Authorities investigating the disappearance of Glee star Naya Rivera have shifted their search to a recovery operation on Lake Piru.
According to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the 33-year-old has now been missing for two days, having originally gone missing on Wednesday, July 8.
As of this morning (Thursday, July 10) she is “presumed dead”, with the search having turned into a recovery mission. Investigators are now working in the belief that she drowned in a tragic accident.
Authorities were alerted to Rivera’s disappearance when a boater found her 4-year-old son Josey sleeping out on the lake alone in the boat they had rented, some three hours after it was due back.
Josey told police that he and his mother had been swimming, but that she hadn’t got back in the boat.
Officer Chris Dyer told reporters:
“We’re presuming that an accident happened, we’re presuming that she drowned in the lake. There are no signs of foul play, no signs that anything went wrong, besides a tragic accident.
“The goal is still to bring Ms Rivera home to her family so they can have some closure.”
Emphasis has now shifted to locating and recovering Rivera’s body, though there’s a chance she may never be found due to the treacherous conditions on the lake.
As per Hollywood Life, Sgt. Kevin Donoghue explained:
“If the body is entangled in something beneath the water, it may never come back up. In a lake the visibility is not very good. So, if you’ve ever watched underwater video and you’ve seen divers in the ocean, typically the visibility in the ocean water is much better. So, in the lake, the visibility is terrible.
“In this particular lake, in that area, there’s a lot of trees and plants and such that are under the water that can cause entanglements. Makes it unsafe for the divers and it makes a more complicated search.”
I sincerely hope Naya Rivera is found as soon as possible, so that her family may have closure after this truly tragic turn of events.
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