The search for the former 'Glee' star continues, as Ventura County Sheriff's Office spokesperson gives an update on Rivera.
The search for Naya Rivera continues. In a press conference on Friday, Ventura County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Capt. Eric Buschow shared the latest developments in the disappearance of the former Glee star and said they are trying to bring "closure" to her family.
"We're still continuing the search," Buschow stated. "We know everyone's concerned out there, about this case and providing some closure for her family. This is a situation that is difficult because we don't know if she will be found five minutes from now or five days from now."
"Our investigators have been in contact with the family since the beginning of this. We have a liaison with the family, working with them, and, of course, they are going through an extremely difficult time," Buschow said. "We're trying to do everything we can to provide as much resources as we can and provide some closure for them."
With only one to two feet of visibility, cadaver dogs, sonar devices, a Coast Guard helicopter and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have also been called in to help search for Rivera.
"Unfortunately, the targets that they've marked so far and gone down and investigated, have not been what they're looking for, so the search continues," Buschow said, explaining that they are focusing on the north side and east side of the lake.
"Wherever she went down, they're confident that that's where she'll be found, it's just finding that spot that's the difficult part," he said, adding that the lake is two miles long and its deepest point is about 130 feet. "There's a lot of area to cover."
Rivera, 33, went missing on Wednesday, after taking a boat ride in Lake Piru in California with her 4-year-old son, Josey.
In a press conference on Thursday, Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Kevin Donoghue said her body may never be found due to Lake Piru's "terrible" visibility.
"In this particular lake, in that area, there's a lot of trees and plants and such that are under the water that can cause entanglements. It makes it unsafe for the divers and it makes it a more complicated search," Donoghue explained. "If the body is entangled in something beneath the water, it may never come back up. We don't know."
Diver Max O'Brien also addressed the media and gave further insight into how difficult their search efforts have been.
"The visibility is about one to two feet and then in some clearings it's up to three to five. There's a lot of tree branches and overgrowth from when the lake was lower, so we're digging through, breaking through sticks and searching a heavy brush bottom," O'Brien said. "Under the water, it's a lot by feel. Again, there's a lot of shrubbery and sticks that we have to break through as we're going through, so it's kind of a Braille search."
On Thursday, an eyewitness told ET that they saw Rivera and her son arrive at Lake Piru in the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County, California, around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8. Rivera was wearing white shorts, a white hat and carrying a large bag, the eyewitness recalled, adding that she rented a boat and was assisted by attendants getting into it with Josey.
The eyewitness noted that they saw nothing out of the ordinary when it came to Rivera and her son.
The police department, meanwhile, expressed that they would continue to put their best foot forward and continue the search for Rivera. For now, the lake will remain closed as the search continues.
For more on the actress, watch below.
RELATED CONTENT:
