It’s been five days since Glee star Naya Rivera went missing in Lake Piru, a reservoir located in Ventura County, California. Her young son was found on a boat and said his mother jumped off, only to never return to the boat. Rivera has been presumed dead since the incident, though no body has been found yet. Over the weekend, her family came out to visit the site of the disappearance.
Visibility has been rough in the waters of Lake Piru as police from both Ventura County and Los Angeles County, a Coast Guard helicopter, cadaver dogs, sonar devices and more have all been on the scene and searching for Naya Rivera. At some points, visibility is only one to two feet, which is likely true of the time when Naya Rivera went into the water as well. There’s also vegetation and various other obstructions lurking under the water at the location where Rivera was lost as well as other conditions, including winds and chill that make the waters dangerous.
A TMZ report indicates that Naya Rivera’s mother and her younger brother were seen on the scene. They spent time on the dock Naya Rivera and her son left from last by boat last week. The report also indicates Rivera’s mom Yolanda spent time with her arms stretched toward the sky. Rivera’s father, George, also visited the lake.
A spokesperson for Lake Piru confirmed Naya Rivera’s family was on site over the weekend, also explaining that there’s been no change to the actress’ presumed dead status, as no body has been able to be located. This has obviously made any sort of closure very difficult for members of the Glee actress’ family, who was described by spokesperson Capt. Eric Buschow (via ET) as “devastated.”
It’s a recovery effort on our part and our hope is to obviously bring closure to the family. They are pretty devastated as you can imagine. That’s our goal, to bring that closure to them as best we can here
To clarify that point, it’s been a huge waiting game to find out where Naya Rivera’s body is. At the time of her disappearance reports indicated that it could take seven to 10 days before her body rose and could be found by searchers. That level of unknown makes the waiting game even harder, as the spokesperson also noted the timeline for finding the actress’ body is constantly in flux.
This is a situation that is difficult because we don't know if she will be found five minutes from now or five days from now. Our investigators have been in contact with the family since the beginning of this. We have a liaison with the family, working with them, and, of course, they are going through an extremely difficult time. We're trying to do everything we can to provide as much resources as we can and provide some closure for them
Previously, we heard that Lake Piru has a history of accidental drownings, with seven people perishing there between 1994 and 2000. Locals have signed a petition hoping for change after this high-profile missing persons incident. Our thoughts go out to Naya Rivera's family and friends at this time.
