The 33-year-old actress, who was best known for her iconic role as Santana Lopez on Ryan Murphy’s musical comedy series Glee, went missing last week after renting a pontoon boat on Lake Piru, California, with her four-year-old son, Josey.
Her son was found alone in the boat with his lifejacket on. Josey told authorities that he and Rivera went swimming and that “his mum never made it out of the water.” On Monday (13 July), after five days of searching, the Ventura County Police department recovered Rivera’s body.
In a press conference, Sheriff Bill Ayub said: “We believe it was mid-afternoon when she disappeared. The idea perhaps being that the boat started drifting, it was unanchored, and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back