The family of Kiely Rodni, whose body is believed to have been found in a Northern California reservoir, released a statement Monday, saying the 16-year-old girl "will surely remain with us even though we will not get her back."
"While 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," the Rodni-Nieman family said in the statement. Read the family's entire statement in the tweet below.
Rodni was last seen alive Aug. 6 near the Prosser Family Campground in Truckee, attending a party with hundreds of young people, authorities have said. The campground is at the Prosser Creek Reservoir in the Sierra Nevada, about 165 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Volunteer divers with a sonar-equipped group called Adventures with Purpose said they found Rodni on Sunday inside her car, which they said came to rest upside down under about 14 feet of water in Prosser Creek Reservoir, about 55 feet offshore.
Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said Monday that the body had not been identified yet but “we believe it is our missing person.” The body was found when the teen’s submerged car was located, but officials offered no theory of how it ended up in the water.
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