The search for former Glee actress Naya Rivera is now in its fifth day. On Sunday, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department checked the nearby cabins on Lake Piru in Ventura, California, but have not found her yet. The 33-year-old actress is now presumed dead after she went missing Wednesday afternoon.
In Sunday’s search, authorities said they planned to check the cabins and outbuildings surrounding the lake again, as well as the shoreline. “This has been part of the ongoing search effort since her disappearance on Wednesday afternoon. Boat crews continue to scan the lake,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement on Twitter. Sgt. Shannon King told PEOPLE they looked in the cabins again to confirm “nothing has changed.”
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In todayโs search for Naya Rivera, cabins and outbuildings in the surrounding area will be checked once again, as well as the shoreline. This has been part of the ongoing search effort since her disappearance on Wednesday afternoon. Boat crews continue to scan the lake.
โ Ventura Co. Sheriff (@VENTURASHERIFF) July 12, 2020
Unfortunately, King said they found the cabins unoccupied. “Nothing came of it,” she said, adding that the main focus of Sunday’s searching was the shoreline. The decision to check the cabins again was in response to the constant responses on social media, asking them to look there.
“They were just doing the shoreline to make sure nothing has changed. There were a lot of folks that were talking on social media about, ‘Oh, check the cabins. Maybe she’s there, maybe she’s hanging out,’” King explained to PEOPLE. Since they did have extra search and rescue personnel on hand, they did check the cabins on the north end of the lake. They have not found any evidence that Rivera left the water. “It appears to be 100 percent just a tragic drowning,” King said.
Rivera was reported missing Wednesday after she did not return the boat she rented on time. Employees found the boat, with her 4-year-old son Josey sleeping inside, but Rivera was not there. Josey was wearing his life jacket, but Rivera’s life jacket was still in the boat. Authorities were called to the scene and they have been searching there ever since.
Lake Piru, a reservoir in Los Padres National Forest, has a history of drownings. Authorities have had to use sonar devices and underwater drones to help the search because of the low visibility. “It’s not like typical waters, which are crystal clear, this is murky, cold lake water,” King told PEOPLE. She added that the underwater trees and shrubs are “hampering” search efforts.
Authorities plan to at least keep searching through Tuesday, King explained. There is “no talk of either one way or the other after Tuesday,” she said, calling Tuesday a “projected date that we’re discussing, and we’re going to continue doing what we have been doing.”
Authorities do not believe foul play is involved, as surveillance footage confirms Rivera and Josey were the only ones to get onto the boat. Josey is with his father, Rivera’s ex-husband Ryan Dorsey. He told investigators he and his mother went swimming, but his mother never got back into the boat.
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