‘Glee’ Star Naya Rivera Dies From Drowning While Saving Her 4-Year-Old Son

By Karissa Lund • 14 Jul 2020 in News

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According to CNN, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office in California confirmed in a press conference that Naya Rivera’s body was found by authorities yesterday morning.

The Glee star was already presumed dead by police after she went missing when they found her 4-year-old son alone on a rented boat at California’s Lake Piru, last Monday.

Diving teams and law enforcement had been searching the waters of the lake for five days before discovering her body floating in the northeast area of the lake where the water is between 35 and 60 feet deep.

Authorities believe that Rivera drowned accidentally and that her body was most likely trapped in the vegetation under the lake for several days before floating to the top.

Authorities searching for Rivera’s body at Lake Piru. (source: New York Times)

Naya Rivera’s son told 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.

Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said, “She mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself”.

The boy, Josey Hollis Dorsey, was found asleep and alone in a life vest on the drifting pontoon boat about three hours after their rent time was overdue. The mother and son had gone swimming, which was permitted in that part of the lake, Ayub said.

Rivera is best known for her role as Santana Lopez on Glee, and quickly won critical acclaim after debuting in 2009. Unfortunately, she is the third of Glee‘s original core young ensemble to pass away unexpectedly, following Cory Monteith and Mark Salling.

Members of the show’s cast took to social media to mourn their co-star, sharing their condolences to Rivera’s family. Social media users are also sharing their condolences as many remembered her as Santana who’s character became a huge inspirational character for women of colour and the LGBT community.