Missing California teen Kiely Rodni was found in the back seat of her SUV at the bottom of a reservoir, prompting the diver to remark that the scene appeared “suspicious,” according to a new video of the recovery.
On Friday, Adventures with Purpose, a dive team that searches for missing people and posts videos of their expeditions on YouTube, published footage of crews locating and recovering the 16-year-old.
Rodni disappeared on August 6 after she was last heard from around 12:30 a.m. when she texted her mom that she was leaving a party near the Prosser Family Campground in Truckee. The teen had also reportedly called a friend who was attending the gathering to say goodbye.
On August 21, Adventures with Purpose began scanning Prosser Creek Reservoir for potential objects under the water. Crew member Doug Bishop spotted something and marked the spot with a red buoy.
Diver Nick Rinn then dove into the water and worked his way around the vehicle to make an initial assessment and to determine whether anyone was inside.
“She’s in the back of the vehicle,” Rinn said in the recording after he emerged from the water. “She’s not in the driver’s seat. It looks suspicious to me. The vehicle’s upside down, some of the — one window’s halfway down, one window is all the way down.”
The vehicle and body were found about 20 to 40 feet from shore.
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Adventures with Purpose then notified Rodni’s family and law enforcement, which extracted the teen’s SUV out of the water. Authorities later confirmed that the remains found inside the vehicle were that of Rodni.
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The video also included an interview with a man identified only as “Nick” who claimed he came upon a female he believes to be Rodni. Nick works for a roadside assistance business and was called to help with a dead battery at Boca Lake, which is a different body of water from where Rodni’s remains were found.
Nick claimed that the issue with the vehicle was not a dead battery, but that the gear shift was in neutral. He also alleged that the girl asked him odd questions about using her seatbelt and whether it could be linked “to her actual belt,” according to Adventures with Purpose.
The girl was accompanied by a male wearing a white “bro” tank top and a black San Francisco baseball hat.
Nick claimed that the interaction occurred around 11 a.m. or noon on August 6 or 7 and that the girl and guy seemed to be feeling “unease,” according to the video.
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[Featured image: Family Handout]
