GLEE TRAGEDY
Naya Rivera dead at 33 – Glee star’s body found floating five days after she boosted son onto boat and disappeared
GLEE star Naya Rivera used the last of her energy pushing her son back onboard a boat but didn't have enough to save herself, police say.
The actress' body was discovered floating near the surface of ’s Lake Piru on Monday - five days after she went missing underwater.
Officials believe the lake may have been tangled in plants and so concealed from divers searching for her.
Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub confirmed investigators are "confident" the body is Rivera's based on the location, physical characteristics and clothing.
Speaking at a news conference, Ayub said her body was found in the northeastern portion of the lake – which is 60 ft deep – and an "empty canyon" of growth.
"We believe she was concealed within some of the shrubbery on the floor bed of the lake," Ayub said, adding that investigators didn't believe any foul play was involved.
"The boat started drifting... she mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat but not enough to save herself," the sheriff told reporters.
He explained: "There was no indication that this was a suicide [or foul play]."
It was also revealed that a positive identification would be made via dental records at the Medical Examiner's office.
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Rivera's, 4, had told cops his mom "boosted him onto the deck of their rental boat from behind" before he "saw her disappear under surface of water" after they went swimming.
The announcement came as Rivera's family and former Glee castmates gathered at the lake to support each other following the tragic discovery.
ABC7 Eyewitness News shared a heartbreaking image of her loved ones standing hand-in-hand at the dock before the announcement that a body was found.
Rivera's family reportedly looked out at the water and held each other.
"This hits home for everybody involved," Buschow said. "Hopefully this provides some level of closure, whatever that means, for the family."
, as she had grown up 20 miles away, despite it being known for rip currents and icy waters that can overpower swimmers.
She had taken a photograph of her son on the boat and sent it to relatives just 90 minutes before Josey was found alone on the boat.
The photo showed a cove in the lake, which was where police focused their search.
The Ventura County Sheriff's office said body was found at Lake Piru earlier this morning – five days after vanished from the rented boat.
Initially, cops had declined to reveal identity of the remains, citing protocol, before Buschow confirmed the tragic news.
"We don't confirm identity until ME [medical examiner] verifies," he told The Sun.
The Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office did not have any additional information as of 1.10 pm local time.
reported that emergency crews and divers found the body floating in the lake "at first light" this morning.
played cheerleader Santana Lopez for six seasons on and her death will mean she is the third cast member to die in their thirties.
Her body was found exactly seven years to the day that her co-star Cory Monteith died in a hotel room in Vancouver.
Cory Monteith died at 31 in 2013 from a toxic mix of alcohol and heroin, while his co-star Mark Salling – who Rivera dated at one point – killed himself in 2018 at 35 after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.
for his missing daughter on Sunday, as authorities searched cabins on the lake.
Her distraught father George was snapped at Lake Piru yesterday desperately seeking clues into Rivera's disappearance.
Police have since said Rivera is presumed dead.
As the search entered its fifth day on Sunday, George was seen at the lakeside raising his arms and gesturing to officers and others involved in the hunt.
Police – who have been combing the bottom of the lake for Rivera’s body – also extended their search to include cabins on the shore around the water yesterday.
Sgt Shannon King told "they were just doing the shoreline to make sure nothing has changed.
“There were a lot of folks that were talking on social media about, ‘Oh, check the cabins," King explained. "Maybe she’s there, maybe she’s hanging out.'"
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But officers revealed the buildings were all found to be empty.
King confirmed "they're not occupied, nothing came of it" and "there's no evidence to say she left the water."
“It appears to be 100 per cent just a tragic drowning," the sergeant concluded.
Rivera's mom, , was pictured kneeling in front of Lake Piru where her daughter is believed to have drowned on Wednesday.
Footage of the underwater hunt for Rivera was released as investigators revealed it could take up to five days to find her body.
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Ventura County Sheriff's Office sergeant Kevin Donoghue said that after speaking with Rivera's son Josey, they "have no reason to believe she took her own life."
"We interviewed her son and there was nothing that we learned from her son that would have suggested that this was suicide," he said. "Everything that we’ve learned so far leads to this being some sort of water recreational accident.
"To say definitively what actually happened, we really can’t say. We just don’t know, it’s a mystery."
Ventura County Sheriff’s Department shared footage of the "difficult" search for the missing actress on Twitter on Friday night.
"Here’s an example of the underwater visibility at a 30ft depth in Lake Piru," the Sheriff’s Department tweeted.
As there is almost zero visibility in the lake, divers are resorting to search by feel, which means it could be several days before crews locate her body, Eric Buschow, Ventura County Sheriff’s Office spokesman
"We don’t know if she’s going to be found five minutes from now or five days from now, so we’re still going to be continuing this effort," he said. "The visibility in the water is one to two feet."
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Officials are using a solar system to hunt for her body.
"It’s very effective," he said of the sonar system.
"They get a really detailed image and they can go down and focus on specific things rather than putting divers in the water where they’re literally feeling around because they can’t see."
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