family urges anyone with information to come forward. Alyssa Goard reports.
It has now been more than a week since a teenager from Truckee, CA went missing after a party in the Tahoe area. The search for 16-year-old Kiely Rodni continues, but investigators say there's still no sign of her or her car. Kieley was last seen in the early hours of August 6 at a party at the Prosser Family Campground.
Neither Kiely, nor her car (a 2013 silver Honda CRV), nor her cell phone have been found, investigators said.
Saturday, investigators said that the number of leads they've received about this case has grown to more than one thousand. They said that so far about 700 of those leads have been processed.
“Unfortunately, there has been no fruitful lead that has sent us in a solid direction,” shared Angela Musallam, Public Information Officer with the Placer County Sheriff's Office.
"I beg of you to find the courage to step forward"
Investigators in Kiely's case say they know two hundred to three hundred teens and young adults were at the party where Kiely was last seen. Musallam said that investigators have only spoken to "a fraction" of the people in attendance.
"The most frustrating thing is the lack of cooperation of some of those juveniles who were at that party Friday evening," Musallam said. "And we can’t stress it enough, you’re not gonna get in trouble, we don’t want to get anybody in trouble, we just want to know where Kiely is."
She noted that you can choose to be anonymous when you give your tip. Anyone with tips can submit information online, via email at sheriff_tahoeinvesttips@placer.ca.gov, or call the sheriff's office tip line at (530)581-6320 Option 7.
"We are not interested in following anybody for any other reason, for anything that happened at that party, whether it be the underage drinking that we know occurred or the illicit drug activity that we know occurred, right now its one team, one goal, one mission, and that’s to find Kiely," Musallam continued.
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Kiely's mother, Lindsey Rodni- Nieman, is making the same plea.
"If there’s anyone who knows of anything about my daughter’s disappearance and has not come forward, I implore you, I beg of you to find the courage to step forward and to share a story even if it’s a hard thing to do," Lindsey said in a video message she sent to NBC Bay Area on Saturday.
"As I sit here tonight and contemplate the stage that the current investigation is in and search for Kiely, I think about all of the brave teens who have come forward and how courageous they have all been in sharing their story, Lindsey continued. "I think about the parents of those teens who have been so courageous in supporting their children in the decision to come forward and do that right thing of sharing."
Lindsey also noted that there is a $50,000 reward offered for anyone who brings forward information that helps lead to Kiely.
Searching on Land and in the Water for Clues
At a press conference on Saturday, investigators shared that the last "ping" they detected from Kiely's phone came from right near the water at Prosser Lake where the party was. Investigators had previously shared that the "ping" from her phone came at around 12:30 a.m. on August 6.
Nevada County Sheriff's Captain Sam Brown said at the press conference that investigators continue to look for the phone in the lake.
But Brown noted: "Just because it was last pinged there, that doesn’t mean that’s where the phone stopped being, there’s lots of reasons of why those notifications or data points could be lost."
Local, state and federal law enforcement (including the FBI) are involved in the search for Kiely.
Investigators said they were ramping up search efforts for Kiely over the weekend, with more than 200 people expected to help with the search at Prosser Lake on Saturday and Sunday. Most of those searching are trained volunteers, Brown said.
Investigators explained that search parties had already been searching at Prosser Lake by swimming along at the surface level. Now, Brown said, dive teams were beginning to help with the search there as well. The Washoe County Sheriff's Office Tweeted about their efforts to help with the dive search on Saturday, but shared the dive yielded no signs of Kiely or her car.
At the press conference Saturday, investigators acknowledged that at some point they will have to "tailor back" their search and rescue effort if Kiely is not found. But Lt. Josh Barnhart with the Placer County Sheriff's Office noted that as far as the investigation is concerned "as long as tips are coming in, we're going to continue that effort."
Keeping Up Hope
Steve Hernandez, who has worked in law enforcement and currently serves as the CEO of risk mitigation company The North Group thinks there is still hope for finding Kiely. Hernandez works with his company to help with private investigations of missing persons cases.
"It doesn’t concern me as an investigator that we’re at a week [since Kiely was seen], because again we don’t get wrapped into, 'oh goodness we’re at a week we gotta slow down', we work as aggressively as we did the day we started until we locate the victim," Hernandez said.
"That’s why I say the last thing to die is hope because you maintain hope, even as an investigator you maintain hope, you turn over every stone," he continued.
Saturday in Truckee brought a day of music and much needed hope as Kiely's family, friends and community members came together for a concert at Truckee Regional Park. The concert aimed to celebrate Kiely's love of music and to support her family, KCRA reported.
Kiely's mother, Lindsey Rodni-Nieman, attended the event and called it "uplifting."
"That is so important: to restore ourselves as we move forward in our unyielding search and determination to bring my daughter home,” Lindsey said of the concert in a video message she sent to NBC Bay Area.
