Naya Rivera’s Cause of Death Confirmed Following Autopsy

One day after officials discovered Naya Rivera‘s body in Lake Piru, her cause of death has been revealed. As E! News noted, following an autopsy, the Ventura County Medical Examiner confirmed that the body found at the lake was indeed Rivera’s and that her cause of death was drowning. The manner of her death has been deemed as an accident.

Rivera originally went missing on Wednesday after her four-year-old son, Josey Dorsey, was discovered alone on the boat that they rented together. He later told investigators that his mother helped him back onto the vessel before disappearing under the water. Following this incident, Josey has since been safely reunited with his father, Rivera’s ex-husband Ryan Dorsey. During a press conference held at Lake Piru on Monday, Sheriff Bill Ayub shared details about their investigation. Based on an initial medical examination of the body, authorities shared that they did not believe that any foul play was involved in Rivera’s death, which aligns with the information released following the autopsy.

This latest report also aligns with what other officials previously shared about Rivera’s disappearance. On Friday, Sgt. Kevin Donoghue of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office told PEOPLE that they believed that the situation was simply a tragic “accident,” even though some speculated that the actor died by suicide. He told the outlet, “We interviewed her son, and there was nothing that we learned from her son that would have suggested that this was suicide. Everything that we’ve learned so far leads to this being some sort of water recreational accident.”

In response to this tragic news, many of those who knew Rivera best have released tributes to her on social media. Additionally, the three creators of Glee — Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan — announced on Tuesday that they were in the process of creating a college fund for Rivera’s young son. The three released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter in which they spoke at length about the legacy that Rivera is leaving behind. “She was warm and caring and fiercely protective of the rest of the cast,” their statement read, in part. “She was tough and demanding. She was fun. She was kind. She was generous. There were ups and downs during the wonderful and stressful years we spent making Glee. We disagreed, we fought, we made up, then we fought some more, than we made up again. The kinds of things that happen in a family. Naya was more than just an actor on our show- she was our friend.”