“Glee” actress Naya Rivera’s body was finally discovered at Lake Piru in California, on Monday— the same day her former Glee co-star Cory Monteith died seven years ago.
Rivera, 33, went missing on Wednesday after going boating with her 4-year-old son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, at Lake Piru. He was found alone and asleep on the boat.
Authorities revealed that Rivera’s son told the investigators that his mother boosted him back on to the deck of their rented boat, before he looked back and saw her disappearing under the water.
"She must have gathered enough strength to get her son back on the boat but not enough to save herself," said Bill Ayub, Ventura County Sheriff at a news conference.
Authorities stated that Josey was discovered asleep and alone in a life vest on the drifting pontoon boat about three hours after they launched a five-day search that ended with the discovery of the body of the 33-year-old floating near the surface early Monday.
The Sheriff revealed that Rivera and her son had gone swimming, which was permitted in that part of the lake. She was not wearing a life vest.
Divers had already thoroughly searched the area where she was eventually discovered, however, due to shrubbery that had grown wildly in the area, which was recently dry, must have kept her hidden in the murky water.
Ayub added, "Rivera had chatted with family members via FaceTime when she was on the boat, which those videos were watched by search crews for clues to where she might have gone down,"
Rivera is known for playing cheerleader Santana Lopez for six seasons from 2009 to 2015 on the Fox musical-comedy “Glee,”. She is the third major cast member from the show to die in their 30s.
The announcement of her death comes seven years to the day after co-star Cory Monteith died at 31 from a toxic mix of alcohol and heroin, with the series losing one of its leads while it was still on the air.
Another co-star, Mark Salling, who Rivera dated at some point, killed himself in 2018 at age 35 after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.
Authorities stated that Rivera’s body was flown by helicopter to the coroner’s office in Ventura, where an autopsy would be conducted and an official identification made.
Ayub said the circumstances from the body's location to the fact that no one else has been reported missing in the lake make the department confident that Naya Rivera is the body they found.
Rivera had experience boating on the lake in Los Padres National Forest an hour's drive from Los Angeles. It was closed down and searched by dozens of pers with help from sonar and robotic devices combing the bottom and helicopters and drones searching above.
Surveillance video showed the mother and son parking and renting the boat at about 1 p.m. on July 8.
The vendor who rented it to them went looking for them when they failed to return on time and found the boat drifting with the boy aboard at the northern end of the lake.
Rivera’s son, from her marriage to actor Ryan Dorsey, was safe and healthy and quickly reunited with family members after he was found. His parents porced in 2018 after nearly four years of marriage.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1080"]
Naya Rivera, ex-husband and son[/caption]
Naya Rivera Death launches conspiracy theories
A chilling fan conspiracy theory has made a connection between Naya Rivera's last Instagram post and the Eminem song "97 Bonnie and Clyde".
Shortly before she went missing, Naya shared an adorable post on Instagram where she cuddled her young son, Josey.
The actress captioned the shot “Just the Two of Us”. Fans have been quick to notice an eerie connection to Eminem's tune, which features the exact lyric and also portrays the story of a mother dying in a lake.
Other lyrics that feature in Eminem's song include "Da-da made a nice bed for mommy at the bottom of the lake," and "there mama goes splashing in the water".
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCW3bLhAUCt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Another heartbreaking connection was linked to Rivera's tragic death, which is her performance of the 2010 song 'If I Die Young', which has gone viral after the actress' body was found.
The performance was filmed in 2010 for Glee, in which Rivera performed the haunting ballad in tribute to Monteith, who at the time had just died from an accidental drug overdose.
The scene resurfaced online hours ago and went viral after Rivera's body was retrieved.
https://youtu.be/TlWHTfrGhoY
Tributes
Shortly after the news was announced, there was a flood of tributes were paid to Rivera, among which were her co-stars from Glee.
Demi Lovato, who collaborated on the show, said she will “forever cherish” starring alongside her.
Darren Criss, who played Blaine Anderson on Glee, paid tribute to a “wild, hilarious, beautiful angel”.
Chris Colfer shared a lengthy tribute on Instagram, celebrating his more than 10-year friendship with Rivera.
Kevin McHale, who played Artie Abrams in Glee, said Rivera’s death “doesn’t make sense. And I know it probably never will”.
Amber Riley, who played Mercedes in Glee, stated: “I love you. I miss you. I don’t have words right now, just lots of feelings.”
Jenna Ushkowitz, who played Tina Cohen-Chang, penned a long tribute on Instagram.
Many other celebrities in the entertainment industry also paid tribute to Rivera.
Steven Canals is the co-creator of TV series Pose, which is set in the ballroom culture scene of the 1980s, praised Rivera’s portrayal of Santana, while pop star Bebe Rexha described Rivera’s death as an “absolute nightmare”.
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