NAYA RIVERA FEARED DEAD AFTER GOING MISSING IN LAKE

Actress Naya Rivera, best known as the snarky Santana Lopez on “Glee,” is presumed dead after she disappeared from a rented boat is on a Southern California lake Wednesday, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.

Local authorities closed the lake to the public Thursday morning as the search continued for Rivera, 33, the sheriff’s office confirmed on Twitter

The actress arrived at Lake Piru in Ventura County, about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles, around 1 p.m. Wednesday and rented a boat with her 4-year-old son, said Capt. Eric Buschow, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office..

Around 4 p.m., the boat was found with the boy inside but Rivera missing, and their vehicle still at the site. The child is now in the company of family, according to Buschow.

“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,” Buschow said. A search is ongoing for her body.

A search and rescue dive team was dispatched to conduct a search, as well as a sheriff’s helicopter and search drone. Additional resources will be dispatched to continue the search early Thursday morning.

“We anticipate having a lot of resources out here tomorrow resuming at daybreak with multiple dive teams from the state office of emergency services,” Buschow said.

Rivera starred as Santana Lopez on the Fox musical dramedy “Glee,” which ran from 2009 to 2015. A Southern California native, Rivera was born and raised in the Santa Clarita Valley of Los Angeles County, approximately 20 miles from Lake Piru.

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.”

Most recently, Rivera starred as Collette Jones for three seasons of the YouTube Red series “Step Up: High Water.”

The day before she went missing Rivera posted a picture on Instagram embracing her son with the caption, “Just the two of us.”

On July 2, Rivera wrote on Instagram: “No matter the year, circumstance, or strife, every day you’re alive is a blessing. Make the most of today and every day you are given. tomorrow is not promised.”

Several of Rivera’s “Glee” castmates responded to the news, praying for her safe return.

“We need all the prayers we can get to bring our Naya back home to us,” wrote Heather Morris, who played Brittany Pierce. “We need your love and light.”

“please pray for @nayarivera to be found safe and sound,” singer Demi Lovato, who played one of Rivera’s love interests in season 5 of the show, posted on her Instagram story alongside a photo of a lit candle.