As the search continues for Naya Rivera, a member of the search team is confident they are getting closer to finding the location where she went missing, thanks to a photo.
Robert Inglis of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue Team told Us Weekly that actress Naya Rivera sent to a family member a picture of her 4-year-old son, Josey, in front of a cove before she disappeared July 8 after diving into Lake Piru.
“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 timestamp on the photo revealed that the pic was taken 90 minutes to two hours before the 4-year-old was found alone on the pontoon boat on Wednesday, July 8, half a mile from the shore of Lake Piru, with no sign of the 33-year-old actress.
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. The search was called off Sunday evening and expected to resume Monday morning.
Authorities said Thursday they believe Rivera, 33, drowned in the lake. Her son was found the boat.
Yesterday (July 12, 2020), “cabins and outbuildings in the surrounding area will be checked once again, as well as the shoreline,” the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office shared on Sunday.
“This has been part of the ongoing search effort since her disappearance on Wednesday afternoon. Boat crews continue to scan the lake.”
Speaking with People on Sunday, Sgt. Shannon King confirmed that investigators completed a search of the cabins near Lake Piru to make sure “nothing has changed.”
“They’re not occupied. Nothing came of it,” King tells People, explaining that the larger focus of the search “was the shoreline.”
“They were just doing the shoreline to make sure nothing has changed. There were a lot of folks that were talking on social media about, ‘Oh, check the cabins. Maybe she’s there, maybe she’s hanging out,’ ” King says, noting that since they had “extra” search and rescue personnel on Sunday, they “did go to a couple of the cabins that were on the north end of the lake, that’s all that’s out there, and nothing came of it.”
At this point, authorities still have no reason to believe that Rivera ever “left the water.”
“There’s no evidence to say she left the water. It appears to be 100 percent just a tragic drowning,” King explains.
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