The Ventura County Sheriff’s
Department late Wednesday confirmed that Rivera, 33, is the person being
searched for in the waters of Lake Piru, which is approximately 56 miles (90
kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
KNBC reported late Wednesday that
Rivera rented a pontoon boat at the Lake Piru reservoir Wednesday and that her
young son was found on the boat wearing a life vest. Rivera’s identification
was found on the boat. Sheriff’s officials launched a boat and helicopter
search Wednesday afternoon, but that had been suspended by nighttime. The
search will continue early Thursday.
“We’re going on the belief that
she did go in the water and we have not been able to locate her. So this may
well be a case of drowning,” Captain Eric Buschow said during a news
conference.
Rivera’s 4-year-old son is from a
marriage with actor Ryan Dorsey. The couple finalized their divorce in June
2018 after nearly four years of marriage.
She called her young son “my
greatest success, and I will never do any better than him” in her 2016 memoir Sorry Not Sorry.
The actress was engaged to rapper
Big Sean in 2013, but their relationship ended a year later. The pair met on
Twitter and collaborated musically, with the rapper appearing on Rivera’s debut
single 'Sorry.'
Rivera played Santana, a
cheerleader in the musical-comedy Glee that
aired on Fox from 2009 until 2015. She appeared in 113 episodes of the series
and dated co-star Mark Salling, who killed himself inf 2018 after pleading
guilty to child pornography charges.
