‘Astronomical’: A timeline of Kiely Rodni’s disappearance as search hits apparent end

A more than two-week search for missing 16-year-old Kiely Rodni came to its apparent end Sunday, when dive teams with a volunteer search-and-rescue organization said they found her body and vehicle submerged in water near where she disappeared.

Here is what we know so far about the timeline of Kiely’s disappearance and the vast multi-agency search for her and her SUV.

Aug. 5: Party, then disappearance

Kiely attended a large party the night of Friday, Aug. 5, at Prosser Family Campground, according to the Placer County and Nevada County sheriff’s offices.

The campground is a recreation site on the shores of Prosser Creek Reservoir. Both the recreation area and reservoir are located on federal land within Tahoe National Forest, about a 10-minute drive north of Truckee, where Kiely lived.

Angela Musallam, a Placer County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said in the following days that between about 200 and 300 people attended the party.

Days after announcing she had gone missing, the Sheriff’s Office said it found footage showing Kiely at a Truckee business a few hours before the party. A photo released by authorities showed the teen at a convenience store, wearing a black tank top.

Detective Sgt. Scott Alford said this finding did not provide new information regarding Kiely’s whereabouts but did help to “confirm a timeline that we already had.”

Aug. 6: Authorities announce missing person

The Sheriff’s Office announced Kiely’s disappearance the same day she went missing, on Saturday, Aug. 6.

Kiely was last seen by friends at the party at about 12:30 a.m. that day, authorities wrote in initial social media posts shortly after 5:30 p.m.

Alford said the last signal that pinged from her phone came at 12:33 a.m.

The girl’s vehicle, a silver Honda CR-V, was also missing, authorities said.

Aug. 7: ‘We miss her so much”

Kiely’s mother, Lindsey Rodni-Nieman, spoke out in a video posted by the Sheriff’s Office the day after her daughter disappeared.

Through tears, Rodni-Nieman pleaded for help in locating her daughter.

“We just want her home. We’re so scared, and we miss her so much, and we love her so much.”

Aug. 8: Detectives investigate abduction possibility

Musallam, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, in statements to reporters on Aug. 8 said that Kiely’s disappearance was being investigated as a possible abduction, because authorities had been unable to locate her vehicle in the initial search effort.

The California Highway Patrol did not issue an Amber Alert because the missing person incident was not confirmed as an abduction.

Aug. 9-10: A vast search effort continues

Local law enforcement officials gave multiple updates each day in the immediate aftermath of Kiely’s disappearance, providing numbers for resources used in their search for the teen.

By Aug. 10, more than 220 law enforcement personnel across local sheriff’s offices, the Truckee Police Department, the California Highway Patrol and the FBI had combined for more than 7,000 hours of search time. Helicopters scanned the immediate area as well as nearby Highway 89 and Interstate 80 for Kiely’s Honda. A tip line set up for information had received 500 citizen responses.

In an Aug. 9 news conference held in Truckee and live-streamed online, Sgt. Dennis Hack of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said more than 100 volunteers had also helped at that point.

Law enforcement personnel were also “searching on the water using boats,” he said.

Aug. 15: Search effort scales down

In a news conference on Aug. 15, Capt. Sam Brown of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said law enforcement personnel would need to shift to a more “limited but continuous search and rescue effort.”

“Our biggest problem is, where do we go and how do we keep sustaining this?” Brown said. “We are gonna have to switch modes and kind of focus on the investigative end … we still want all eyes and ears out there.”

Brown said that at that point, through 10 days of searching, authorities had dedicated about 9,000 hours of search time — a total he called “astronomical.”

By Sunday morning, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said the figure had eclipsed 19,000 hours.

The family and authorities, meanwhile, said the reward for Kiely had risen to $75,000.

Aug. 20: Adventures with Purpose arrives

The same day law enforcement officials indicated they would be scaling back search resources, a volunteer organization called Adventures with Purpose announced it would head to California to join in looking for Kiely.

Adventures with Purpose is an “underwater sonar search and recovery dive team helping families locate missing loved ones underwater,” according to its verified Facebook page. Its YouTube page has more than 2 million subscribers.

The volunteer divers and their specialized equipment arrived and began searching the waters at Prosser Creek Reservoir on Saturday, Fox 40 reported.

Aug. 21: Kiely’s vehicle, body reportedly found

Adventures with Purpose in a Facebook post just before 2:30 p.m. Sunday wrote that its divers “just found Kiely Rodni” and her vehicle, which was upside down in 14 feet of water.

“We have CONFIRMED Kiely is inside,” the organization wrote. “Family Notified. Law Enforcement on their way.”

The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office in a statement just after 3:30 p.m. said it was “aware of this information” and had staff en route to meet with Adventures with Purpose.

As of 5 p.m. Sunday, law enforcement officials had not confirmed Adventures with Purpose’s finding or the identity of the body the dive team allegedly found.

Aug. 22: Police say body ‘likely’ that of Kiely

The morning after her vehicle was pulled from the reservoir, law enforcement officials said it was “more than likely” the remains found were those of Kiely, though officials they had yet to confirm positive identification.

“We recovered the vehicle last night,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said during Monday’s news conference in Truckee. “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.”

Authorities said an autopsy would be performed Tuesday, as well as a toxicology report. Results from those findings could take six to eight weeks to be finalized.

Authorities spoke after Adventures with Purpose issued a video statement about their discovery, sharing more details about its weekend search effort. The group said it found the vehicle within about 35 minutes of deploying boats in the water Sunday morning.

Brief video clips shared by the divers showed a vehicle with the same license plate number released by the Placer County and Nevada County sheriff’s offices two weeks earlier. Kiely’s vehicle is a silver Honda CR-V, which the group said they found upside down.

Adventures with Purpose said it would release a longer, edited video version of its search, likely within the next week.