Libel Case Against Internet Sleuth / “True Crime” Podcaster, Related to Kiely Rodni Case, Can Go Forward
From Tuesday’s decision in Robertson v. Upchurch by Judge William Campbell (M.D. Tenn.):
Plaintiffs allege that [Defendant Ryan] Upchurch is a media personality who has approximately 3,140,000 subscribers on YouTube. Plaintiffs also allege that Kiely Rodni, the granddaughter of Plaintiff David Robertson and daughter of Plaintiff Daniel Rodni, disappeared after a party near Tahoe National Forest on August 6, 2022.
Plaintiffs state that on August 13, 2022, after Kiely Rodni’s disappearance, Upchurch began making social media post about her disappearance and offered “theories” of what happened to Kiely Rodni, including that other YouTube personalities were involved in or responsible for Kiely Rodni’s disappearance. Kiely Rodni’s body was discovered on August 21, 2022. That same day, authorities confirmed that the body was “more than likely” Kiely Rodni and that an autopsy had been ordered to confirm the identity. On that same date, Upchurch learned that Kiely Rodni’s body had been discovered and purported to offer a “prayer” for Kiely Rodni and her family.
On that date, Upchurch posted that “nobody should really be doing anything about this now. There really shouldn’t be anything put anywhere that’s gonna make her mom even more devastated than she’s already gonna be.” Plaintiffs allege that Upchurch accepted on August 21, 2022, that Kiely Rodni was real, that she had died, and that further online posting relating to her could traumatize her family.
On August 22, 2022, Upchurch posted a video in which he appeared to express his condolences to Kiley Rodni’s family. On August 23, 2022, authorities confirmed the identity of Kiely Rodni’s body. On August 28, 2022, Upchurch posted a video in which he accused the sheriff’s office that identified Kiely Rodni of being a “fake police department” and stated that Kiely Rodni’s disappearance was fake and that the police were involved in faking her existence and death. On August 29, 2022, Upchurch posted a video that Kiely Rodni and her family were “not real” and that her death was a “scam” to raise money on GoFundMe.
On September 1, 2022, Upchurch posted a phone number and address for Daniel Rodni. Plaintiffs allege that a result of this video and the ensuing negative attention he received, Daniel Rodni went into hiding and made substantial investments in home security, surveillance, and cameras. On September 3, 2022, Upchurch posted a video stating that “Kiely Rodni is not Kiely Rodni. Kiely Rodni is Callie Ross. Callie’s Ross’s dad is fake Kiely Rodni’s grandpa…”. On that same
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