The Ventura County Sheriff's Department in California has released CCTV footage showing Glee star Naya River arriving at Lake Piru with her 4-year-old son and boarding a boat hours before she went missing. The Ventura County Sheriff’s office also released a 911 call from the boat rental facility, which first reported Rivera missing.
Investigators say they no longer assume that the actress is alive and believe the 33-year-old actress drowned in what they described as "a tragic accident". After speaking with Rivera’s 4-year-old son Josey investigators learned that during the boat ride the two decided to go swimming, but only Josey managed to get back on the boat. Investigators say the details of the incident are unclear and note it was "somewhat challenging" to get information from a 4-year-old.
A massive search and recovery mission has been underway since Wednesday at Lake Piru where divers are trying to find Naya Rivera's body. The search now includes two German shepherd dogs trained to detect gases released by cadavers. Local officials say they're using all possible means in the recovery mission, but note that poor visibility in the lake is hampering the process. During the day visibility is between 8 to 10 inches (20-25 centimetres). Sergeant Kevin Donoghue said it could take weeks to find Naya Rivera’s body if it could be found at all.
"There's no way to really say. We're putting our best foot forward to try and locate her, we're using all the assets that are available to us, we're using technology like Sonar. If the body is entangled on something beneath the water, it may never come back up", said Sergeant Kevin Donoghue.
Rivera’s son Josey has been given to the actress’s ex-husband Ryan Dorsey, the boy's father.
Actress, singer, and model Naya Rivera began her career when she was just 4 years old, starring in the CBS sitcom The Royal Family. In 2009, she received her breakthrough role in the musical comedy-drama Glee, which earned her a Grammy nomination and Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance. A day before the tragedy Naya Rivera posted a photo of herself with son Josey captioned "just the two of us".