The Glee star Naya Rivera is presumed dead and suspected to be swept away by a whirlpool.
Search operations entered its third day in lake Piru and the Glee star Naya Rivera is presumed dead and reports are doing the rounds that the 33-year-old might have been dragged down by a whirlpool, which ultimately led to her death.
Naya remains missing since two days since she went on boat trip with her four-year-old son Josey, who was mysteriously found alone on their rented pontoon boat with her life vest on board.
The search is now intensified using sonar equipment and is treated as ‘recovery operation’. As per authorities, Rivera is believed to likely have drowned in the lake which has a history of at least eight people drowned since 1984 including a nine-year-old girl Denise Arredondo, who was sucked below the surface by a whirlpool.
The girl’s cousin Andrea Arredondo, 26, told The Sun that it’s possible the missing Glee star may have also been dragged down by a vortex which she said are ”notorious” at the lake.
”I was very surprised with this piece of information because I wasn’t even aware that whirlpools occurred in lakes,” she said. ”I really hope that isn’t the reason Naya didn’t resurface, but it could be one of the possibilities.”
Arredondo revealed that on May 16, 2009, Denise was suddenly dragged underneath the water when she and her family had wandered into the shallow area and her father desperately tried to save her by holding on to her hair but failed, recounts Arredondo on the tragic incident of her cousin.
just the two of us pic.twitter.com/wCunAlGJ1B
— Naya Rivera (@NayaRivera) July 7, 2020
Her body was ”extremely unrecognizable” when rescuers finally pulled Denise from the lake, and that was something a young girl ”should never have to witness,” she said.
According to The Sun as stated by Ventura Sheriff’s Department, ”Whirlpools are possible at Lake Piru and are more common when the dams are open.” Arredondo with all concerns, advises visitors, to be ”extremely cautious” when visiting the scenic lake.
”I definitely think that if they had put warning signs since the first drownings back in the 90’s, everyone else could have possibly been saved,” she said.
The lake policy however states swimming a hazardous recreational activity and is permitted in designated areas as the depth of the water ranges from five to forty feet with quite a few lifeguards in place for the visitors.
There is at least one sign reading, ‘No Swimming or Wading. Danger – Hazards Exist!’, around the lake. However locals are demanding additional signage be installed.
Search operations are hampered due to poor visibility in the waters, which rescuers say is murky and full of plants and debris. The police said it’s quite possible that Rivera’s body many not come back up if it’s entangled to something in the water.
The search operations resumed at daybreak on Friday with deployment of sophisticated sonar equipment to identify targets underwater. ”Now it’s a little bit different in a search and recovery mode,” Sgt Kevin Donoghue told FOX LA. ”Today, we’re using a little bit less people in the search, but more technology to help us find better clues.”
Donoghue explained the operation is taking a more ”methodical” approach to avoid any overlap of the missions planned. A CCTV footage released by the authorities show the actress and her son arriving at Lake Piru and around 1 PM was seen pulling up to the dock in her Mercedes-Benz SUV, before heading out into the lake to hire a rental boat with her son.
The search operation was suspended for a second night after darkness fell on Thursday night, with no sign of the actress’s body so far. Divers say the waters are murky with full of plants and debris, as they were forced to use hands, limiting their visibility to less than one foot. Crew member Max O’Brien described the operation as a ”braille search.”
Meanwhile, Josey, the four-year-old son of the actress has returned to his family and was pictured in the arms of his father, Rivera’s ex-husband Ryan Dorsey, 36.
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Police have shared 911 call from the boat rental facility at 4.37 pm where Rivera was first reported missing along with the surveillance footage, Apparently when the actress and her son had failed to return, as per the expected time, the caller had been sent to check on the visitors and found the actress missing.
In response, the caller said they had found a little girl in one of the boat by the south end mistaking Josey for a girl, and added that there was no trace of the mother to be found anywhere.
When the dispatcher inquired of the age and ethnicity of the child, the caller was told to gather more information, as the caller was yet to see the toddler close up and gather more information before calling back.
Authorities say there are ”really no strong undercurrents like you would have in the ocean”, but warn that the cold water could cause hypothermia.
It is not evidently clear where the boat was or where Rivera and her son were before they jumped in for a swim, but the search is now focused on the northern part of the lake in an area where the water is about 30 ft deep.
