Naya Rivera is an actor famous for playing the cheerleader Santana Lopez in the TV  Show “Glee”, from 2009 to 2015. She drowned in a tragic accident while out on a boat with her 4-year-old son in California on Wednesday, and it has emerged that she lost her life saving her son from drowning. 

She was reported missing on Wednesday afternoon when her boat was seen drifting unattended. Her son was found asleep onboard. He told he police she went swimming but never came back. Search teams recovered her body on Monday, after several days of searching in difficult conditions.

Rivera and her son rented a boat in the early afternoon on Wednesday. The boat was due back later that day but when it did not return, the rental company sent another boat out to look. The child was found asleep and unharmed, wearing a life vest. A search and rescue found nothing so the police moved to a search and recovery operation. After recovering the body, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said,

"She mustered enough energy to get her son back into the boat, but not enough to save herself."

Rivera is the third member of the Glee cast to meet a tragic end.