Naya Rivera’s ex-husband revealed their 4-year-old son witnessed the “Glee” star’s final moments July 8, 2020.
Josey, who was 4 years old at the time of Rivera’s drowning, still feels guilt for not being able to save his mother.
“Something he’s said over and over is that he was trying to find a life raft, and there was a rope. But there was a big spider on the rope, and he was too scared to throw it,” Ryan Dorsey told People magazine. “I keep reassuring him, ‘Buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be long enough.'”
Josey, now 9, also recalled the windy atmosphere on the lake.
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Naya Rivera’s son witnessed the actress’s final moments on Lake Piru. He was 4 years old at the time. (Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images)
Rivera and Josey had set out on Lake Piru on a rented pontoon July 8. The mother and son had been swimming in the lake when Rivera noticed the boat had drifted away. The rental was not equipped with an anchor or flotation devices.
Josey swam back to the boat and grabbed “the tanks” to pull himself “around the boat,” but Rivera didn’t make it back. An incident report claimed Rivera exhausted herself attempting to help Josey back into the rented pontoon.
“He said that the last thing she said was his name, and then she went under, and he didn’t see her anymore,” Dorsey recalled. “It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments.”
“Something he’s said over and over is that he was trying to find a life raft, and there was a rope. But there was a big spider on the rope, and he was too scared to throw it. I keep reassuring him, ‘Buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be long enough.'”
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Naya Rivera’s death was ruled an accidental drowning. (AP Images)
At the time, Dorsey was 145 miles away in Big Bear Lake, California. The “Big Sky” star was shopping at a Ralph’s supermarket when he got a call about his missing ex-wife.
“I collapsed into a pallet of drinks,” Dorsey told People magazine. “I feared the worst.”
Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey share a son, Josey. (Getty Images)
“I drove 100-and-something the whole way with my four-way hazards on, chain-smoking cigarettes — and I don’t even smoke, really — and just crying,” he recalled. “I just wanted to get to Josey.”
Josey, who had safely made it back onto the pontoon, was found sleeping on the boat by a passerby three hours after Rivera had set out in the rental.
“If we’d have lost both Naya and Josey, I don’t know how I would continue on with my life,” Dorsey told the outlet. “I don’t know what I would’ve done, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have been good.”
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Naya Rivera (right) was known for her role as Santana on “Glee.” (FOX Image Collection via Getty Images)
Dorsey and Rivera’s estate settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the County of Ventura, Ventura County Parks and Recreation Management and United Water Conservation District in 2022.
“When Naya arrived at the Lake Piru Recreational Area, without a shred of information or warning about the dangerous conditions on the lake, she rented a pontoon boat,” the court documents stated. The complaint claimed the rental agent did not inform Rivera of strong currents, winds and underwater debris that often occur on Lake Piru.
Cast members from “Glee” and friends held hands as they gathered on a Lake Piru boat launch. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Rivera was offered a life jacket but “politely declined,” according to the lawsuit. The documents claimed the rental agent “did not warn Naya to wear the vest and instead merely put the vest in the rental boat.”
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Rivera’s body was found July 13 after search and rescue teams scoured the lake for five days.
The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office later confirmed the actress’s cause of death was drowning, and the manner was accidental.
