Surveillance video shows 'Glee' star Naya Rivera hours before presumed death
As the first full day of the search for Naya Rivera came to a close on Thursday, authorities released surveillance video footage showing the "Glee" star just hours before her presumed disappearance and death at California's Lake Piru.
CCTV footage released by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office showed the 33-year-old actress and her 4-year-old son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, exiting their vehicle in the lake's nearly empty parking lot around 1 p.m. local time Wednesday.
Rivera, wearing white shorts and a black backpack, opens the trunk to take out a big white bag before she walks over to the dock with Josey. After appearing to rent a boat at the boat rental stand, the mother-son duo board a boat and sail off into the lake. This is the last known footage showing Rivera alive.
Heather Morris, who played Rivera's love interest on "Glee," released a statement about her friend, saying, “It's so hard to wrap your head around something unknown. I’m holding on to hope that the rescuers will bring Naya home in a swift and speedy recovery."
"I know she would remind me in moments like this that God has a plan for everything and although we may not know that that plan is, we need to keep our chin up and stay strong," Morris concluded.
The search for Rivera initially began Wednesday when Rivera's boat rental became overdue three hours after taking it out on the water, around 4 p.m. local time.
A boat rental employee found the boat floating with only Josey asleep inside and alerted authorities, according to Capt. Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
A three-pronged search -- dive, ground and aerial -- operation began Wednesday evening and lasted until around 10 p.m. local time when it became unsafe to continue. The search resumed at first light Thursday and lasted until dark again.
Ventura County Sheriff's Office now considers this a recovery mission rather than a rescue. Ventura County Sheriff's Office said during a press conference Thursday that they do not suspect foul play and it's presumed Rivera drowned in what authorities say "just seems like a tragic accident."
Josey told officials that he had been swimming with his mother but she didn't get back into the boat with him. The child is now "in good health" and with family.
Sgt. Kevin Donoghue, from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, said there is no evidence, from speaking with Rivera's son, that the actress made it back to shore.
Authorities say Lake Piru presents challenges in the search as there can be low visibility and the underwater terrain is quite uneven. Additionally, there is a lot of debris and entanglements in the area where the boat was found.
