Glee star Naya Rivera feared dead after going missing at lake in Southern California

Former Glee actress Naya Rivera is feared drowned after she went missing during a boat trip on a lake in Southern California.

A search operation was launched after her four-year-old son Josey was reportedly found alone on a rented boat at Lake Piru.

Speaking on Thursday morning, Captain Eric Buschow said the search for Ms Rivera is still ongoing but added: "This may well be a case of drowning."

The alarm was raised after she rented a boat at around 1pm local time on Wednesday (9pm UK time) on the lake but failed to return it.

A huge police operation was then launched using helicopters, drones and dive teams, police said.

The search for Ms Rivera is set to resume at first light, at around 2pm UK time.

Captain Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, said: "They were seen going out on the lake together in the early afternoon, and approximately three hours after they left the dock another boater out on the lake discovered the boat drifting with the [son] on board asleep.

"We've been actively searching for the mother since that time. We have both aerial search going on and our dive team as well."

He added: "Indications are that we believe she did go in the lake. At this point it's still a search and that's what we know up to this point.

"We're going on the belief that she did go in the water, and we've not been able to locate her. This may well be a case of drowning.

"This is a big reservoir, it's deep, these kinds of things happen. We don't know all the circumstances. Investigators are working on that, getting as much information as possible."

Lake Piru is about 40 miles north west of central Los Angeles.

On Tuesday, Ms Rivera tweeted a picture of her and the boy together, which was captioned: “Just the two of us.”

Ms Rivera, 33, is best known for playing Santana Lopez on musical comedy series Glee.

Following the news she was missing, Ms Rivera's former Glee co-star Harry Shum Jr tweeted: "Praying."

After earning significant success in Glee, the California-born star followed it up with her feature film debut in 2014 horror film At The Devil’s Door.

She then went on to have a role in the Lifetime TV series Devious Maids.

Ms Rivera was engaged to the rapper Big Sean in October 2013 but they ended their relationship in April 2014.

She then began dating actor Ryan Dorsey and they got married in Mexico in July that year.

The couple welcomed their first child, Josey Hollis, in September 2015.

However, Ms Rivera filed for a divorce after two years of marriage and later called off the separation, before finalising the divorce in June 2018.

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