The body of Naya Rivera, the actor and singer best known for her scene-stealing role on the Fox series Glee, was recovered from a California lake on Monday, days after she went missing and was presumed dead. She was 33.
“Today, our search teams have recovered a body in the lake. Based on the location where the body was found, physical characteristics of the body, clothing found on the body, and the physical condition of the body, as well as the absence of any other persons reported missing in the area, we are confident the body we found is that of Naya Rivera,” Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said at a press conference Monday, adding that there is no indication of foul play, or that Rivera died by suicide. He said that his department’s hearts went out to Rivera’s family, as well as “Naya’s many friends and fans, who have been holding out hope for the best over the past few days.”
Rivera was reported missing on July 8 after a boat she rented with her four-year-old son was found drifting on Lake Piru, a reservoir in the Los Padres National Forest. Rivera’s son, Josey, was found asleep on the boat and safe. He was wearing a life vest; an adult life vest was also found on the boat, but there was no sign of Rivera herself. According to authorities, Josey said he and Rivera had gone swimming, but that she didn’t get back onto the vessel.
In the aftermath of her disappearance, officials said they did not believe Rivera was a victim of foul play nor that her death was a suicide. But an autopsy would likely confirm the cause of death, said Ventura County Sheriff captain Eric Buschow. “At the point that she’s found… depending on what the autopsy results are, that may provide some clarity as to what took place. But it appears that this was just a tragic accident,” he said on Sunday.
Born in Santa Clarita, California, Rivera spent most of her life as a performer. Her first role came at age four on the 1991 sitcom The Royal Family, which starred Hollywood legends Redd Foxx and Della Reese and was created by Eddie Murphy. In the years that followed, the young Rivera appeared as a guest star on a number of series, including Family Matters, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Even Stevens, and Baywatch. But it was her casting on Glee that put Rivera on the broader cultural map. She played Santana on the Ryan Murphy musical comedy, the assertive and confident foil to Lea Michele’s lead character, Rachel Berry. The characters’ contentious onscreen relationship often spilled into real life, Rivera wrote in her 2016 memoir, Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up.
“One of the Glee writers once said that Lea and I were like two sides of the same battery, and that about sums us up,” Rivera wrote. “We are both strong-willed and competitive—not just with each other but with everyone—and that’s not a good mixture. As the show progressed, though, that friendship started to break down, especially as Santana moved from a background character to one with bigger plotlines and more screen time. I think Rachel—erm, I mean Lea—didn’t like sharing the spotlight.”
But despite their clashes, Rivera maintained she held no ill will toward Michele. “[While we] weren’t the best of friends,” Rivera wrote, “the rumors of our ‘feud’ were blown out of proportion.”