Actress-singer Naya Rivera, best known for her role as Santana Lopez on the musical series Glee, is presumed to have drowned on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old and her 4-year-old son Josey were swimming in Lake Piru, about an hour northwest of Los Angeles, when she went missing. A boater found Josey – Rivera’s son with ex-husband Ryan Dorsey – alone on a pontoon boat she had rented earlier in the day. Her life jacket was on the boat.
Ventura County Sheriff’s office said a search and rescue operation will continue “at first light” on Thursday. "We’re going on the belief that she did go in the water," a spokesperson told reporters.
“I am in complete disbelief and shock right now,” tweeted Toronto’s Zack Teperman, who runs ZTPR in California and once worked with Rivera. “I still can’t believe what I’m hearing and hoping it isn’t true. I’m just sad … Refuse to believe this is true.”
On Tuesday, Rivera tweeted a photo of her and Josey that she captioned: “Just the two of us.” A few days earlier, in an Instagram post, she wrote: “Make the most of today and every day you are given. tomorrow is not promised."
Rivera is featured on many of the chart-topping singles from the Glee soundtrack and released her own single, “Sorry” ft. Big Sean in 2013. She twice won Favourite Female Music Artist at the ALMA Awards, which recognize American Latino talent.
Rivera’s Glee co-star, Canadian actor Cory Monteith, died in 2013 of a drug overdose inside a Vancouver hotel room. He was 31. Glee star Mark Salling took his own life in 2018 after being convicted on child pornography charges. He was 35.