Authorities reiterated, more than once at yesterday's press conference, that this is still a very active investigation. Regardless of what may seem likely, based on where Kiely's car was ultimately located, we cannot know for sure that she did or did not drive into the water from the boat ramp, or from another location. Many cases are evidence that a vehicle in water is not always found where it is expected to be, but in an entirely different area. The Susan Smith case has been specifically cited here, where her car was found during a third search of a lake, because investigators expected it to be within 30 feet of the boat launch that it had been driven off of, and it was found 9 days after going in, some 100 feet from the boat ramp. Each case of a vehicle going into water is different, based on factors such as speed and angle of entry, weight and type of vehicle, whether windows may have been up or down, and other factors.
According to information given during yesterday's press conference, CHP is calling in their MAIT (Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Teams) to fully investigate the accident. I am confident that they will conduct a very thorough investigation, and will ultimately be able to completely reconstruct this tragic accident, including how and from where she ended up, deceased, where her car finally settled on the bottom of Prosser Reservoir. JMO
The objective of the MAIT Program is to provide the CHP with the means to conduct in-depth investigations and analyses of major traffic collisions throughout the state. Investigations include the reconstruction of an incident and a study of the factors that may have contributed to the incident. The factors include environmental, human and mechanical and are associated with the three phases of a collision which are pre-collision, at-collision and post-collision.
www.chp.ca.gov