Advertisement

Leads scarce as search for missing Truckee teen Kiely Rodni closes in on one week

Look at her necklaces. She was wearing three strands, each smaller than the next.

Watch for her car, a silver 2003 Honda CR-V. Remember what she wore: a black spaghetti strap bodysuit, a pair of green Dickies brand pants with a black grommet belt and a pair of black Vans sneakers.

She had a hooded sweatshirt that the authorities searching for her say is significant, its inscription now more ominous: “You don’t want to be forgotten. You just want to disappear.”

“We believe she was still in possession of this hoodie when she disappeared,” Placer County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Angela Musallam told reporters this week.

It’s been six days since 16-year-old Kiely Rodni vanished from a party at Prosser Family Campground just miles from her Truckee home. Despite the hundreds of tips and the efforts of hundreds of searchers in the waters of Prosser Reservoir, rugged forest and in the skies above Truckee, the result is frustratingly the same.

Kiely remains missing as the search closes in on one week.

“We do not have any new leads and I can tell you that is very frustrating for us,” Placer County Sheriff’s Lt. Josh Barnhart told reporters Wednesday in Truckee, where more than 200 searchers from agencies across California have been working to find 16-year-old Kiely and pleading for tips.

“Anyone, anyone who was at that party that night, please go to the tip line,” Barnhart said. “We can’t urge enough that people that were there know something.”

The search tip line is 530-581-6320, option 7, or tips can be emailed to sheriff_tahoeinvesttips@placer.ca.gov.

But into Friday afternoon as authorities prepared to gather once again before reporters in Truckee, clues to her whereabouts were still scarce.

Placer County Sheriff’s Office has created a central online location to upload even more tips. On the page, the words in bold red type read, “Help Find Kiely.”

Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, co-piloting the search effort with Placer County, activated its countywide Code Red missing person alert on Thursday.

Nevada County has swimmers in the water at Prosser Reservoir. Nevada County Sheriff’s Capt. Sam Brown said K-9 teams — tracker, evidence and cadaver dogs — are also on the hunt. Nothing is off the table, Brown said.

Their only known lead, their only solid piece of evidence, is the photo of Kiely hours before the fateful waterside party captured by a store’s security camera.

Kiely’s phone has been turned off since 12:30 a.m. that Saturday morning, Musallam said.

They hold out hope for others, focusing on the campground where authorities say as many as 300 other teens partied late into the night.

“We’re continuing to interview the people who last saw her, but so far, nothing has been able to lead us to Kiely,” Musallam said on Wednesday.

“Someone knows. Someone saw her, but they’re not coming forward,” Barnhart said. “We’re not concerned with what was happening at that party. Our only concern is getting Kiely back.”