More details about the tragic drowning death of Glee star Naya Rivera have become available. Josey, her 4-year-old son, appears to be a primary source of this new information, as part of the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s full autopsy and investigative reports obtained by PEOPLE.
The child reports having jumped into Lake Piru in Ventura County after counting “1, 2, 3” on the pontoon boat. His mother told him to get back on the boat, helping him aboard. “Then he heard her yell ‘help,’” according to the investigative report. Soon Rivera was submerged in the water, no longer visible to her son.
Rivera, 33, experienced vertigo on occasion, officials noted. She’d been treated for the condition before, which sometimes would “get worse when she was in the water.” Still, she’s described as a “good swimmer.”
The report also notes several medications prescribed to Rivera, like adderall, and the toxicology report found “low-level amounts of amphetamine (adderall, dexedrine), diazepam, ethanol and phentermine (an appetite suppressant…” and caffeine. On board the pontoon boat were syringes filled with a pink fluid substance, three cans of White Claw (one empty, one mostly full, another unopened), food, and, in her purse, a physical prescription for amphetamine.
When the pontoon boat was not returned at the designated time on July 8, a search ensued, and the boat was located on the lake with Josey in a life jacket, sleeping, but no sign of his mother. An adult life jacket was left on board, and Rivera was reported missing.
On July 13, a body was found in the Ventura County lake, and Rivera was confirmed dead.