Glee star ‘saved son in a final heroic act’
VENTURA: Officials believe that former Glee actress Naya Rivera, whose badly decomposed body was found on Tuesday (AEST) in a California lake after a six-day search, managed to save her son by getting him on their drifting boat before she drowned.
“We believe it was midafternoon when they went swimming – the idea being, perhaps, that the boat began drifting … and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat but not enough to save herself,” Ventura County Sheriff William Ayub said.
He said her son Josey had “described being helped back on to the boat by Rivera, who boosted him on to the deck from behind … he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water”.
The actress’s body was found floating near the surface in the northeastern corner of Lake Piru, about six days after she went missing during a boating trip with Josey, 4, Sheriff Ayub said.
Rivera, 33, went missing on Thursday last week (AEST) during a boating trip with her son. He was found asleep on their pontoon-style boat but there was no trace of her.
Police believe the boat might have drifted away from them as they swam together. Rivera managed to reach the boat and push Josey back onboard, but didn’t have enough energy to save herself.
The actress’s family rushed to the lake when it was announced a body had been found. Some of her Glee castmates, including Heather Morris, were also there.
They held hands on the shore while waiting for more information from the star’s family and the authorities.
Rivera was found on the seventh anniversary of the death of her former co-star Cory Monteith.
Sheriff Ayub said based on the location of the body, its physical characteristics and the clothing, it was Rivera’s.
“There was no indication that this was a suicide or foul play,” he said, adding that a positive identification would be made via dental records.
He recounted how Josey said his mum “boosted him on to the deck from behind” before he “saw her disappear under the surface”.
Sheriff Ayub said her body was found in the northeastern portion of the lake, which is about 20m deep. “We believe she was concealed within some of the shrubbery on the floor of the lake,” he said.
Ventura County Police Captain Eric Buschow said the discovery was harrowing.
“When you have a situation like this and it ends up being a recovery, it is hard for everybody involved,” he said. “I can’t even imagine what it is like for the family. Hopefully this provides some level of closure.”
The discovery comes as Rivera was found to have texted a photo to a relative shortly before vanishing, according to a report in US Weekly.
She took the photo of her son near a cove on Lake Piru about 90 minutes before he was found alone and sleeping on the rented boat.
“We found where that cove was,” said Robert Inglis of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team. He said the photo had given the searchers an important clue to the location of Rivera’s final moments.
Sergeant Shannon King of the Ventura Sheriff’s Office said: “There is no evidence she left the water. It appears to be just a tragic drowning.”