Actress Naya Rivera was missing and presumed to be dead after her 4-year-old son was found adrift on a boat in Lake Piru in Ventura County Wednesday, officials said.
Deputies received a call of a child found alone on a boat in the lake around 6 p.m., said Cpt. Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. The boy was adrift for about three hours until someone on another boat found him sleeping and notified authorities, Buschow said.
A search and rescue dive team searched the lake for a possible drowning victim as they were unable to locate the child’s parents, officials said.
Sheriff’s officials later said the missing person is “Glee” actress Naya Rivera, 33, and she is presumed to be dead.
“There’s no evidence of foul play at this point,” Buschow said. “This may well be a case of drowning.”
The child was placed in the custody of family members.
Rivera came to the lake around 1 p.m. and rented a boat with her son. About three hours after they left the dock, the other boater found the child.
The boy said he had been swimming with his mother and he got back in the boat but she didn’t, the department said. He was wearing a life jacket when he was found, and another adult life vest was found on the boat.
Authorities have been searching for his mother ever since. Dive operations were suspended after nightfall and would resume in the morning.
Buschow had previously described the child as a 3-year-old girl.
Lake Piru is a reservoir in the Los Padres National Forest and Topatopa Mountains of Ventura County.
No further details were immediately available.