I have vacationed in this area many times. I agree with your take on the situation, both in what probably happened, and the disgust with ghouls who turn a tragedy into entertainment. Social media and the internet sometimes excel at probing the depths of depravity.
Absolutely they don’t. That’s part of what bothers me here. People’s deaths and disappearances aren’t designed to be podcast and YouTube fodder. Also, you ask how Sami could be so terrible at friendship that she left Kiely to fend for herself in a dangerous situation. Well, alas, friendship seems to be at a nadir in American society these days. Sad to say, it has a lot more to do with convenience than connection, from my observation.
I think the less face-to-face time people grow up having, the less capable they are of functional human relationships. We need to start raising our kids a bit differently.
Amen! But you know better than I that it’s so hard. I admire the courage of anyone who has children these days. I wouldn’t do it. I count my blessings every day that I graduated high school in 1997 — before Columbine, before 9-11, before smartphones, before social media, before the Trump presidency and before Covid. The ‘90s were, to my mind, the last decent time to be a kid.
Truckee's up in the foothills of the Sierras. It's a lot easier to vanish up that way than it would be in the plains of Eastern Colorado, for example. I hope they find her too, but I'm pessimistic.
I'm sure the other kids at school know if Sami's a weird narcissistic liar, or too drug-addled to think straight, so someone needs to ask them. Would Sami leave her drunk friend at a party? We need many more details, e.g., were there other mutual friends that Kiely could have caught a ride with? I might have gone on home if I figured there were six or seven other people who could provide a ride. Is Sami really weird and not really a friend of Kiely's? Again, you have to ask around. I'd like to think the FBI is doing that, but I suspect the FBI agents were never teenage girls and might not understand teenage girl friend dynamics.
I bet at least some of the FBI agents were once teen girls, and they probably are taught interrogation and related techniques designed to get at the truth.
What a terribly sad story. I don’t listen to or read true crime (except Criminal, which talks about historical cases) because there is no way for me to get the grieving family out of my head as the podcast or story tries to entertain me. You are right to deplore that show that spent over four hours cooking up conspiracies about what you rightly note is likely a very ordinary, and very sad, tragedy.
It really seemed like it was “fun” to them and they also really seemed sincerely think they were being kind and helpful by lending their thoughts to the case. Just such a disconnect between my perception of reality and theirs.
Well, it turns out that Kiely was in fact in that lake. Since AWP were the ones to find her, they have a lot of footage of the vehicle under water. Oddly enough, Kiely’s mother seems to be very angry with AWP even though they are the ones who found her daughter. The LE in that area has made numerous crucial mistakes in this case. They refused to let AWP retrieve the vehicle even though they are experts in doing that. Instead LE did not seal the windows or net the vehicle and everything fell out in the process. And to add insult to injury, they didn’t even bother to retrieve the critical evidence that fell out. THEY JUST LEFT IT THERE FOR A RANDOM GUY TO FIND IT!!! Thank God the poor girl didn’t fall out into the lake herself. No word on cause and manner of death yet even though the autopsy has been completed. There are so many oddities in this case. It is all very confusing.
It’s very confusing, very sad, and it’s terrible to see the effect on the family. There are a lot of iffy people involved and I wish the family could just grieve in peace. They requested privacy for the celebration of life and even that ended up on YouTube for people to pick that apart too. It does seem like some major missteps have been made by investigators though we don’t have the whole story. It’s tragedy heaped on tragedy.
You pick such interesting topics. The best outcome would be that we could apply our puzzle solving skills to other endeavors due to the absence of cases like this. Victims seem to take a secondary role. Solving devolves into argument. People take sides about motives and beliefs with no first hand knowledge. Yet, these efforts, however hamfisted, help bring resolution (and hopefully justice) in many cases. Thank you for bringing Kiely to our attention. That's where the focus should be
Technology changes faster than humans evolve. We need face to face relationships, as you noted in comments. The connected world degrades human ability to do that. For thousands of years, it's how we've communicated, formed relationships. Suddenly, it isn't. Online, we're not accountable. We things to each other unimaginable in real life, to people we've never met. Hopefully, the younger generation learns the beauty of real relationships. It's easy enough for us boomers and gen-x's to forget. There's no replacing it
Thanks for your comments, JD! Absolutely: in a better world, these mysteries wouldn’t happen, and people with a strong puzzle-solving drive would content themselves with tickets on a murder-mystery train or buy a subscription to the Times crossword.
So much more has happened with this case that I’ve thought about writing a “part 2”—I’ve asked myself “would this help contribute to a conversation, or would it be the very thing I’m complaining about, where individuals are entertaining others with someone’s tragedy?”
One thing’s for sure. In my life I’ve seen missing persons cases before, but I’ve never seen one where the public turned so viciously on EVERYONE involved — the law enforcement agencies, the victim, her friends, the volunteer rescue group who found her, and even the family. No one is above criticism. No one is to be left alone. It’s just sad.
I wish you would. You treat subjects in such a way it provoke broader thinking. Saw the update. She must have been found. Very sad. My first thought was, "omg, this could have happened so many times to my friends and me in HS"- innocently. Drunk at a party. I grew up in 18 yr old drinking age wisconsin, right before it changed. Yes, we made dumb decisions. Most of the time, though, it was out in the open. It was at our homes. Our parents taught us to stay there. Parents knew. We could have open conversations about booze, drugs to some extent, even sex. It's been driven underground, except for the sex. I find it appalling an 18 yr old can be sent off to war but can't buy a beer. We consumed far more responsibly than kids today. That's not a popular opinion, but I saw it firsthand. I went to college in Indiana which was strict 21. Those kids went out of control. They had no exposure to it beforehand. Some even signed a pledge saying they would abstain in college, which lasted about a week
No matter the cause, the sad part is losing Kiely. She and her family are on my prayer list after reading your article. Thanks again
Yes-- times were different for GenXers. The drinking age was 21 when I was young, but a lot of parents did supply alcohol, and there were kegs with free beer at every party on college campuses.
Now, campuses are a lot more concerned with safety (or probably more likely, liability) and they’ve shut down a lot of that.
Whatever the reason to have a party in the woods, everyone can probably all agree it’s not a good idea for inexperienced drivers to drive at night under the influence on treacherous roads.
If that’s what happened, I hope we find out. If something else happened I hope we find that out too.
I have vacationed in this area many times. I agree with your take on the situation, both in what probably happened, and the disgust with ghouls who turn a tragedy into entertainment. Social media and the internet sometimes excel at probing the depths of depravity.
Yes. And to me, one of the eeriest things is that people don’t seem to realize they’re doing it.
Absolutely they don’t. That’s part of what bothers me here. People’s deaths and disappearances aren’t designed to be podcast and YouTube fodder. Also, you ask how Sami could be so terrible at friendship that she left Kiely to fend for herself in a dangerous situation. Well, alas, friendship seems to be at a nadir in American society these days. Sad to say, it has a lot more to do with convenience than connection, from my observation.
I think the less face-to-face time people grow up having, the less capable they are of functional human relationships. We need to start raising our kids a bit differently.
Amen! But you know better than I that it’s so hard. I admire the courage of anyone who has children these days. I wouldn’t do it. I count my blessings every day that I graduated high school in 1997 — before Columbine, before 9-11, before smartphones, before social media, before the Trump presidency and before Covid. The ‘90s were, to my mind, the last decent time to be a kid.
I think you’re right, Chuck.
Truckee's up in the foothills of the Sierras. It's a lot easier to vanish up that way than it would be in the plains of Eastern Colorado, for example. I hope they find her too, but I'm pessimistic.
I'm sure the other kids at school know if Sami's a weird narcissistic liar, or too drug-addled to think straight, so someone needs to ask them. Would Sami leave her drunk friend at a party? We need many more details, e.g., were there other mutual friends that Kiely could have caught a ride with? I might have gone on home if I figured there were six or seven other people who could provide a ride. Is Sami really weird and not really a friend of Kiely's? Again, you have to ask around. I'd like to think the FBI is doing that, but I suspect the FBI agents were never teenage girls and might not understand teenage girl friend dynamics.
I bet at least some of the FBI agents were once teen girls, and they probably are taught interrogation and related techniques designed to get at the truth.
That being said, what happened is so weird.
Chilling story well summarized with insightful questions and conclusions.
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment, Kathleen!
What a terribly sad story. I don’t listen to or read true crime (except Criminal, which talks about historical cases) because there is no way for me to get the grieving family out of my head as the podcast or story tries to entertain me. You are right to deplore that show that spent over four hours cooking up conspiracies about what you rightly note is likely a very ordinary, and very sad, tragedy.
It really seemed like it was “fun” to them and they also really seemed sincerely think they were being kind and helpful by lending their thoughts to the case. Just such a disconnect between my perception of reality and theirs.
Well, it turns out that Kiely was in fact in that lake. Since AWP were the ones to find her, they have a lot of footage of the vehicle under water. Oddly enough, Kiely’s mother seems to be very angry with AWP even though they are the ones who found her daughter. The LE in that area has made numerous crucial mistakes in this case. They refused to let AWP retrieve the vehicle even though they are experts in doing that. Instead LE did not seal the windows or net the vehicle and everything fell out in the process. And to add insult to injury, they didn’t even bother to retrieve the critical evidence that fell out. THEY JUST LEFT IT THERE FOR A RANDOM GUY TO FIND IT!!! Thank God the poor girl didn’t fall out into the lake herself. No word on cause and manner of death yet even though the autopsy has been completed. There are so many oddities in this case. It is all very confusing.
It’s very confusing, very sad, and it’s terrible to see the effect on the family. There are a lot of iffy people involved and I wish the family could just grieve in peace. They requested privacy for the celebration of life and even that ended up on YouTube for people to pick that apart too. It does seem like some major missteps have been made by investigators though we don’t have the whole story. It’s tragedy heaped on tragedy.
You pick such interesting topics. The best outcome would be that we could apply our puzzle solving skills to other endeavors due to the absence of cases like this. Victims seem to take a secondary role. Solving devolves into argument. People take sides about motives and beliefs with no first hand knowledge. Yet, these efforts, however hamfisted, help bring resolution (and hopefully justice) in many cases. Thank you for bringing Kiely to our attention. That's where the focus should be
Technology changes faster than humans evolve. We need face to face relationships, as you noted in comments. The connected world degrades human ability to do that. For thousands of years, it's how we've communicated, formed relationships. Suddenly, it isn't. Online, we're not accountable. We things to each other unimaginable in real life, to people we've never met. Hopefully, the younger generation learns the beauty of real relationships. It's easy enough for us boomers and gen-x's to forget. There's no replacing it
Cheers, Salon
Thanks for your comments, JD! Absolutely: in a better world, these mysteries wouldn’t happen, and people with a strong puzzle-solving drive would content themselves with tickets on a murder-mystery train or buy a subscription to the Times crossword.
So much more has happened with this case that I’ve thought about writing a “part 2”—I’ve asked myself “would this help contribute to a conversation, or would it be the very thing I’m complaining about, where individuals are entertaining others with someone’s tragedy?”
One thing’s for sure. In my life I’ve seen missing persons cases before, but I’ve never seen one where the public turned so viciously on EVERYONE involved — the law enforcement agencies, the victim, her friends, the volunteer rescue group who found her, and even the family. No one is above criticism. No one is to be left alone. It’s just sad.
I wish you would. You treat subjects in such a way it provoke broader thinking. Saw the update. She must have been found. Very sad. My first thought was, "omg, this could have happened so many times to my friends and me in HS"- innocently. Drunk at a party. I grew up in 18 yr old drinking age wisconsin, right before it changed. Yes, we made dumb decisions. Most of the time, though, it was out in the open. It was at our homes. Our parents taught us to stay there. Parents knew. We could have open conversations about booze, drugs to some extent, even sex. It's been driven underground, except for the sex. I find it appalling an 18 yr old can be sent off to war but can't buy a beer. We consumed far more responsibly than kids today. That's not a popular opinion, but I saw it firsthand. I went to college in Indiana which was strict 21. Those kids went out of control. They had no exposure to it beforehand. Some even signed a pledge saying they would abstain in college, which lasted about a week
No matter the cause, the sad part is losing Kiely. She and her family are on my prayer list after reading your article. Thanks again
Yes-- times were different for GenXers. The drinking age was 21 when I was young, but a lot of parents did supply alcohol, and there were kegs with free beer at every party on college campuses.
Now, campuses are a lot more concerned with safety (or probably more likely, liability) and they’ve shut down a lot of that.
Whatever the reason to have a party in the woods, everyone can probably all agree it’s not a good idea for inexperienced drivers to drive at night under the influence on treacherous roads.
If that’s what happened, I hope we find out. If something else happened I hope we find that out too.
Well, looks like you were right about poor Kiely's fate. Very sad.
It’s horribly sad. Of course, no one knows yet how she got there. I hope the family gets answers.
when Sami said "I loved her" I got a sinking feeling that Sami knows a little more than she is saying.. past tense is never a good sign
Sami’s demeanor and story are both a little off. I just don’t know what to make of it. I hope the investigation gets answers for the family.