Naya Rivera missing: Footage shows 'Glee' star's likely final moments with son before boarding boat at Lake Piru
The search for 'Glee' star Naya Rivera has been making headlines ever since she disappeared on Wednesday, July 8. The Ventura Sheriff's Department has released CCTV footage showing the actress and her 4-year-old son Josey arriving at Lake Piru, parking the car and then boarding a boat. This is the last time that Rivera was seen with her son after he was found alone and asleep on the boat hours later. In the footage, River pulls up to the parking lot in her truck and then helps her son out.
The two are then seen walking towards the boat rental after which they board their pontoon boat. The boat is then seen heading out north on the lake.
The Police Department also shared the 911 call that was made by the boat rental facility that had reported Rivera missing and had mistakenly identified her son as a girl. According to the Ventura County Star, the search party for Rivera now includes two German Shepherds from the California Rescue Dog Association to help find Rivera.
We had earlier reported that Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Kevin Donoghue had given a press conference where he had said, "The surface area of the lake is large and your visibility underwater is limited. But… if she had a life jacket, we would find her floating, clearly, she is not," he added. "If the body is entangled in something underneath the water, it may never come up," he shared. Donoghue also added that given the poor visibility at the lake, recovery efforts will be 'complicated'. "There's a lot of trees and plants and such that are under the water that can cause entanglement," he explained and this makes it "unsafe for divers and a complicated search." Prior to the press conference, the authorities had told the publication that they are "confident" that the actress is still in the water especially since there are no clues that Rivera made it out.
Lake Piru is said to be notorious for drownings given its dangerous conditions. According to the Los Angeles Times, around seven people had drowned between 1994 and 2000. The parks and recreation service manager Douglas West had said at the time of the 2000 article that he had counted at least a dozen drownings over his 23 years of work.
West said, "The only thing I can emphasize is that if swimmers are around water, they need to wear a personal flotation device whether they know how to swim or not. That will save their lives."
Rivera's last social media post shows her spending time with her son. She had also shared a closeup photo of herself kissing her son. Rivera had captioned the image, "Just the two of us."
Rivera’s son Josey has told detectives that his mother “jumped in the water and didn't come back up”. Captain Eric Buschow, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, said: “The [son] said that he had been swimming with his mother and that he got back in the boat and his mum didn't." Search efforts began immediately and continued until about 10 pm on Wednesday, July 8.The search resumed on July 9 morning and will continue until sunset and resume at daybreak if necessary, the sheriff’s office had said.
"We know that the [boy] had a life vest on, there was another adult life vest found on the boat. You can imagine it's somewhat challenging interviewing a three-year-old and getting those kinds of details."