NO FOUL PLAY

Missing California Teen Kiely Rodni’s Death Ruled an Accident by Coroner

Search crews looked for the 16-year-old for weeks before divers discovered her car, with her body inside, in a reservoir close to the campground from which she vanished.

More than a month after the body of teenager Kiely Rodni was recovered from a California reservoir bordering the campground site of her disappearance, her death has been ruled an accident, according to an autopsy report released by the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday.

“This ruling is based on the pathologist’s finding that her death was the result of drowning,” a statement released by the coroner’s division of the sheriff’s office announced, “and that there was no other information to suggest she was the victim of foul play.”

Rodni, 16, vanished from a high school graduation party at the Prosser Family Campground on Aug. 6, sparking a desperate and sprawling two-week search by hundreds of volunteers. More than 15 law enforcement agencies also contributed to the effort, accumulating nearly 20,000 cumulative man hours as officers combed two states and thousands of acres.

The search came to an end on Aug. 21, when Oregon search-and-recovery team Adventures With Purpose announced its divers had found Rodni’s SUV in the Prosser Reservoir, upside down in roughly a dozen feet of water.

The county sheriff’s office asked on Thursday that the media and the public respect the privacy of Rodni’s family. In the aftermath of the teenager’s discovery, the Rodni-Nieman family said in a statement that although “we accept this sadness cast under death’s shadow, the rising sun shines light upon us, reminding us not to mourn our loss, but to celebrate Kiely’s spirit and the gift that we all received in knowing her.”

“Kiely will surely remain with us even though we will not get her back,” they added.

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AJ McDougallBreaking News Reporter

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