Authorities are “confident” that a body found in Lake Piru is that of missing actor Naya Rivera.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office made the announcement on Monday during a news conference, five days after Rivera went missing at the California lake.
Officials had been searching for Rivera since 8 July, when she went missing after renting a pontoon boat with her four-year-old son.
There is no sign of foul play nor any indication that Rivera died by suicide, Sheriff Bill Ayub said during the news conference.
Rivera, 33, began her acting career at an early age and rose to global fame as cheerleader Santana Lopez in Glee, which ran on Fox from 2009 to 2015.
Rivera’s four-year-old son told investigators that his mother, whose body was found in a Southern California lake Monday, boosted him back on to the deck of their rented boat before he looked back and saw her disappearing under the water, authorities said.
“She must have mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat, but not enough to save herself,” Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said at a news conference.