Autopsy confirms Naya Rivera’s death was accidental drowning
LOS ANGELES — An autopsy confirmed Tuesday that “Glee” star Naya Rivera died from accidental drowning and gave no indication that drugs or alcohol played any role in her death, officials said.
The examination, performed the day after the 33-year-old’s body was found in a Southern California lake, showed no signs of traumatic injury or disease that might have contributed to the drowning, the Ventura County Medical Examiner said in a statement.
Dental records were used to confirm Rivera’s identity, and routine toxicology tests will be performed for the presence of drugs and alcohol, the statement said.
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Rivera was found in Lake Piru on Monday, five days after she disappeared while boating with her 4-year-old son, who was found asleep and alone on the boat hours later. The autopsy’s findings were all consistent with the expectations of the Sheriff’s Office, which conducted the search and investigation.
Also Tuesday, the creators of “Glee” announced that they would be creating a college fund for Rivera’s son, and remembered her as a joyful and immensely talented performer.
“Naya was more than just an actor on our show — she was our friend,” Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan said in a statement Tuesday.
“Our hearts go out to her family, especially her mom, Yolanda, who was a big part of the ‘Glee’ family, and her son Josey,” the three producers said, referring to the child as “the beautiful son Naya loved most of all.”
Josey is Rivera’s son with her former husband, actor Ryan Dorsey. She called the boy “my greatest success, and I will never do any better than him.”
While she wasn’t initially hired as a “Glee” cast member, it “didn’t take more than an episode or two for us to realize that we had lucked into finding one of the most talented, special stars we would ever have the pleasure of working with,” the producers said.
Rivera could act, sing, dance and “nail a joke as well as she could crush you with an emotional scene. … She was a joy to write for, a joy to direct and a joy to be around,” they said.
In portraying a high school student in an openly lesbian relationship on “Glee,” Rivera ensured that her character’s love for her partner was “expressed with dignity, strength and with pure intentions,” the producers said.
Rivera played singing cheerleader Santana Lopez for six seasons on the Fox musical-comedy “Glee.”
She is the third major cast member from the show to die in their 30s.
The confirmation of her death comes seven years to the day after co-star Cory Monteith died at 31 from a toxic mix of alcohol and heroin, with the series losing one of its leads while it was still on the air.
Another co-star, Mark Salling, who Rivera dated at one point, killed himself in 2018 at age 35 after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.
Rivera was born in Valencia and grew up in the city, graduating from Valencia High in 2005.
She got her show-business start at a young age, appearing in commercials for Kmart as a child. At age 4, she appeared in the TV series “The Royal Family,” starring comedian Redd Foxx.
Her parents are Yolanda, a former model and a former executive assistant at the Los Angeles Daily News, and George Rivera.
She made her movie debut in the horror film “At the Devil’s Door” in 2014. She also dabbled in music, releasing single in 2013, “Sorry”, with rapper Big Sean, on Columbia Records. She also had a recurring role on the Lifetime series “Devious Maids.”
But it was on Fox’s “Glee,” that she made her mark, appearing in 113 episodes of the series.