Naya Rivera Fans Devastated as Her Cause of Death Is Confirmed

The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s office completed an autopsy on Naya Rivera‘s remains on Tuesday, confirming that the actress passed away due to accidental drowning. Fans had mixed feelings about these findings, with many all the more heartbroken by its finality. Many flocked to social media to grieve together on Tuesday evening.

Rivera disappeared while swimming in Lake Piru in Ventura County, California, on Wednesday, July 8. Police and others searched for the Glee star for days before finally locating her body on Monday. While all the evidence suggested that she had drowned by accident while swimming with her 4-year-old son, an autopsy was conducted just to be sure. According to a report by E! News, it found that she drowned by accident. This update took an emotional toll on many fans.

Rivera was a break-out star best-known for her tenure as Santana Lopez on Glee, and at 33 years old, many expected a long and prolific career for her. While she had complications in her past, many fans saw it as insensitive for officials to conduct an autopsy on her in the first place, as if that signaled an assumption that something unsavory had been going on.

Many were especially put off by the phrasing of the announcement in some cases, where officials or reporters emphasized that no drugs or alcohol were found in Rivera’s system. They saw it as a classless presentation of the facts about a woman who died protecting her son.

Rivera’s son, Josey Dorsey, told investigators that his mother helped push him back up onto their rented boat before disappearing under the water. He was later found alone on the craft, leading investigators to believe that she Rivera had been swept away in the current. Josey has since been reunited with his father, Ryan Dorsey.

Fans are understandably emotional about Rivera, and about the autopsy, that seems to confirm her heroic final act. Here’s what they are saying on social media.

Thoughts and Prayers

RIP

Heartbreaking

Avoidable

Disbelief

Hero

Doubt

Presentation