Law&Crime Sidebar - Search Team Reveals How They Found Kiely Rodni’s Car in Less Than an Hour

Episode Date: August 23, 2022

Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy speaks with Doug Bishop and Nick Rinn, founders of "Adventures With Purpose," who found Kiely Rodni's vehicle over the weekend. The 16-year-old went missing on August 6, after a graduation party at the Prosser Family Campground near Truckee, California. Sheriff’s deputies had searched a lake nearby where Kiely’s phone last pinged and didn’t find her. But Bishop and Rinn asked to help and found Kiely’s SUV in less than an hour in the same spot that had been searched before.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Get 10% OFF your first month of online therapy with BetterHelp at https://www.betterhelp.com/sidebar GUESTS:Doug Bishop, Founder of "Adventures With Purpose": www.youtube.com/c/AdventureswithPurpose/featuredNick Rinn, Founder of "Adventures With Purpose": www.youtube.com/c/AdventureswithPurpose/featuredLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller

that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. We really want to recognize the reason why we're all here, and that is for this family. We've said that from day one. Two weeks after Kylie Rodney went missing during a party at a Northern California campground. A volunteer search team finds her SUV in a reservoir at the campground. We were very fortunate that we had the assistance of a volunteer group, the adventures with purpose that came out with some very specific expertise, and we're able to help us in locating the vehicle that we had been searching

for for several weeks. The Nevada County Sheriff says she believes that she believes the body inside the vehicle is Kylie Rodney. So what comes next in the investigation? We'll tell you as we talk with two members of the volunteer group that found that SUV. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy and welcome to this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. Well, hundreds of people searched for Kylie Rodney. This was an incredibly sad story. She was just 16 years old, full of promise.

And she went missing on August 6th after texting her mother that she'd be home within 4.4. 45 minutes, and then no one ever heard from her again. Her phone had actually pinged in the area of Prosser Lake, and that is where her SUV sadly was found. Sheriff's officials had actually searched the same area previously and not found anything. So joining us are two members of Adventures with Purpose, Doug Bishop and Nick Rinn to talk with us about finding her SUV over the weekend. Doug and Nick, welcome to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Doug, I'll start with you.

What prompted you to reach out to the sheriff's office in Placer County and Nevada County to offer your assistance? Really, it was our supporters, you know, with 20 million viewers per month and the headline coverage that this was getting nationally. You know, we received tens of thousands of requests as well as multiple phone calls from different agents and detectives. So at that point, we were, you know, we're just a vessel of the community. Placer County Sheriff's Department was very receptive to utilizing us as a recent. source, we're very thankful because we were successful in solving this case that they did so. Now to a word from our sponsor, Better Help. I've told you many times that you really have to do a lot to take care of yourself both mentally and emotionally. One of the things I do to do that

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less expensive than traditional in-person therapy. And our listeners and viewers can actually get 10% off of sessions. Just log on to betterhelp.com slash sidebar. That's betterhelp.com slash sidebar and you'll get 10% off. And Doug, I want you to tell me exactly what you did on Sunday morning. It's my understanding you utilize side scan sonar, which enables you to really see more clearly underwater? Yes. We use cutting edge Garmin sonar technology. It provides us a down-imaging side scan as well as a live scope image. And between the three, we're able to manipulate that to get an accurate reading of what it is that we're seeing. That morning, we utilized two boats in Prosser Creek Reservoir. Like you mentioned, you know, there was

18 agencies that had searched there, as well as 19,000 man hours that had been applied. the previous two weeks. You know, right there when search was scaled back, that's when, you know, we were brought in. You know, we bring a specialty with sonar that is rare. And, you know, the local authorities and the multi, this was a multi-task collaboration, you know, with the FBI, Nevada County Sheriff's and Placer County Sheriff's Department. You know, so everything that was done over the two weeks preceding us and when we got there, you know, we were welcomed. And, you know, what we did when we got there was just a little bit different than what had been done before because we specialized in sonar. And I want you to tell me how it was different because the sheriff's office said at the press

conference on Monday that they had searched that same area. They said there was a lot of silt. So maybe that was part of the reason they didn't see it before. But they sounded like they had used sonar as well. So tell me what you did differently that enabled you to find that vehicle. So what we do differently is, you know, we specialize particularly in finding vehicles. You know, to put it better, you know, law enforcement, they may search for a vehicle, you know, just a handful of times a year. You know, we're also working with the challenges of finding a new vehicle underwater. A new vehicle doesn't come up on sonar. I mean, you have to be really, really trained at it.

You know, when a vehicle first goes in, there's a lot of adversity with sonar because sonar is just reflected right off of its clean surface versus an object that has been underwater with a lot of buildup on it. It's going to absorb the sonar and really enhance that imaging. On the flip side of that, you know, sonar in itself, there aren't national standards for sonar. You know, we, you know, we have, you know, federal standards for, you know, how to use a firearm properly, how to conduct an arrest appropriately. And in those other subject areas that are regulated, there's no regulation on sonar, nor is there a national school for sonar for law enforcement. So how did you pinpoint the area where you actually searched? Yesterday we started our search at Prosser Creek Reservoir, and we started at the boat ramp. Doug went one direction.

I went another just to try to speed up the search as much as we could to make it more efficient. And about 30 to 35 minutes into my search, going along the shore, I saw something on my sonar that obviously stood out to me and it created a huge shadow, and I could tell right away that it looked like it was a man-made object. So at that point, I had to do several passes at different angles, going across it to verify what I was looking at. And at that point, it looked very suspicious to me. So I called Doug over.

So he brought his boat over. We used some small zodiacs that are very maneuverable. We can get them into tight places. He came over, and I had him scan it as well. And between the two of us, we were in agreeance that what we were looking at did look like a vehicle. At that point, we dropped a magnet on it. And once we connected the metal with the magnet and could feel that, we were almost 100% certain that what we had found was a vehicle.

So, Nick, you knew right away that this was a vehicle, you said. So tell me where you went from there. Well, after we both confirmed that we did have a vehicle, we had to take a minute to regroup and kind of make a plan of action so as not to cause alarm to people on the shore, people back at the boat ramp. because for obvious reasons, you know, we don't want to give false hope to anybody, especially family or media or law enforcement. So once we had pretty much positively identified that we had a vehicle underwater, we had to reposition ourselves and go into phase two of this where I put my dive gear on and went back to the site and dove on the vehicle to confirm it was the one we were looking for

and that if there was any remains inside the vehicle. And you were able to do that, right? Correct. The vehicle was in about 14 feet of water. It was upside down, and I was able to clearly identify the vehicle, make my vehicle assessment, confirm that there was remains inside the vehicle. At that point, I returned Topside, informed my Topside crew, Doug, and the cameraman with him as to what I had seen.

And at that point, Doug got on the phone and immediately called the families. And then after those phone calls, it was the law enforcement that we called next. Wow. And I saw on your videos that were on your YouTube channel, or at least the one video, that you clearly, once you were underwater, it appeared you had some sort of camera, you could see the license plate number on the vehicle. Correct. Nick, what was that like when you realized you had indeed found Kylie's vehicle? You know, there's obviously that's an emotional time of anticipation, a little anxiety. And, you know, you. You have to mentally prepare yourself because you are actually looking for that. So there's obviously a split second of disappointment because that's not what you, that's not how you wanted this story to end.

But at the same time, it's also finally some answers to the disappearance of the missing person. And then you have to kind of mentally prepare yourself to go down and do the vehicle assessment to continue your task at hand to, you know, take notes of. As to the condition of the vehicle, the windows are up, down. Is the vehicle damaged? Is there anything inside it? Is there remains inside it? And that sort of thing. So it's, yeah, there's a few moments there where emotionally you have to kind of hold it together and just keep focused at the task at hand. Well, I'm certain the family, I'm sure this is not the outcome they wanted, but I'm sure they were grateful to at least have an answer. Absolutely. What's this like for you guys to be

involved in this. I mean, Doug, you guys, obviously are a volunteer group. You just helped a family, even though it wasn't the outcome they wanted. I'm sure they are just grief-stricken. I can't imagine being in their shoes. But you've helped them at least know what happened to their loved one. And autopsy will be conducted on Tuesday. They'll have to do a positive identification. But the sheriff believes this was obviously Kylie. So, Doug, what is it like for you to be involved in this? You know, it's our purpose. You know, it's a movement that we've created, you know, and it's a skill set that we didn't intend to have, but we understand that it's very rare. And it's an honor to be able to utilize it and produce results that not many others can. You know, it's a positive thing. As tragic as it is, we focus on the positives and what it is that we're doing, which is providing answers for families and closures to cases for law enforcement. And you guys are working on other cases. It's my understanding, too, just from watching your video. Yes, we have a 22-year-old Jolissa Fuentes in Selma, California, and Annette Adams in San Obispo, California coming up later this week.

When we're working with local authorities on those as well, hopefully we'll be successful there too. We do have to end this right now. I just want to, you know, let everybody know that, you know, we are community driven. You know, we're a vessel of the community. You know, we operate on a shoestring budget. You know, we're doing things that others with multi-million dollars budgets can't do. We wouldn't be able to do it without the public support. You know, are subscribing to our social media platforms, following us, sharing our stories is what allows us to help the next family. So it's very critical, you know, if you're watching this and you're hearing this and you're

not subscribed, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Doug Bishop and Nick Wren, a great work out there. Thank you so much for everything that you do. Thank you. You're very welcome. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime. Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Sam Goldberg and Michael Dininger. Alyssa Fisher handles our bookings. YouTube manager, Bobby Zoki, is also working with us,

and Kiera Bronson does our social media. You can find Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcasts, and of course you can watch us on the Law and Crime YouTube channel. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.