Naya Rivera Update: Press Conference Reveals Tragic Details
The search for Glee’s Naya Rivera has come to a horrific end. On July 13, 2020 at 10:00am, The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department announced via Twitter that the body of Naya Rivera was found in Lake Piru and recovery was in progress.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department held a live press conference at 2:00pm, providing details about the recovery, location, and condition of Naya’s body, as well as events that preceded her death.
While an autopsy is currently in progress and an official cause of death has not yet been determined, it appears that investigators believe Naya became entangled in shrubbery on the lake floor which lead to her drowning.
During drier seasons, trees up to 20 feet high have grown on the lake bed. Due to deep water and poor visibility of mere inches, this can cause deadly conditions for swimmers, who are unable to see the hidden dangers.
Below is the full Naya Rivera Press Conference transcription in it’s entirety, followed by the press conference video.
Our thoughts are with the Rivera family, especially her four year old son Josey, and her fans across the globe. While the outcome seemed bleak after days of searching, the reality is beyond devastating.
(Naya Rivera Press Conference)
Naya Rivera Press Conference Transcript
[Begin Naya Rivera Press Conference Transcription]
SHERIFF ERIC BUSCHOW: Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Sheriff Eric Buschow with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. This morning we began Day 6 of the search operation for Naya Rivera, and as you know this morning we recovered a body out of the lake. To provide some detailed information about this entire operation, an overview of what’s going on the last 6 days, I’d like to introduce Sheriff Bill Ayub the Sheriff of Ventura County and he will discuss this further.
SHERIFF BILL AYUB: Good afternoon. Thank you for being here with us today. As you know, since last Wednesday, we’ve been here at Lake Piru searching for Naya Rivera who was reported missing. Each day we’ve utilized dozens of personnel on watercraft and helicopters with unmanned aerial systems and onshore, conducting a methodical and comprehensive search. Today, our search teams have recovered a body in the lake. Based on the location where the body was found, physical characteristics of the body, clothing found on the body, and the physical condition of the body– as well as the absence of any other persons reported missing in the area– we are confident the body we found is that of Naya Rivera.
She was found in a northeastern portion of the lake near the surface of the water. Depth of the water in that area is between 35 and 60 feet deep, and there’s heavy brush and trees on the lake bed there. As you can imagine, it has been an extremely difficult time for her family throughout this ordeal. As fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters…our hearts are with them and we share in their grief for Naya’s loss. We’ve been in direct contact with the family throughout this entire time, and we’ve kept them updated on the progress of our search efforts throughout. Our hearts also go out to Naya’s many friends and fans who have been holding out hope for the best over the past few days.
Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau began working this case from the onset. Their work on this case revealed there was no indication of foul play, and no indication this was a suicide. Moving forward, Naya’s body is being taken to the Ventura County Medical examiner’s Office in Ventura, where an autopsy will be performed, and a positive identification will be made through the examination of dental records.
Just to share with you a recap of this incident and our response to it: On July 8th 2020, last Wednesday, Naya Rivera came to Lake Piru and rented a pontoon boat at the dock. She and her four-year-old son left the dock at approximately 1 p.m., and headed toward the northern portion of the lake. We identified specific areas they visited that day by looking at the shoreline features in the background of Facetime videos when she was chatting with family members while out on the lake. We know from speaking with her son that he and Naya swam in the lake together at some point during their journey. It was during that time that her son described being helped into the boat by Naya, who boosted him onto the deck from behind. He told investigators that he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water.
Naya’s son was later found asleep on the boat, which was adrift in the northern portion of the lake known as ‘The Narrows’. When a leasing agent searched for the watercraft which was overdue for return. The young boy was wearing a life vest when he was found, and he was wrapped in a towel. An adult size life vest was found on the boat. Several witnesses who were at the lake that day have been identified and interviewed by Sheriff’s investigators. There were 3 other rental boats on the lake that day. All of the people in each of those boats has been identified and interviewed. They had seen Naya’s boat at different times, and in several different locations during the window of time she was out on the lake. Those witness statements helped our teams focus their search in the Northern and Eastern portions of the lake. We received the call at 4:38 p.m. on Wednesday. Rangers at Lake Piru began searching the lake immediately. Our Deputies arrived by 5 p.m,. followed by one of our helicopters, an unmanned aircraft team, investigators, and a boat crew with divers. By early Thursday morning we received assistance from several neighboring law enforcement agencies.
Naya’s family has expressed their gratitude to all those involved in the search efforts, and we would like to thank our partner agencies for their help in the search effort. Without their assistance, we could not have covered as large an area as quickly as we did. The following agencies provided personnel, equipment, and expertise to his complex search effort:
-Lake Piru Rangers
– Ventura County Fire Department
– The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
-The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office
– Tulare County Sheriff’s Office
– United States Coast Guard forward operating base Point Mugu, and
-The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
We also received support from Fugro Geo Data Services. This company completed a detailed survey and mapping mission at the lake just three weeks earlier, in advance of the upcoming seismic retrofitting of the Santa Felicia Dam at the South End of the lake. They heard about the disappearance of Naya, and offered their personnel and equipment and expertise to help locate her. Their detailed maps of the lake, along with her comprehensive knowledge of the lake have given a major boost to this search effort, and we thank them for their assistance.
That concludes my comments, and I am available with my team here to answer any questions that you may have.
REPORTER: Do you believe she was in that location the whole time, or do you believe that she floated to the top because of decomposition?
SHERIFF AYUB: We do believe she was in that area when she went swimming, based on our conversations with her son, information that we had from the witnesses in the area. The search effort had been focused in that area. As I mentioned there’s heavy brush of 15 to 20 feet in height that had grown when the lake was drier. That was an empty canyon…a tributary into the lake itself, and so you had a lot of growth that that sprung up there. When the lake refilled with water, that growth remained, and made it very, VERY difficult for divers, for sonar operators, and for searchers to to search that area. We did focus on that area. We had our entire dive team scouring that area yesterday. They were not able to find her. We believe she was concealed within some of the shrubbery on the floor bed of the lake.
REPORTER: Did she float to the top, though?
SHERIFF: [Nods]
REPORTER: So, she came to the surface?
SHERIFF AYUB: Yes.
REPORTER: Any indication of injury, or tears to her clothing that may provide some insight into what happened?
SHERIFF AYUB: There is a detailed examination of a body yet to take place, but the initial examination from the medical examiner’s office does not reveal anything that makes us suspect there’s any sort of foul play involved.
REPORTER: Sheriff, based on information you said this again but I want to reiterate she did not go on the boat, she went for a swim?
SHERIFF AYUB: She went for a swim with her son, that’s correct.
REPORTER: Life jacket?
SHERIFF AYUB: The body does not have a life jacket. There was an adult size life jacket in the pontoon boat that she had rented.
REPORTER: Was it one of the Search and Rescuers or your PCSO’s dive boat that found her today?
SHERIFF AYUB: It was rescuers involved with the operation. Of the individuals that happened to find her today were Lake Piru Park Rangers.
REPORTER: What was the condition of the body this morning when you found the body?
SHERIFF AYUB: The body was floating near the surface of the water.
REPORTER: Facing up or facing down?
SHERIFF AYUB: I don’t have the specific information as to whether the body was facing up or down. The body looked as though it has been in the water for several days.
REPORTER: Is there any indication from family or friends whether she knew how to swim?
SHERIFF AYUB: I don’t have that information. I’m sorry.
REPORTER: What time did they find her again? I know you [already] said it, I’m sorry. What time was it, this morning?
SHERIFF AYUB: About 9:10 [a.m.].
REPORTER: Sheriff, the sign over there says ‘No Swimming’. Is swimming allowed here, or not?
SHERIFF AYUB: Swimming is allowed in this lake, and it is typically…what we see at this lake is typically watercraft recreation. Not a whole lot of swimming,
REPORTER: But the sign says ‘No Swimming’.
SHERIFF AYUB: That’s right here at the at the pier, near the dock [meaning no swimming in that one specific area].
REPORTER: Can you tell us anything about her family’s visit to the lake this afternoon, her family’s visit?
SHERIFF AYUB: Her family has been at the lake every day, holding out hope and communicating with our investigators and our staff. We’ve been in constant communication with them. We’ve given them information before making it publicly available.
REPORTER: And the visit today, we saw them leave the boat, believing it to be her parents?
SHERIFF AYUB: Yes, that’s right.
REPORTER: They were just taken out see where she was found?
SHERIFF AYUB: Yes.
REPORTER: Can you just say if the body, in terms of decomposition over the last 5 days, how much does that complicate the future autopsy?
SHERIFF AYUB: The Medical Examiner’s trained and well prepared to examine bodies in various states from burns, burning, to water damage, to advanced decomposition. It does complicate things a little bit. In this case there is decomposition that takes place, a natural process. It’s actually part of the reason we were able to find her today. The body fills with gas, becomes more buoyant, and then surfaces on it’s own, so I don’t anticipate they’ll be any problems conducting a post-mortem autopsy.
REPORTER: Sheriff you indicated that according to your knowledge she went for a swim with her son. Do we know how he was able to make it back into the boat and up when she didn’t, if that was the case?
SHERIFF AYUB: It would be speculation to say at this point. There are a lot of currents on the lake that appear particularly in the afternoon. We believe it was mid-afternoon when she disappeared. The idea perhaps being at the boat started drifting. It was unanchored, and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself.
REPORTER: Do we know as a fact that the son went into the water?
SHERIFF AYUB: The son was in the water, yes.
REPORTER: Are there on those rental boats?
SHERIFF AYUB: There are. There are ladders on the boats. They’re designed for swimming. Thank you very much.
SHERIFF ERIC BUSCHOW: Thank you everybody. That concludes the press conference.
[End Naya Rivera Press Conference Transcription]
Watch: Naya Rivera Press Conference Video
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