Naya Rivera Search: Sheriff's Department Diver Is 'Confident' Her Body Will Be Found

As authorities continue to search for Naya Rivera, a sheriff's department diver says they are [...]

By Stephen Andrew

As authorities continue to search for Naya Rivera, a sheriff's department diver says they are "confident" that her body will be found. According to Us Weekly, Robert Inglis of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office Search & Rescue Team told the outlet that they believe they have narrowed down the search to a possible area where her body might be. "There was a picture sent to a family member that showed the boy on the boat by a cove," he said. "We found where that cove was."

The photo was taken somewhere between 90 and 120 minutes before Rivera's 4-year-old son was found alone on the boat she rented. It helped authorities to focus on a specific area where her body could be located. "We did send our dive members to those two locations and searched those extensively," Inglis told Us. he then added that in a lot of cases similar to this, there are witnesses "who see someone jumping off a boat so we know which area to search and we can find the body more quickly. In this case, it really could be the whole lake. There are a lot of coves that have to be searched [for]."

Inglis went on to explain that searching the lake can be very difficult due to trees and brush underwater. Visibility in the lake is so poor, he says, that even with sunlight "if you have a watch and you hold it in front of your mask, you can't even read the numbers." Inglis added that, even though it is tough to search, "we are confident that we will locate her body."

Regarding the terrain around the lake, Inglis commented on those search areas as well. "As you get more north in the lake, there are steep hills and it's covered with brush with bigger rocks," he explained. "It would be very difficult to maneuver through that especially if you're just wearing maybe a bathing suit."

Finally, he stated that his opinion is that something likely happened when Rivera was trying to get back into the boat. "What I suspect is that the winds kicked up. These pontoon boats are very light, and when you push them, it can get away from you," he said. "She might've tried to swim after the boat. But that's all speculation. Once we do locate her, that'll answer a lot more questions."

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