“Glee” actress Naya Rivera is believed to have drowned in Lake Piru after her 4-year-old son was found alone on a boat she rented Wednesday afternoon.
Rivera’s disappearance stunned fans, and Hollywood offered an outpouring of grief.
Officials were out in force scouring the lake Thursday morning but did not find her body. The search effort includes two helicopters, roughly six pontoon boats and 25 divers, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Depatment Deputy Chris Dyer.
Shortly before noon, Dyer said authorities think “a tragic accident happened in the water. Nothing has changed, we’re still searching.”
As waves lapped the marina’s cement shores, Dyer said the lake’s conditions typically get worse as the wind picks up during the day. The gusts don’t affect divers underwater, he said, but they could make recovery operations more difficult for dive team boats.
“You can tell the water’s getting choppier,” Dyer said, describing the lake as unpredictable. “She could be anywhere.”
The search resumed Thursday morning for “Glee” actress Naya Rivera, who is believed to have drowned in Lake Piru.
(KTLA-TV Channel 5)
Rivera rented a boat about 1 p.m. Wednesday and had an afternoon of swimming with her son, who was the last to see her before she went missing, Ventura County sheriff’s Capt. Eric Buschow said.
Buschow said the boy got back onto the boat after a swim, but his mother did not follow.
“We’re going on the belief that she did go in the water, and we have not been able to locate her. So this may well be a case of drowning,” Buschow told reporters.
The 4-year-old was found sleeping on the boat by himself by other boaters in the lake.
“He’s in good health,” Bushow said of Rivera’s son. The boy was initially reported by authorities to be a 3-year-old girl. “The family is going through a very traumatic time right now.”
Authorities have so far focused their search on the north side of the lake, where the boy was found, Dyer said.
The lake is 40 to 50 feet deep in some places, with lots of debris and poor visibility, he added.
The parking lot of the Juan Fernandez boat ramp, close to Lake Piru’s north end, sat empty at 12:45 p.m. Half a dozen boats and Jet Skis could be seen from the spot hours earlier, but only one remained visible. The facility’s dock stretched into murky, dark green water.
A dive team from San Luis Obispo County prepared to head out midday, and another from Tulare County was on the way, Dyer said. Until Rivera’s body is recovered, search efforts are scheduled until sunset, authorities said.
“When the sun goes down, there’s zero visibility in the water, and it’s extremely dangerous for our searchers to be in the area,” Dyer said. “We’re tentatively scheduled to be here for several days.”
Earlier in the week, Rivera had posted a photo with her son with the caption: “Just the two of us.”
In the musical comedy “Glee,” which aired on Fox from 2009 until 2015, Rivera played Santana, a cheerleader. Rivera appeared in 113 episodes of the series and dated costar Mark Salling, who killed himself in 2018 after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.
Lake Piru is a popular recreation area in the Los Padres National Forest near Fillmore. There have been drownings at the lake in the past.
A Times article in 2000 chronicled a string of drownings at the reservoir, saying most victims were inexperienced swimmers who were not wearing life jackets and overestimated their own abilities or swam in prohibited areas. At the time, officials said the drowning numbers were no higher than at other lakes in the region. They also said those boating on the lake should wear life jackets or other flotation devices.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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