Found Deceased CA - Kiely Rodni Missing From Party Near Prosser Family Campground in Truckee #6

[Truckeeite]

I just looked closely at Google maps in the area where the cars were supposedly parked during the party and also in the area where it is believed KR went into the water. It should be noted that the water levels were a lot higher than depicted on these maps, but it is quite obvious that people frequently drive all over the washboard area by the lake. You can see all the tracks and evidence of wheelies. Knowing this, Kiely may have tried to drive down the beach to leave and ran into trouble. It’s also possible there were lots and lots of tire tracks in that area the next morning when people went to look for Kiely.

The beach is not the way home, and this is obvious when you are down there.

 

[Truckeeite]

I think suicide is about the least likely, but not impossible. While I understand suicide is far from predictable in many cases, I think some proponents of the suicide or more common "she just drove drunk into the lake, use Occam's razor... duh!" theorists are overlooking that Kiely was rather unique. I'm not trying to make the deceased, pretty, young woman into an angel, although that's certainly not uncommon for people to do in general. She was 16, while her friends that went to party and most of those at party seem to have been 18 or older. She was home schooled, while most of those at party went to public high school together and/or already graduated. She graduated 2(?) years early and with honors. She played multiple musical instruments and was interested in medicine, science, cooking, etc. She had a good relationship with her family and people cared about her. I don't think this fits the suicide profile, nor the (previously considered before she was found) runaway profile. She was young, pretty, smart, talented, social and had everything to live for. She didn't seem to be the "drink and do shrooms every weekend" party type, although I could be totally wrong. She didn't even plan on going to that party until that day.

and we actually don't know that she was intoxicated. was there more than one witness who said so?

 

[Gemmie]

everyone had a 12:30 curfew and a bunch of people won't talk to police. nope not buying it.

I agree. I don't recall how long it takes to get from there back to town but at least 1am I'm thinking (30 min?). That's just... not sounding right that they ALL had the same curfew. Excuse me for not reading every single post on this thread but I recall something about ~400 people LE interviewed. I was like "Dang....".

Was the party that large? If so, I REALLY doubt all ~400 of them had a 1am or so curfew. Something prompted them to all get away from there and I'm really doubting it was a curfew. It feels like something went down and they all headed for the exit.

 

[OldCop]

The beach is not the way home, and this is obvious when you are down there.

My thought was she may have tried to get to that second spur road, (near where her car was found) to drive up to the main road from the beach especially if she was blocked in and anxious to start home.

 

[SpideySense]

everyone had a 12:30 curfew and a bunch of people won't talk to police. nope not buying it.

I’m not really trying to sell anything, just offering a boring, sensible reason why a big party of high schoolers that the whole community knows about might break up around a certain time.

 

[Truckeeite]

Again, I have 100% respect that you live in Truckee and that you drove down the road Kiely would have driven, and that the road was treacherous, so you don't think Kiely drove herself there.

I'm still unclear, though, on what you think did happen. I know you say you're believing it's foul play, but I'm confused about the logistics.

The road is extremely difficult to navigate, even with your AWD and even at 5 mph, even in the daytime. I hear you. I understand. But how would the scenario you envision here actually happen?

If someone else drove Kiely there, with murderous intent, how did that person get down the impassible road? How could he (I presume a male) have driven Kiely over that terrible road, gotten the car which you speculate he drove with her into the lake, when he was allegedly driving it, and then "go home in <his> own car?"

If I'm reading it correctly, it would be impossible for someone to not only traverse a treacherous road, but to drive it into the lake while he himself is behind the wheel, leave the car with Kiely in the lake, and yet take his own car home down that road.

Are you thinking therefore that more than one car made this deadly trip? An accomplice that followed them and then drove the culprit back?

I'm not meaning to come off as argumentative, at all, I just can't grasp the logistics. If it's a road that is a menace to a car, it's even more difficult for me to imagine two cars taking that trip.

Only my own opinion and I know I don't live there. I am truly just inquiring.

I have no idea if it was a male. It could have been a female. It could have been a group. They might have had no evil intention. Remember the "Lord of the Flies" reference? these are people fighting in the woods for fun. were they running cars around the beach "for fun" until there was a deadly accident? I have no idea. All I can say is that I don't buy that she accidentally drove into the lake, and I find it extremely suspicious that her phone stopped pinging when there was a mass exodus.

As for how the culprit(s) would do this and get out of there, that's easy. They didn't arrive in her car, and they didn't leave in her car. They didn't need her car to get out of there. It was a huge party with people arriving in groups and lots of cars to get out of there. NO need for accomplices or even premeditation.

 

[Truckeeite]

My thought was she may have tried to get to that second spur road, (near where her car was found) to drive up to the main road from the beach especially if she was blocked in and anxious to start home.

maybe and going 5 mph as is necessary on these roads, it would be obvious she's at the beach and it's time to turn around

 

[branmuffin]

I haven't really been following this thread but I thought I'd provide a few tips regarding the worst case scenario of your vehicle entering a body of water. According to a lot of experts, as soon as you realize you are entering water, unlock your seatbelt. If children are in the vehicle do not undo their seatbelts until you have established an exit. Keep your hands at the 10 to 2 position bracing yourself to avoid being injured by possible airbag deployment and to maintain orientation. Open the window as soon as you hit the water. It'll make the water come in quicker but you'll be right where you need to be. If you can't open the window by rolling it down or hitting the button, remove the head rest on your seat or the passenger seat and use the two metal prongs to break the window. This needs to be done as soon as possible since once the water enters the cabin visibility will be reduced. People can survive if they know what to do ahead of time. Panic depletes energy and oxygen.

I did watch the recovery of the vehicle. The car was pretty clean; no weeds or mud. AFAIK no one has referenced how quickly the drop off is into the lake at that location. Since vehicles sink nose first, it's possible the vehicle somersaulted onto its back as soon as the tires stopped touching bottom. People have questioned why the vehicle came out of the water with the rear end coming out first if it flipped over. I think it's possible the rescue team (the divers) oriented the vehicle that way to ensure the remains stayed in the vehicle as it was being towed out of the water.

Front windshields are manufactured using laminated glass and are much more difficult to break than tempered glass. Door windows were manufactured using tempered glass so they are much easier to break with a window-punch or a hammer.

Unfortunately, most car manufacturers have migrated to laminated glass for side and rear windows since most accidents happen on land and laminated glass protects the occupants of the vehicles much more than tempered glass. Submersed vehicles make up a very small percentage of fatalities so many of the exercises relating to escaping a sinking vehicle become moot so it is imperative to get the windows down asap as soon as you know you are entering a water source. I believe the year and make of Kiely's vehicle still had tempered glass side windows.

 

[getthefax]

Did a mass exodus happen? Could someone point me to where that was confirmed to have happened?

Also:

My thought was she may have tried to get to that second spur road, (near where her car was found) to drive up to the main road from the beach especially if she was blocked in and anxious to start home.

S & BBM

This is exactly what I’m thinking after studying Google Earth tonight. That she missed the turn into that spur road and kept following that beach thinking she had gotten onto the road, and kept going straight instead of making the left.

Edited to add “S&BBM”

 

[MsBetsy]

I'm 100% with you just from looking at maps. I didn't know about the wash-board terrain, but with her headlights turned on and driving slowly, she should have realized that she was on the beach heading towards water. I've brought up the possibility that she thought the water was some sort of mirage - not processing what she was seeing - but still, hard to believe she accidentally drove into the water. That's why I wondered about suicide. Least likely, in my opinion, is that someone put her in the car and rolled her into the water, but that is possible. Locals would know that the water has a steep drop-off a few feet into the water.

I once took a wrong turn down a boat ramp and mistook the lake for the road. There was fog hovering over the water and it was dark, but it looked like the continuation of the road. I had two kids in the car and hit the brakes only when suddenly one of them yelled, "MOM!"

Luckily I had to made a right turn to get on the ramp, so I was only going a few miles an hour. If I hadn't stopped within a couple of seconds, we would have been in the water.

In this case, Kiely would not have had to make a turn and slow down. Doesn't the road she was on lead straight onto the beach? Do we know the speed limit on that road? It would help if we had a picture of the view from the road to the beach.

If she was aware that she was on the beach I'm curious if she would have had time to stop. Isn't there an incline close to the shore? I wonder if it's possible she didn't see the water until the last minute? There was no moonlight at that time, IIRC.

Could the incline have caused a car to become airborne? Or would it have to be traveling at a high speed for the tires to leave the ground?

 

[otto]

My thought was she may have tried to get to that second spur road, (near where her car was found) to drive up to the main road from the beach especially if she was blocked in and anxious to start home.

The water levels in those 2022 images is really low.

On August 8, the water was 4-5 feet higher, roughly an additional 25 feet of shore under water, than it was on August 21.

The party was 600 yards West of where the car was located.

"But the car was still found just around 600 yards from the party, which was held in a clearing of pine trees that overlooks the water." (link)

This topography map shows a higher water level. What if most of the shore is normally under water and this year there are new roads.

Was she looking for this road? A shortcut home?

 

[otto]

@Truckeeite, are there drought conditions in the area right now? There's drought all over the world, including agriculture areas in the USA.

I'm curious whether the water levels were lower than normal on August 8.

 

[5W's]

The 12 miles didn’t consist of perfect paved roads. The party was at the Sanctuary area with 4 wheel drive needed uneven roads not nice level roads like over at the campground.
Plus she had the last few miles off road to get to the lodge that included navigating a tunnel with a creek bed.

I don’t doubt it would take at least 35-40 minutes at nighttime with no street lights.
JMO

Like I said in the original post or earlier, she was left to her own defenses. Your statement just proves my point. Regardless of the the unpaved roads she and her family are familliar with the area. So she would most likely know not go the way she did.

 

[Truckeeite]

I once took a wrong turn down a boat ramp and mistook the lake for the road. There was fog hovering over the water and it was dark, but it looked like the continuation of the road. I had two kids in the car and hit the brakes only when suddenly one of them yelled, "MOM!"

Luckily I had to made a right turn to get on the ramp, so I was only going a few miles an hour. If I hadn't stopped within a couple of seconds, we would have been in the water.

In this case, Kiely would not have had to make a turn and slow down. Doesn't the road she was on lead straight onto the beach? Do we know the speed limit on that road? It would help if we had a picture of the view from the road to the beach.

If she was aware that she was on the beach I'm curious if she would have had time to stop. Isn't there an incline close to the shore? I wonder if it's possible she didn't see the water until the last minute? There was no moonlight at that time, IIRC.

Could the incline have caused a car to become airborne? Or would it have to be traveling at a high speed for the tires to leave the ground?

"it looked like a continuation of the road" - exactly. and in that case, it is absolutely understandable

This does not look like a continuation of the road It is a very distinct and total change in terrain. You go from extremely narrow dirt roads which are the only way in and out of this forsaken place to wide open beach.

 

[Truckeeite]

@Truckeeite, are there drought conditions in the area right now? There's drought all over the world, including agriculture areas in the USA.

I'm curious whether the water levels were lower than normal on August 8.

we were told water levels were 4-5 feet lower, not enough to change anything I am saying. There would still be a substantial wide open beach that is totally different from the road home

 

[SpideySense]

Here is an actual video of the road to the party site and the beach.

Video from Steve Fischer, PI

It is a normal, wide dirt road, and I’m really, really struggling with why we would be getting reports that it is severely rutted, treacherous, narrow, and barely passable unless people are simply in the wrong location.

For orientation, at the very beginning of the video, the PI filming is located at (39.3765934, -120.1638916). His car is parked at (39.3769938, -120.1643009). At 00:23 into the video, you have a clear view of the road that leads to the beach where Kiely’s car was found. From the point at 00:23 in the video, the fishtail (39.3747531, -120.1630819) is about 220 yards from the PI’s position straight down that road.

The roads are wide and flat, IMO, but PLEASE judge for yourself.

 

[otto]

Did a mass exodus happen? Could someone point me to where that was confirmed to have happened?

Also:

S & BBM

This is exactly what I’m thinking after studying Google Earth tonight. That she missed the turn into that spur road and kept following that beach thinking she had gotten onto the road, and kept going straight instead of making the left.

Edited to add “S&BBM”

Maybe she was looking for this shortcut road back home - maybe @Truckeeite can tell us whether this is possible. Did some people leave the party on that road with the white line?

 

[5W's]

Wow, that's nuts! We have similar trails/roads around here, so I can picture it. One even has some houses along it and I don't understand what the ppl do who live out there. I drove on it once in a Jeep and some of the homes had low, ordinary vehicles, like Chevy Cavaliers parked out there....No, thanks!

Ok, so question then: how did AWP and all the LE get down there? There must be something easier to travel on down to the beach where you can easily get to where she was found ? How would they have gotten all their equipment down in there??

Good to read your local thoughts. Now... if she was blasted out of her mind, and managed to make it through the trees somehow to the open beach area, maybe she was so far gone in her mind that she didn't even notice the sudden lack of trees and open space. Moon had set, no street lights, no light pollution. She was probably not in a sober state of mind to react quickly, perhaps had even passed out by then. Or when/if she realized she was near water it was too late. And the elevation dips considerably at the edge so you could probably just casually roll down the edge and perhaps even flip over. Just speculating here. I also tend to feel this was a terrible accident or a cover up. Too many things have been said by vocal friends to deflect the scene from there. Not one person said "I hope she didn't make a wrong turn into the water" and instead we've read "she was abducted."

The only thing is though that the party area seems to be a smoother area but in the dirt in terms of where they were parked the beach is a different texture, the roads are similar to where they were parked at the party. So being familliar with the place she would drive slow and if she was driving slow then she would be cognizant of terrain. Plus if she was aware of this then she would also hear rhe water of the resevoir.

 

[otto]

Here is an actual video of the road to the party site and the beach.

Video from Steve Fischer, PI

It is a normal, wide dirt road, and I’m really, really struggling with why we would be getting reports that it is severely rutted, treacherous, narrow, and barely passable unless people are simply in the wrong location.

For orientation, at the very beginning of the video, the PI filming is located at (39.3765934, -120.1638916). His car is parked at (39.3769938, -120.1643009). At 00:23 into the video, you have a clear view of the road that leads to the beach where Kiely’s car was found. From the point at 00:23 in the video, the fishtail (39.3747531, -120.1630819) is about 220 yards from the PI’s position straight down that road.

The roads are wide and flat, IMO, but PLEASE judge for yourself.

That video doesn't show the roads going down to the shore. The side road is not paved.

 

[SpideySense]

That video doesn't show the roads going down to the shore. I think those are unpaved washboard roads.

I don’t understand. The straightaway shown at 00:23 ends 220 yards from the PI at the fishtail. From the fishtail, taking a left, there’s a short 400 foot entrance to the beach.