Glee actress Naya Rivera is still yet to be found. Rivera went boating with her 4-year-old son Josey Hollis at Lake Piru last Wednesday.
According to her son, both went for a swim but Rivera never returned to the boat. Josey Hollis was discovered asleep in the boat by another boater who was sent to check in on them when they didn’t return to shore.
"Investigators believe Rivera drowned in what appears to be a tragic accident," the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on Wednesday.
Rivera is best known for her character Santana Lopez in the hit TV show Glee and her former co-stars have been sending their thoughts and prayers.
A former Glee co-star Amber Riley who played the character Mercedes told fans to focus on finding Rivera and not on how she and her fellow co-stars are grieving.
“Show some respect. All our energy is going toward helping find Naya and praying for her safe return and for her family. No one owes anyone online a performance of grief. This is very real and devastating. Focus on Naya and her family. Not us. We don’t matter right now,” Amber Riley tweeted.
Her former co-star Heather Morris who played the character Brittany Pierce was close to Rivera on and off-screen.
After days of searching, Morris posted on her Twitter to ask others to join her and a few friends for a foot search and rescue mission along Lake Piru.
"My name is Heather Morris, I'm Naya's close friend and co-worker, and I'm trying to conduct an on foot search and rescue mission along with a small group of friends at Lake Piru. I understand your team is doing EVERYTHING in their power, but we are feeling helpless, powerless, and want to help in any way," Morris tweeted.
A recent update on her Twitter announced that she has been advised to hold off the search for now.
“I have spoken to Sheriff Eric Buschow and rest assured they are using every single one of their resources to locate our Naya. I have full confidence that they’re doing everything they can, and probably more. We will hold off on the citizen search and rescue until we get the go,” she tweeted.
Sadly, Ventura County locals have long-known the risks of swimming at Lake Piru and have demanded for proper signage to be placed all around the lake for years.
The lake is known for its whirlpools and seven people have drowned in the 40-metre deep lake between 1994 and 2000.
