Naya Rivera

Search for Missing ‘Glee' Star Suspended Until Monday Morning

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said last Thursday that they believe Rivera, 33, drowned in Lake Piru, northwest of Los Angeles

Naya Rivera arrives for the March Of Dimes: Imagine A World Premiere Event at LA LIVE Microsoft Square on Nov. 9, 2017, in Los Angeles, Calif.
Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images

The search to find “Glee” TV show star Naya Rivera in a Southern California lake was suspended Sunday night until Monday morning, authorities said.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said last Thursday that they believe Rivera, 33, drowned in Lake Piru, northwest of Los Angeles. Her 4-year-old son was discovered alone in a rented boat.

The boy, who was found asleep and wearing a life vest late Wednesday afternoon, told investigators that he and his mother went swimming and he got back on the boat, but "his mom never made it out of the water," Sheriff’s Sgt. Kevin Donoghue said.

Robert Inglis of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue Team told Us Weekly that the actress sent a family member a picture of her son, Josey, in front of a cove before she disappeared.

"There was a picture sent to a family member that showed the boy on the boat by a cove," Inglis told the magazine. "We found where that cove was."

A time stamp on the photo shows it was taken 90 minutes to two hours before the boy was found alone on the pontoon boat, the magazine reported.

Inglis told Us Weekly that the area where the photo was taken and the spot where the boat was found were starting points for authorities before the search was expanded.

"We did send our dive members to those two locations and searched those extensively," he told Us Weekly.

Rivera remained missing as of Sunday night.

Rivera began acting at a young age, but she rose to national attention playing a lesbian teen on "Glee," which aired from 2009 until 2015 on Fox.

NBC News/AP
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