Sheriff’s release CCTV footage of Naya Rivera and her son Josey boarding boat
Sheriff releases CCTV footage of Naya Rivera and her son Josey boarding boat on lake hours before the Glee star is believed to have drowned in ‘tragic accident’ – as cops say her body may never be found
- The Ventura Sheriff’s Department released the footage Thursday
- Naya Rivera went missing on Wednesday after she and her son went for a swim while out on a rental pontoon boat at Lake Piru in California
- Footage shows Rivera pulling into the parking lot and helping get Josey out of her truck, before proceeding to the boat rental
- Pair are then led to their boat before loading on, taking off and heading north
- Release of the footage comes as the department has also shared the 911 call from the boat rental facility, reporting the missing actress
By Matthew Wright For Dailymail.com
Published: 01:01 EDT, 10 July 2020 | Updated: 03:15 EDT, 10 July 2020
Authorities searching for Glee actress Naya Rivera have released CCTV footage of the mother and her son Josey arriving at Lake Piru and boarding their small boat, which would eventually be found with the young boy alone.
The Ventura Sheriff’s Department released the footage Thursday, showing the 33-year-old and her four-year-old son arrive at the lake on Wednesday.
Footage shows Rivera pulling into the parking lot and helping get Josey out of her truck, before proceeding to the boat rental.
Rivera is presumed dead after the pair went into the water to go swimming but the actress failed to reappear, leaving Josey asleep on the drifting boat with his mother’s life vest still on board and her car in the parking lot.
The search for Rivera was suspended for a second night running after darkness fell on Thursday night, with no sign of a body discovered so far. The search will continue in the morning, but has been redesignated as a ‘recovery operation’ because investigators believe that Rivera drowned in ‘what appears to be a tragic accident’.
Divers say the waters are murky and full of plants, limiting their visibility to no more than 5ft, and authorities warn that Rivera’s body ‘may never come back up’ if it is ‘entangled on something beneath the water’.
Four-year-old Josey has meanwhile been returned to his family and was yesterday pictured in the arms of his father, Rivera’s ex-husband Ryan Dorsey.
The Ventura Sheriff’s Department released the footage Thursday, showing the 33-year-old and her four-year-old son arrive at the lake on Wednesday
The heartbroken ex-husband of missing Naya Rivera is seen for the first time comforting his young son just a day after the Glee actress vanished from a California lake where she’d been boating with the four-year-old
Actress Naya Rivera is presumed dead after her four-year-old son, Josey Hollis, was found alone in a boat on Lake Piru in California on Wednesday afternoon
The pair are then walked to their pontoon boat, loading onto the vessel before taking off. They can be seen heading north in the boat.
The release of the footage comes as the department has also shared the 911 call from the boat rental facility, reporting the missing actress and incorrectly identifying her son as a girl.
Two German Shepherds from the California Rescue Dog Association have also been added to the expanding search party for Rivera, the Ventura County Star reports.
They are trained to detect gasses that are released by human cadavers, performing a search along a grid of the lake and assisting divers in potentially locating Rivera’s body.
The clip shows the pair walk over to get assistance with the boat rental, being led to their eventual vessel
Rivera and her son load their things onto the boat before taking off
Footage shows Rivera and her son take off on the pontoon boat
The boat can be seen heading north in the reservoir and would not be seen for several hours
Sgt. Bill Hutton described the the search as being ‘very technical,’ adding that the search for the actress will continue until nightfall. GPS data from the search will then be analyzed overnight.
Authorities do plan to release footage to show just how difficult some of the conditions have been in the search.
Sgt Kevin Donoghue from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, speaking at Lake Piru, said more than 100 police and first responders are now searching for Naya’s body – and the search will go on through the night.
‘Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this terrible time and we hope to bring closure for them,’ he said.
The search for the Glee star resumed at first light on Thursday.
Into the darkness: The search for Naya Rivera continued until nightfall on Lake Piru until it was suspended for a second day running with no trace of the Glee star being found so far
Rescuers sail on the lake as the light faded last night, with authorities now saying they are engaged in a ‘recovery operation’ and believing that Naya Rivera died in a ‘tragic accident’
A patrol boat on the shore of Lake Piru on the second day of the search for Naya Rivera, who was last seen on Wednesday renting a pontoon boat with her four-year-old son Josey
Two German Shepherds from the California Rescue Dog Association have also been added to the expanding search party for Rivera, the Ventura County Star reports
The dogs are trained to detect gasses that are released by human cadavers, performing a search along a grid of the lake and assisting divers in potentially locating the Rivera’s body
It has involved helicopters from the Sheriff’s Office and Coastguard as well as multiple dive teams operating from six boats.
The small vessel Naya was using is moored at the dock, marked off with yellow police tape. Sgt Donoghue said her purse and ID was found alongside her son.
There was also a life jacket onboard and her son was wearing a second life jacket.
‘We know she has been to this lake before and is familiar with it but we aren’t sure whether her son has been here,’ he added.
This diagram shows where Naya Rivera and her son rented a boat on Lake Piru before the four-year-old was seen alone. The map in the top left shows the location of the lake in relation to Los Angeles where Rivera lives
A rescuer wearing a life vest stands on the edge of a boat on Lake Piru as the search continued without success on Thursday
Members of Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Underwater Search and Rescue Team search for the actress. More than 100 personnel are currently looking for Rivera
A helicopter joins members of Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Underwater Search and Rescue Team in search for Rivera
He said officers are in constant contact with the actress’ family.
‘As far as we understand, her son is physically okay,’ he said.
‘From what I understand, he has told investigators his mother never made it out of the water.
Doting dad Ryan Dorsey was spotted holding Josey in his arms as they left the home of Naya’s sister, model Nickayla Rivera in Valencia, California on Thursday.
Dorsey, who has joint custody of his son after he divorced Glee star Naya in June 2018, was visibly upset earlier in the day as he woke up to the reality of what had happened.
Police have cornered off the pontoon boat believed to have been the one used by Rivera and her son
Members of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office in a boat on Thursday
Members of Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Underwater Search and Rescue Team search for former ‘Glee’ actress Naya Rivera
Dorsey’s housemate in Los Angeles told DailyMail.com that Dorsey immediately headed to the popular tourist spot as soon as he was notified that their son was found alone on a pontoon boat.
The housemate, who asked not to be named, said: ‘Ryan headed up there as soon as their son was found to look after him. He was gone by the time I got home Wednesday. ‘
The small vessel Naya was using is moored at the dock, marked off with yellow police tape. Sgt Donoghue said her purse and ID was found alongside her son.
There was also a life jacket onboard and her son was wearing a second life jacket.
He also said investigators have CCTV footage from the dock showing only Naya and her son getting onboard the small boat.
‘We know she has been to this lake before and is familiar with it but we aren’t sure whether her son has been here,’ he added.
He said officers are in constant contact with the actress’ family.
‘As far as we understand, her son is physically okay,’ he said.
‘From what I understand, he has told investigators his mother never made it out of the water.
Authorities initially reported the ‘potential drowning victim’ on Wednesday evening and had to end their search the first night, describing tumultuous conditions for the diving teams.
The 911 call the boat rental facility made, incorrectly calling Naya Rivera’s son a girl when reporting the actress missing
The Ventura Sheriff’s Department has released audio of the 911 call made on Wednesday by the boat rental facility at Lake Piru after an employee noted that Naya Rivera and her son had not returned.
In the call, the employee initially notes that a girl was left alone in the boat, adding that she was not actually down at the scene to see.
Employee: ‘Lake Piru, the emergency is we have a missing person. We found a little girl in one of the boats by the south end the mom is nowhere to be found.’
Dispatcher: ‘Okay, Lake Piru… Okay and is she white, black, Asian or Hispanic?’
Employee: ‘I have no idea, I’m headed down there right now to go check. My husband was one of the people who were first there and I am going to get more information. He just told me to call it in.’
Dispatcher: ‘Okay… Do you know if it is a boy or a girl?’
Employee: ‘I believe it is a little girl.’
Dispatcher: ‘Approximate age?’
Employee: ‘Like I said, I have no idea. I’m heading down there right now. Do you want me to call it back when I get there?’
Dispatcher: ‘I’ll put the little bit of information that I have but yeah when you get there, can you give us a call back.’
‘Everyone is in disbelief’: Naya Rivera seemed ‘happy’ before disappearance as a source says four-year-old son Josey ‘comes first’ to the Glee star
Glee star Naya Rivera is said to have seemed ‘happy,’ ‘busy’ and ‘just kind of living life’ weeks before her four-year-old son was found alone in Lake Piru, Ventura County, California, where she is now missing and presumed dead.
‘Everybody is in a wait-and-see pattern and trying to figure out exactly what happened,’ a source close to the star has told PEOPLE Magazine on Thursday.
The source is said to have seen Rivera, 33, just a few weeks ago and also revealed how her loved ones are in ‘disbelief’ over her disappearance and the circumstances, as her son Josey Dorsey ‘comes first’ to the star.
‘Everyone is in disbelief’: Naya Rivera (pictured above in 2017) seemed ‘happy’ before disappearance as a source tells PEOPLE Magazine that her four-year-old son Josey ‘comes first’
The source explained that while ‘back in the day’ Rivera’s life was ‘all about her career’ she had recently shifted her priorities on being a doting mother to her son.
‘Her son comes first. That’s apparent in everything she’s posted and done. Everything is about her son,’ the source told the outlet, adding: ‘Everybody is in disbelief.’
Police said on Thursday that the search and rescue mission for Rivera is now being considered a recovery operation, a day after she vanished from the California lake where she’d been boating with her son.
Rivera vanished on Wednesday while on Lake Piru with her son Josey, who told police that she’d ‘jumped’ into the water to go swimming and never came back. He was found asleep on their drifting boat.
Naya and her son Josey: The pair were on Lake Piru in California yesterday afternoon when Rivera vanished and is feared to have drowned. She shared the right-hand image just a day before her disappearance, with the caption: ‘Just the two of us’
As search and rescue teams searched the lake on Thursday, local sheriffs gave grim details about the lake which Rivera was familiar with and had been visiting for years.
Ventura County Deputy Sheriff Chris Dyer said on Thursday that Lake Piru was a ‘sanctuary’ for Naya, she was familiar with the lake and has been going there for years.
Rivera welcomed her son, Josey Hollis, with then-husband Ryan Dorsey in 2015. She called her young son ‘my greatest success, and I will never do any better than him’ in her 2016 memoir ‘Sorry Not Sorry.’
Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey: The couple had an on-off relationship including a four-year marriage from 2014 and 2018 which led to the birth of a son, Josey Hollis Dorsey
Rivera and Hollis divorced in 2018, after Rivera had earlier applied to end the marriage in 2016 but the couple had initially reconciled.
On Thanksgiving weekend 2017, Rivera was arrested in West Virginia on suspicion of domestic battery against Dorsey. The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office said Dorsey later asked that Rivera not be prosecuted.
Dorsey, also an actor, has appeared on shows including Ray Donavan and Justified.
Former Glee co-star Matthew Morrison defended Rivera at the time of her arrest, saying she was a ‘great mom’.
Divers search Lake Piru for any sign of Naya Rivera on Thursday morning. The Glee actress vanished after going for a swim from a pontoon boat she had rented with her son
Initially, police had hoped to find the actress alive and were searching the expansive shoreline as well as in the water. Now though, they say the mission is a recovery operation.
‘There’s no evidence of foul play at this point. This may well be a case of drowning,’ sheriff’s Capt. Eric Buschow said.
He said it was an employee who works at the boat shack who found the boat and the child in the north part of the lake.
‘My indication is that the child was found sleeping on the boat,’ he said at a press conference near the lake Thursday.
‘I’ve been told Naya Rivera has been coming here for years and she is familiar with the lake. This might be a little sanctuary for her, especially on a Wednesday – no one’s here on a Wednesday so it’s a good day to come. She rented the boat.’
Deputy Sheriff Dyer added: ‘We’re not presuming her dead and right now it’s still a search and rescue operation, we’re searching not only the water but the shoreline. We hope for the best and prepare for the worst.’
Rivera was arrested on a domestic battery charge (pictured left) on Thanksgiving weekend in 2017 after being accused of striking Dorsey (pictured together right), who eventually asked for the prosecution not to go ahead
The senior officer said at this point all signs point to this being a horrible accident.
‘There was no collision or signs of struggle,’ he said. ‘We are using our helicopters, we are using our dive teams, we are using sonar equipment and our unmanned aerial drone team.
‘It’s extremely difficult to search this lake, it goes from depths of 40ft to 5ft.
‘Visibility in the daytime is 8 to 10 inches. At nighttime it’s zero. Everywhere you see a buoy on the lake is a low part.
‘There’s full-grown trees and debris under the lake. It’s been a couple years since someone drowned here in Lake Piru, that an accident’s happened in the lake, but it has happened before,’ he said.
