The Placer County Sheriff's Office announced on Tuesday, August 9, 2022, that it is intensifying the search for missing 16-year-old Kiely Rodni. The teen was reported missing on August 6, 2022, in Truckee, California, after she never made it home from a graduation party.
“Today helicopters from the California Highway Patrol and the Placer County Sheriff's Office continue to do aerial searches for Kiely and her vehicle,” the department shared on Facebook.
There are 77 people assigned to the search, and the department has received over 100 tips from the public.
The department explained, "The Placer County Sheriff’s Office and Nevada County Sheriff's Office continue to search for 16-year-old Kiely Rodni who went missing in the early morning hours of August 6th, near the Prosser Family Campground. Numerous resources and agencies have responded to help locate Kiely over the past several days. This includes investigators and search and rescue specialists from across the region.”
Kiely was last seen at around 12:30 a.m. She had been at a graduation party with about 100 other adolescents that night. According to her mother, Lindsey Rodni-Nieman, the party was celebrating high school seniors. Kiely graduated with honors at 16.
Kiely is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds. She is blond with hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing Dickies pants and a black tank top. She has multiple piercings.
Lindsey Rodni-Nieman posted a plea on Facebook to help in the efforts to find her daughter. She stated, “We just want her home. We're so scared and we miss her so much, and we love her so much."
Rodni-Nieman talked directly to her daughter: “Kiely, we love you and if you see this, please just come home. I want nothing more than to hug you.”
She then shifted and spoke to the public: “If anybody else out there, if you know where she is, if you know anything about where she might be, if you have any ideas or thoughts, please come forward and share them."
She stressed that they do not want to get anyone in trouble. She just wants to have her daughter back: “And we're not looking to like bust anybody else or get anyone in trouble, we just want to see our daughter home." Rodni-Nieman received a text at 12:15 a.m. from Kiely that she was on her way home.
A friend of Kiely’s worries that she might have been kidnapped. Sami Smith told CBS, “I know that she wasn't in the right mindset or state to drive. And if she were to have driven, she wouldn't have made it far. So my concern is that somebody might have offered to drive her home and then didn't take her home."
The police agreed with Sami, stating, "We're treating it like an abduction right now because we can't locate her vehicle." Kiely drove a silver 2013 Honda CRV with California license plate No. 8YUR127. Her phone is also not on.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact the police. The number to call is 530-581-6320, option 7. Callers are able to remain anonymous.
