'Glee' actress Naya Rivera presumed dead: What we know so far of her mysterious disappearance

Having shot to fame with 'Glee', actress Naya Rivera was a doting mother, a fitness enthusisast and a celebrated actor. Her mysterious disappearance is now feared as a case of drowning after she went missing from a boat where her 4-year-old boy was found alone. 

Actress Naya Rivera went missing from a lake in California. She had rented a boat from a local company in the city to go swimming in Lake Piru with 4-year-old son. Officials fear that she might have drowned in the lake as a search-and-rescue party has been trying to locate her. Authorities on Thursday evening said that they believed that 'Glee' actress Naya Rivera drowned in a Southern California lake.

Naya's 4-year-old boy was spotted alone on a boat. Another boater found the child sleeping in the boat by himself. He was rescued from the lake wearing a safety vest. It is reported that his mother went swimming and never climbed back onto the boat.

Naya used to adore her child and would constantly post pictures of him and with him at regular intervals on her social media profile. In fact, her last instagram post before she went missing was with her son, a closeup of them two pecking each other. 

The Ventura County Sheriff tweeted an update of the search and rescue mission. 

“Investigators believe Rivera drowned in what appears to be a tragic accident,” a Ventura County Sheriff’s Office statement said.

CCTV video taken at about 1 pm on Wednesday shows Rivera and her son leaving on the boat at Lake Piru- an activity that the mother-son had done together before.

The County Sheriff's office is calling Naya Rivera a "possible drowning victim" as of now. 

Dozens of divers,  with help from helicopters, drones and all-terrain vehicles were involved in the search on Lake Piru, 55 miles (90 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles in the Los Padres National Forest.

Naya Rivera shot to fame with 'Glee' in the role of Santana Lopez. The show ran from 2009-2015. She began her career as a child actress and model, appearing in national television commercials before landing the role of Hillary Winston on the short-lived CBS sitcom 'The Royal Family' at the age of 4, for which she received a nomination for a Young Artist Award. After a series of recurring television roles and guest spots as a teenager, Rivera received her breakthrough role as an adult as Santana Lopez on the Fox television series 'Glee', for which she received nominations for numerous accolades.

Fellow celebrities, including her 'Glee' co-star Harry Shum Jr., shared their concern on social media. Actress Jackée Harry tweeted a scene she shared with Rivera on 'The Royal Family' which was Rivera's first acting job at the age of 4.