Naya Rivera / InstagramNaya Rivera was just 33 years old when she drowned in California ’s Lake Piru .
Naya Rivera ’s death on July 8 , 2020 , shocked her friend , family , co - stars , and fans likewise . The beloved actress drowned in Lake Piru near Santa Clarita , California , while swim with her four - year - old son . Her body was recuperate from the lake on July 13 keep abreast a five - mean solar day search .
Rivera , a veritable cast member of the popular television seriesGlee , was the third role player from the show to pass away unseasoned , sparking possibility of a “ Gleecurse . ” In fact , Rivera ’s body was find on the day of remembrance of her atomic number 27 - star and close champion Cory Monteith ’s end in 2013 .
Naya Rivera/InstagramNaya Rivera was just 33 years old when she drowned in California’s Lake Piru.
An investigation revealed that the 33 - twelvemonth - honest-to-goodness give-up the ghost after jumping into the lake without a life jacket . In her concluding moments , Rivera come up the last of her intensity level to push her tiddler into a boat before she drop beneath the water .
After Naya Rivera ’s last , Lake Piru for good banned swimming , as the actress was n’t the first somebody to overwhelm in its deceptively serene waters . Tragically , that ban came too late to save the young mother .
Naya Rivera’s Life As An Actress
Naya Marie Rivera was carry on January 12 , 1987 , in Valencia , California , and grew up near Los Angeles . She was the oldest of three sib : Her vernal brother , Mychal Rivera , roleplay in the NFL for the Oakland Raiders and the Jacksonville Jaguars , while her immature sis , Nickayla Rivera , pursued a career as a runway model .
Rivera was a multi - talented American actress , singer , and theoretical account . Throughout her career , she received many awards , let in a Screen Actors Guild Award . She was also nominated for two Grammy Awards .
Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia CommonsNaya Rivera on a panel at Comic - Con in 2010 .
Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia CommonsNaya Rivera on a panel at Comic-Con in 2010.
The actress ’s journey in the entertainment industry began at a young age . She set ashore her first role at just four years old when she present Hillary Winston on the CBS sitcomThe Royal Familyfrom 1991 to 1992 . She realise a Young Artist Award nominating address at the eld of five .
During her teenage age , Rivera played recurring tv character and had guest appearances in bear witness likeFamily Matters , The Bernie Mac Show , The Fresh Prince of Bel - Air , Baywatch , Smart Guy , andEven Stevens .
However , it was her pivotal role as Santana Lopez on the Fox tv seriesGleefrom 2009 to 2015 that unfeignedly impel her to stardom . Rivera ’s portrayal of the popular cheerleader earned her several awards , admit a SAG Award and an ALMA Award .
AJ Pics / Alamy Stock PhotoNaya Rivera (far right) with other members of theGleecast in 2009.
AJ Pics / Alamy Stock PhotoNaya Rivera ( far right wing ) with other member of theGleecast in 2009 .
When Rivera was drift inGlee , she could n’t have imagined the popularity and celebrity the show would garner . She once said she audition for the opportunity because it appropriate her to play along all her cacoethes — vocalizing , dancing , and pretend — in the same show .
Outside of her calling as an actress , Naya Rivera was a enjoy mother to her son , Josey Hollis Dorsey , who was born on Sept. 17 , 2015 . She shared Josey with her ex - husband , Ryan Dorsey , to whom she was married from July 2014 to June 2018 . The two of them split custody of Josey following their divorce .
Ventura County Sheriff’s OfficeVideo surveillance footage from Lake Piru shows Naya Rivera and her son, Josey, hours before her drowning death.
It was during Rivera ’s time with her Logos in July 2020 that the unthinkable happen .
The Death Of Naya Rivera
On July 8 , 2020 , Naya Rivera took four - class - old Josey to Lake Piru in Ventura County , a topographic point she ’d visited many times before . They arrived around 1 p.m. and rented a pontoon boat . Rivera was expect back at the dock at 4 p.m. — but she never arrived .
faculty member at the rental company headed out onto the lake to chase after Rivera down and arrive across the pontoon gravy boat floating unanchored . Josey was asleep on control panel , wrapped in his towel and fag out a life jacket , but Rivera was nowhere to be found . Her life history crown was still on the boat .
Josey later told his grandmother that he and Rivera had look “ one , two , three ” and jumped into Lake Piru shortly after bequeath the dock . They had only been swim for a abbreviated time , however , when she told him to render to the boat .
Naya Rivera/InstagramThe last social media post ever made by Rivera, just one day before her death, was a loving photo of her with her son captioned, “just the two of us.”
Ventura County Sheriff ’s OfficeVideo surveillance footage from Lake Piru shows Naya Rivera and her Logos , Josey , hours before her drowning decease .
Josey pronounce Rivera helped him climb back onto the vessel before beckon her arms in the air and yelling , “ Help ! ”
As reported byCNNin 2020 , a unlawful death case filed by Ryan Dorsey on behalf of Josey stated : “ Josey searched in vain for circle to help his mother get back on the sauceboat . Josey then calculate back at the weewee for his female parent , and saw that Naya had disappeared . Josey yelled for help and outcry alone in the boat until he was find out more than an hour subsequently . ”
Eva Rinaldi/Wikimedia CommonsCory Monteith in 2011.
The sauceboat lease company notified the police force immediately , and hunt and rescue crews get scrub the lake with a dive team . After five days of exhaustive hunt efforts by divers and law enforcement , the actress ’s organic structure was recovered from the water on July 13 , 2020 , and sent to the aesculapian examiner to determine exactly how Naya Rivera die out .
How Did Naya Rivera Die?
harmonize to theAssociated Press , a report from the Ventura County Medical Examiner noted that Rivera “ knew how to swim well ” — so how did Naya Rivera die ? What on the dot materialise that day on Lake Piru ?
The medical examiner establish caffein , a curative stage of the appetite suppressant phentermine , and scurvy layer of amphetamine and the anti - anxiety drug Valium in Rivera ’s system . The necropsy also present a blood alcohol immersion of 0.016 percent . However , none of this is trust to have give to her drowning .
Rivera did have a story of vertigo , which worsened whenever she was in the water . What ’s more , Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub noted that wind reached 21 miles per hr on the solar day of Naya Rivera ’s dying . He evoke that Rivera and her son might have been catch in a rip current as the unanchored gravy boat blew away from them , and Rivera may have become fatigued while trying to swim back to the watercraft .
Kristin Dos Santos/Wikimedia CommonsMark Salling at aGleepremiere party in 2009.
Naya Rivera / InstagramThe last social medium stake ever made by Rivera , just one 24-hour interval before her death , was a get laid photo of her with her son captioned , “ just the two of us . ”
“ We conceive that she muster enough energy to get her boy back on the gravy holder , but not enough to save herself , ” Ayub stated . Naya Rivera ’s cause of expiry was officially list as an accidental drowning .
After Naya Rivera ’s death , herGleeco - stars pay tribute to the actress who had become their friend . “ Rest unfermented , Naya , ” write Jane Lynch , who play Sue Sylvester on the show . “ What a forcefulness you were . ” Heather Morris , Rivera ’s best champion in the serial as well as in substantial life , name her the “ warm and most bouncy human being . ” The show ’s creators even lay up a college fund for Josey .
Sadly , Rivera was n’t the first principal ofGleeto die untried , leading many fans to trust that the show ’s production was cursed .
Rumors Of A ‘Glee’ Curse
Naya Rivera ’s last at the age of 33 mark the third passing of a major member of theGleecast .
On July 13 , 2013 — precisely seven years before Rivera ’s body was pulled from Lake Piru — Cory Monteith , who spiel Finn Hudson on the show , break down in a Vancouver hotel at age 31 . He ’d been scheduled to check out that dawn , but when he failed to do so , a faculty appendage enter his room around twelve noon and regain him dead .
Eva Rinaldi / Wikimedia CommonsCory Monteith in 2011 .
Then , on Jan. 30 , 2018,Mark Salling , the actor who played Noah “ Puck ” Puckerman onGlee , died by suicide . He ’d been get for own child porn two years earlier , and he plead guilty in September 2017 . He was fructify to be condemn in March 2018 , but he hang himself in his Los Angeles home plate before the audition . He was 35 long time quondam .
Kristin Dos Santos / Wikimedia CommonsMark Salling at aGleepremiere party in 2009 .
Whether or not a “ Gleecurse ” rightfully exists is up for disputation , but Naya Rivera ’s death certainly tote up to the unfortunate event surrounding the show . Perhaps the most tragical of all is Rivera ’s son — who now lives with his male parent full - metre — acquire up without his mamma .
In her memoir , Rivera fondly have-to doe with to Josey as her “ slap-up success , ” penning , “ I will never do any better than him . ” It ’s not at all surprising , then , how Naya Rivera croak make the ultimate sacrifice for her small boy .
After learn how Naya Rivera died , go inside the mysterious drowning of actressNatalie Wood . Then , register aboutnine famous deathsthat floor Hollywood .
