Meta: Kiely Rodni missing latest: Truckee teen’s mom asks for peers at Prosser campground party to come forward

Police released a new picture of Kiely wearing a distinctive necklace that friends and family say she always wears.

Placer County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Angela Musallam urged the public to contact authorities if they come across the gold chain while searching for Kiely.

“We’re told she always wears this type of jewelry … We’d want anybody who comes across [these necklaces] to please contact us immediately because this would certainly provide us a new tip, and a new direction,” Ms Musallam said during the press conference, KCRA 3 reported.

The mother of Kiely Rodni has revealed that her daughter almost didn’t go to the campground party the night she disappeared as she issued a gut-wrenching plea to local teenagers to help “piece together” what happened.

Lindsey Rodni-Nieman spoke to The Independent on Thursday as the search for her missing 16-year-old daughter entered its fifth day and investigators are no closer to getting answers as to her whereabouts.

She said that Kiely had planned to go to a car show in Reno with her mother on Friday night but texted her during the day to say that she was going to go to a party at the Prosser Family Campground instead.

Ms Rodni-Nieman said she wishes Kiely had never gone to the party that night and had joined her at the car show that night. But she said thinking like that is “not helpful”.

The Independent‘s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

The Prosser Family Campground is a popular hangout spot for local teenagers and is seen as a “safe space” for young people, Kiely’s mother’s Lindsey Rodni-Nieman has revealed.

Teenagers have partied and hung out at the campground going back decades and Kiely had been to several parties there before Friday.

“It feels like a safe place. Like a neighborhood backyard,” said Ms Rodni-Nieman.

“It’s a couple of miles out of town and is just this open space with reservoirs and camping and dirt roads. Lots of people go riding dirt bikes or hiking and it’s a community space.”

What was different that night was that the party was “very large” with teens from different schools all over the region descending there.

“There’s not generally so many people there. That’s what made it unusual,” said Kiely’s mother.

Officials have said that around 200 to 300 teenagers and young adults gathered for the party that night.

A desperate search continues for 16-year-old Kiely Rodni, who vanished from a party at a northern California campground on 5 August.

Kiely was last seen around 12.30am on Saturday (6 August) near the Prosser Family Campground in Truckee, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said.

She is described as white, 5’7” tall, and 115 pounds with blonde hair and hazel eyes. She has numerous piercings and jewelry, including a nose ring, and was last seen wearing green Dickies pants and a black tank top.

The FBI, Homeland Security, California Highway Patrol and several other local law enforcement agencies have joined the Placer Sheriff’s Office in the search for Kiley. Hundreds of investigators and K-9 units are searching for Kiely, but no leads have emerged that could possibly indicate what happened to her after the party.

The Independent‘s Andrea Blanco has the full story:

Officials and Kiely Rodni’s family members are urging partygoers to come forward with information – no matter how big or small.

Kiely’s mother Lindsey Rodni-Nieman issued a desperate appeal begging teens to help piece together what happened to her daughter as she believes someone must know something that could help.

“We are desperate for any other teens to come out and share the last pieces of the story that nobody seems to be able to piece together,” she told The Independent Thursday.

“If we could just have that piece of the story of who she did leave with, when, which way did she go. I’m imploring the teenagers and the parents of the teenagers.”

She added: “I do think that there are stories from that night that have not been told and I think that as soon as those people who have stories have courage to come forward and share it would be such a massive turning point and could help slingshot us forward.”

Ms Rodni-Nieman also urged “parents to beg their kids to share anything they know”.

Kiely’s boyfriend Jagger Westfall said that both he and Kiely’s father had taught the teen to “to get out of sticky situations” and insisted that he believes she is “alive and well”.

“Her dad taught her a lot of stuff about like self defense, things like that,” he told KTXL.

“I taught her how to get out of sticky situations. I know that she’s smart. She wouldn’t do something that would definitely put her life at risk.

“I really need her back. I really just need to know that she’s safe, that’s all I need at this point, I really want to hug her again.”

He added: “I definitely feel like that in this current situation that she’s safe.

“I don’t know where she is. We don’t have anything to go off of at this point. But, I fully believe that she’s alive and well.”

Kiely’s mother has spoken out to say that there was “nothing out of the ordinary” with her daughter on the day she vanished.

Lindsey Rodni-Nieman told The Independent on Thursday that she last saw Kiely on Friday morning and spoke to her by text message that night, not long before her last known sighting.

It was just any normal day.

Kiely had come downstairs in their home that morning and mother and daughter chatted about their plans for the day.

“It was ‘Morning, hi, love you’ and talking about plans for the day – just a little check-in as normal,” said Ms Rodni-Nieman.

She said: “She did not seem out of the ordinary at all. Everything seemed the same, she had a big smile on her face and she was ready to greet the day. She was having a good day and week and was excited about going camping the following night. We had a great exchange.”

The mother and daughter last spoke to each other at around 11.30pm that night when Kiely texted her to say she would be leaving the party soon.

“She said she’d be leaving at 12.15 and was going to start heading home,” she said.

That was the last time Ms Rodni-Nieman heard from her daughter.

Authorities have received more than 500 tips in the search for the missing teen, Placer County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday.

Multiple law enforcement agencies have been drafted in to help find Kiely Rodni with 224 personnel assigned to the case together working for over 7,030 hours.

Law enforcement officials have announced that they will update the public and the media about the investigation later today.

A press conference will be held at 2 pm local time (5 pm ET) on Thursday at the Truckee-Donner Recreation & Park District in Truckee.

In a statement announcing the briefing, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office and Nevada County Sheriff’s Office sad that they continue to search for Kiely with numerous resources and agencies responding to help find the teen.

“Searchers from across the state continue their search on the ground, in the air, and in the water – so far, we only have information on Kiely’s last known location before she went missing,” the statement read.

“Detectives from local, state, and federal agencies continue to follow up on leads and conduct interviews in hopes of locating Kiely and her vehicle.”

A community meeting will also be held at 5.30pm local time at the centre.

A GoFundMe launched to increase the reward money for information that helps in the search for Kiely Rodni has now topped $30,000.

The campaign reached $31,770 as of Thursday morning local time.

“With the consent of Kiely’s parents, I am starting this gofundme to help increase the reward for her return,” writes organizer Amie Quirarte.

“We hope this will encourage more people to come forward with any information that can help bring this sweet girl home. Right now, the reward is $5,000. Let’s get that number higher and bring her home from her. Please consider donating!”