Kianna Galvin case: Police excavate South Elgin property in renewed search for missing girl

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]Hey guys. Yeah. So, I have been kind of spending the last 30 minutes or so chatting with people who live in this area. One of which, by the way, uh was Kiana's best friend of about two years.

[00:00:10]I'll step out of the way so you can see the operation for yourself. And let me just describe kind of what I've learned here again in the last 30 minutes. First of all, you know, South Elgent, this community, it seems to be very tight-knit, right? A lot of people have, you know, friends who know other people, right? They're all mutually kind of connected. Um, you know, once again, we've been hearing from Kiana's best friend. that she did not want to go on camera, but she did tell me that, you know, Kiana spent a lot of time at this house because it was connected to uh one of her friends boyfriends at the time.

[00:00:38]Um it sounds like, you know, she would spend Christmas at this house sometimes.

[00:00:42]It was like family. Uh Kiana was is described as someone who, you know, saw the good in everybody. She trusted people really easily is what her best friend told me. Um she was the life of the party. And you know what I'm hearing from a lot of these neighbors right now is this question of why now? Um, you know, this is pretty much the message I'm hearing all across the board from people I've been talking to all morning because, uh, a lot of these neighbors, it seems to be a pretty mutual level of understanding here that this homeowner who lived there at the time around the time that Kiana disappeared, uh, renovated the basement of this home about a year after she disappeared. And then it they're telling me that, you know, they renovated the home. So, they did it again. They did it twice. Um Kiana also was really really close with her younger sister and she comes into play a little bit later and I'll kind of describe the timeline of what we know so far about her disappearance. But um you know Kiana is the big sister that you know everyone always dreams of, right?

[00:01:37]She would attend her little sister's basketball games all the time. So once again guys um for people who are just tuning in, authorities in South Elgen are saying that investigators found some underground anomalies is what they're calling it connected to the disappearance of Kiana Galvin. And how they found that out was um by using radar technology. So that's something that allows you to see something underground without actually digging. In fact, neighbors told me yesterday police were out here yesterday and now they're coming back with this huge operation with, you know, a mobile command unit and tents. They've in fact just extended their search area as well by adding an additional tent out there and they're making sure that that area is pretty enclosed so that no one can see inside.

[00:02:14]Um so once again investigators are saying they found irregularities underground. That is why they're going to be excavating a home here in the 800 block of River Road as part of this decadel long investigation. I will say it's unclear exactly which part they're excavating, right? Are they focused inside the basement where those renovations happened? Are they, you know, focused on a completely different area in the home? Is it the backyard?

[00:02:34]So, those are questions that we're trying to find answers to as we speak.

[00:02:37]Um, as far as a timeline goes, guys, to paint a better picture here, Kiana Gelvin was 17 years old when she disappeared almost exactly 10 years ago, by the way, on May 6th, 2016.

[00:02:48]Investigators say that Galvin had told her sister, again, her younger sister, that she was heading to Jim Hansen Park that afternoon, but then never came back home. At 12:35 p.m. that same day, shortly after she left home, Kiana sent a text to an unidentified man saying she was on her way to his house, which once again, we heard from Kiana's best friend uh that this home once belonged to Kiana's friend's boyfriend. Okay. So, she didn't send or receive any other text messages after that. Her phone was actually disconnected um from cell service at around 1:10 p.m. 6 days later though on May 12th, the neighbor who lived next door to this unidentified man told police they found traces of blood on the lid of a garbage can. And that blood was actually sent off for testing it came back and was confirmed to be Kiana's. That neighbor also told police they saw Kiana going inside this man's house either on the day she disappeared or the day before. Several months later on November 8th, authorities executed a search warrant at the home of this unidentified man, which is exactly where they are again today. Um, keep in mind this now belongs to a different homeowner. So when police searched this home 10 years ago, there was no information released on what, if anything, was found. And fast forward to today, you have all sorts of crews out here, big emergency vehicles as well, um, as crews start getting ready to, you know, do this whole excavation. Now, with that being said, for people who live in the South Elgen area um or in the surrounding areas, this stretch all here of River Road is going to be blocked off. You know, people who live right here on River Road, they're going to be able to get in just fine. But, you know, with something like this, it's going to take a very long time. Um that's what we're hearing from authorities all across the board. So, um they're making sure that this area is blocked off for people who don't need to be in this area right now. We're going to be spending the rest of the day just asking people all the questions that I know so many people are asking at home as well. So, we'll continue checking in with you guys and we'll let you know um if there are any additional updates.