The Glee cast and crew have weathered unspeakable tragedies—while working together on the series for six seasons as well as in the years since the choir room closed its doors for good, Tomorrow is not promised.Naya Rivera shared that sentiment in one of her final posts on social media before the Glee star was confirmed dead by authorities on Monday, July 13. The news came just five days after she went missing on a California lake. She was just 33 years old.
July 13 was already a date likely ingrained in most Glee fans' memories. Rivera's co-star and friend Cory Monteith—who would have turned 39 on May 11—died on the same date seven years earlier.
One of the most popular shows of the 21st century after it premiered on Fox in 2009, the young cast of Glee became household names virtually overnight, going on a sold-out national concert tour in 2010-11, collectively breaking Elvis Presley's long-standing record for the most appearances on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and selling over 8 million albums. But with the highs also came lows, as the cast and crew have weathered unspeakable tragedies—while working together on the series for six seasons as well as in the years since the choir room closed its doors for good in 2015.
Sadly, Rivera's devastating death is just the latest tragedy the Glee family has endured. On July 8, Rivera, who played fan-favorite Santana Lopez on the show for the entirety of its run, went missing while boating with her young son on Lake Piru, a reservoir located about 50 miles north of Los Angeles. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department said authorities were called to Lake Piru when a child, later identified as her son 4-year-old Josey Dorsey, was found alone on a boat.
During a press conference, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub revealed authorities were able to conclude through speaking to Rivera's son, who was wearing a life vest, that he and Rivera, whose life vest was found on the boat, swam in the lake together. It was then, Ayub said, "that her son described being helped into the boat by Rivera, who boosted him on to the deck from behind. He told investigators that he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water."
"There are a lot of currents on the lake that appear particularly in the afternoon," he explained further. "We believe it was mid-afternoon when she disappeared, the idea perhaps being that the boat started drifting, it was unanchored, and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself."
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