Body recovered in California lake presumed to be ‘Glee’ star Naya Rivera

Police think the body recovered from Lake Piru in southern California belongs to actress Naya Rivera, who disappeared five days ago and was presumed drowned during an outing with her 4-year-old son.

Ventura County sheriff’s department told reporters on Monday afternoon that the body found earlier in the day floating in the northeast part of the lake seemed to be that of Rivera, 33. It will be flown to Los Angeles for positive identification and an autopsy that will determine the cause of death.

“We are confident the body we found is that of Naya Rivera,” Sheriff William ‘Bill’ Ayub said, adding there was “no indication of foul play or that this was a suicide.”

Rivera was reported missing last week, after she had rented a pontoon boat to spend a day with her son on the lake in the Los Padres National Forest, not far from Los Angeles. The boy told police that they went swimming, but his mother never got back to the boat. Her life vest was found on board, alongside the boy who was asleep. 

She was best known as the singing cheerleader Santana Lopez on ‘Glee,’ a musical comedy series that ran between 2009 and 2015.

She is the third cast member to die in their 30s. Her former boyfriend and co-star Mark Salling committed suicide in 2018, at the age of 35, after  pleading guilty to charges of child pornography. One of the leading cast members, Cory Monteith, 31, died in 2013 from a drug and alcohol overdose.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!