The body of missing California teen Kiely Rodni may have been found after a volunteer dive team claimed that they have discovered a body and an overturned car in the reservoir near where she was last seen two weeks ago before mysteriously disappearing. Adventures with Purpose, an amateur search and recovery group, claimed on Sunday that they found Rodni.
The search team, which boasts a million subscribers on YouTube, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that a six-man dive team found the 2013 Honda CRV that Rodni, 16, is thought to have driven to a graduation party near the lake out of Prosser Creek Reservoir before disappearing from there.
Grim Discovery
A six-man dive crew affiliated with Adventures With Purpose, a search-and-recovery group known for cracking almost two dozen cold cases, claimed to have found the car Rodni was driving in a reservoir. The discovery was announced by the amateur Oregon investigators in a Sunday afternoon Facebook post.
"Car is upside down in only 14' of water," the group wrote. "We have CONFIRMED Kiely is inside. Family Notified. Law Enforcement on their way."
One of the divers who discovered the car told the New York Post that its license plate matches that of the Honda Rodni was operating when she vanished. Police were unable to immediately identify the body, though.
A representative for Rodni's family stated that they had not verified the identity of the body. "Nothing has been confirmed. We are not taking any action at this time. Watch Placer County Sheriff's Facebook page. Only they will know if this is a rumor," Linda Luchetti, a media rep for the family, told The U.S. Sun.
A flatbed tow truck, two police divers, and representatives from the Placer County Sheriff's Office, California Highway Patrol, and Truckee Police were seen at the spot where Rodni's body is claimed to have been found.
"We are aware of this information and have additional staff enroute to meet with Adventures With Purpose," said the Nevada County Sheriff's Office in a Facebook post.
This comes as authorities are now being pressed to explain why they spent 20,000 hours looking for Rodni when a volunteer dive team is said to have discovered her remains.
In a Sunday update, the Placer County Sheriff's Office stated that they were actively searching for the missing 16-year-old with seven police and seven helicopters.
According to data released by the Placer County Sheriff's Office on Sunday, 18 agencies spent a total 19,951 man hours on the "astronomical" hunt for Rodni, which covered thousands of acres and at least two states.
When local authorities said that they would be reducing search efforts to concentrate on the inquiry, fears that Rodni would never be recovered had grown.
End of a Long Search
Law authorities recruited the dive team Adventures With Purpose for the investigation, and they started scouring the reservoir on Sunday. Six divers from Oregon gave the reservoir one more go in an effort to locate Rodni after at least three police dive teams had already searched there.
The divers practically investigated every body of water surrounding Truckee, California before doing one final probe of the water nearest to where the party was held. Law enforcement on the ground had advised the team that the body of water had already been properly searched, but the team nonetheless chose to double-check.
"Police told us they did a rigorous search of this body of water," diver Josh Cantu, 31, said. "They gave us a grid map and made us confident we didn't need to search here."
Following the dive, one of the crew members, Nick Rinn, 48, discovered a body in a car not far from the shore.
Rodni was last seen on August 6 in the park near Truckee, California. She had been drinking at the party, according to several guests. She texted her mother to let her know she was returning at 12:30 a.m. near the campground's reservoir. However, she never returned home.
Rodni disappeared just around the time she was about to leave for home in her 2013 silver Honda after leaving the party at the Prosser Family Campground.
Her family runs a small hotel called The Lost Trail Lodge on the property where they live. She was last seen 12 miles away from this location.
Her family stated in a police statement that they would hold off on making any comprehensive disclosure until they had official approval. However, Adventures With Purpose seems to be quite confident about the discovery and police although haven't confirmed anything officially yet, they too believe that it might be the end of the search for Rodni.
