Ventura County authorities are using specialized equipment to help them in the search for “Glee” star Naya Rivera.
What We Know:
- Ventura County authorities said that the search for Naya Rivera, which has switched from a rescue to recovery because they are presuming she drowned, is now a slow process because of the low visibility in the water.
- And now authorities are using special devices to help them in the search for the “Glee” star. Some of their specialized equipment involves a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and side-scanning sonars, alone with divers and dogs.
- According to Ventura County Sheriff Sgt. Kevin Donoghue, the sonar device is to search the lake bed floor, and when it sees an object of the exact shape and size of what authorities are looking for, they send their divers to search that specific area.
- The sonar equipment has detected several objects, but, unfortunately, none of the objects were Rivera.
- “Unfortunately, they did not locate Naya Rivera,” Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Captain Eric Buschow said. The low visibility of the lake has made the search difficult. “We don’t know if she’s going to be found five minutes from now or five days from now.”
- Authorities released footage from the ROV to show how low the lake’s visibility is. In the footage, the ROV is seen investigating a dark shape, which turns out to be a tree branch.
- “The visibility is about one to two feet,” volunteer diver Max O’Brien told reporters on Friday. “…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.”
Lake Piru is located about 57 miles north of Los Angeles in Ventura County, CA, and is nearly two miles long and 130-feet deep at some points. Buschow explained that responders are focusing on the north and eastern sides of the lake.
