Naya Rivera

Naya Marie Rivera (January 12, 1987 - July 8, 2020) was an actress, singer, and model. She began her career as a child actress and model, appearing in national television commercials before landing the role of Hillary Winston on the short-lived CBS sitcom “The Royal Family” (1991–1992) at the age of four. For the part she received a nomination for a Young Artist Award. After a series of recurring television roles and guest spots as a teenager, Rivera received her breakthrough role as Santana Lopez on the Fox television series “Glee”. For the role, she received nominations for numerous awards and critical acclaim.

Death
On July 8, 2020, Naya Rivera was declared a missing person after her four-year-old son, Josey, was found alone in Rivera's rented boat at Lake Piru, a man-made reservoir in the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County, California. The search for both Naya and Josey had begun at 4:00 p.m. PDT, three hours after they left the dock, when their rental was over and they had not returned. Another boater discovered Josey alone, asleep on the boat with his life jacket on, around 5:00 p.m. The boat was in the Narrows, an area at the north of the lake that can be quite deep and windy. An adult life jacket was found on board, along with Naya’s identification. Josey told investigators that they were swimming. His mother had helped him climb back into the boat but she was unable to climb back onboard herself, and then she disappeared underwater. He also stated that his mother was not wearing a life jacket. Lake Piru is known locally for strong, unpredictable currents and whirlpools that have caused the deaths of swimmersin the past. Naya’s vehicle, a black Mercedes G-Wagen, was found in the parking lot.

Five days later, it was announced that a body had been found floating in Lake Piru by divers when the search resumed in the morning, at around 9:30 a.m., the body was confirmed to be Naya’s at a press conference held later that day. She was officially declared dead on July 13th, at the age of 33. The Ventura County sheriff suggested that Naya and Josey may have got caught in a rip current – these can be common in the area of lake they were in, especially during the afternoon – and struggled to get back to the boat, which was found unanchored and so may have drifted from where they entered the water. He concluded that she likely "mustered enough energy to save her son, but not enough to save herself", noting that Josey described being pushed back onto the boat by his mother. On July 14, the Ventura County medical examiner released an autopsy report stating that the cause of death was an accidental drowning, and that there was no evidence of injury or intoxication.