In the search for missing teenager Kiely Rodni, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies spent a day digging at a site where they believed she could be buried, but instead found the remains of a dog.
The agency was acting on one of the 1,200 tips they have received in relation to the case.
Kiely, 16, has been missing for more than a week after vanishing from a party at a campground in Truckee in northeastern California on 6 August.
The public information officer at the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, Angela Musallam, told the press on Saturday that “yesterday, there was a potential burial site that was located near the campground”.
“It was located by a search-and-rescue ground team. Kiely’s family was notified of the potential development,” she added, according to SFGate. “The FBI responded to secure the scene yesterday and was accompanied by the Placer and Nevada county sheriff’s offices. The FBI agents investigated the site through early this morning and recovered the remains of a dog.”
Captain Sam Brown, from the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, said that the last connection with Kiely’s cellphone occurred at about 12.30am on 6 August. There were between 200 and 300 teenagers and young adults present at the Prosser Family Campground party in Truckee.
The case is being treated as an abduction because Kiely’s car is also missing.
Kiely’s mother Lindsey Rodni-Nieman previously told The Independent that her daughter’s last text message from 11.30pm stated that she would be “straight home” in around 45 minutes.
But a friend told The Independent that she was planning on staying at the campground overnight and that she was too drunk to get behind the wheel.
Captain Brown said the last known location of Kiely’s phone was close to Prosser Lake – the constructed reservoir that goes around the campground.
He added that data could’ve been lost and that the phone could have continued pinging past 12.30am.
“The ping for the data points was near the water. It’s hard to tell an exact pinpoint,” Captain Brown said. “Just as much on land as it was on water.”
Divers and swimmers have been searching the lake since the disappearance. Captain Brown noted that the reservoir is 57 feet deep at its deepest point and that the visibility is a problem.
“A diving operation like that is almost like you’re going into the water blind, and you’re basically searching with hands,” he said. “Because once you start manoeuvering the ground, it’s like going through mud. These are tough operations.”
At the time of her disappearance, Kiely was wearing a black bodysuit and dark green Dickies pants. Video security footage captured her wearing the outfit at a local shop at 6.08pm on 5 August, just hours before she went to the party at the campground.
She’s described as 5’7’ (170cm) and 115 pounds (52kg), with blonde hair, hazel eyes, and a nose ring. She also has several piercings and the number 17 tattooed on her ribs. The California license plate on her vehicle is 8YUR127.
Kiely’s family operates the Lost Trail Lodge in Truckee, which is around 12 miles from the campground.
Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to call the Placer County Sheriff’s Office at 530-581-6320, and choose option 7. Tips can also be emailed to sheriff_tahoeinvesttips@placer.ca.gov and files, including images, can be uploaded to the Placer Sheriff’s Office here.
