Found Deceased CA - Naya Rivera, "Glee Actress", missing from boat with son, 4, (fnd alive), Lake Piru, 9 July 2020

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Hatfield said:
Yes that is another possibility.

There seems to be no definite answer yet on whether the boat had its anchor down.

My main boating experience is with much smaller john boats. One thing that may be adding to the confusion about the anchor is something that happened to me often on a windy lake.

When I would put out the anchor and if I did not leave enough slack rope out then what sometimes happened is the wind blew the boat to the deeper side and the anchor would pull up off the bottom and be free floating. I was trying to fish and only noticed it as I started to see the boat was moving away from where I was trying to fish. I had to pull up the anchor, and restart the boat and go back and then the next time I made sure to put out plenty of slack line and that usually prevented it from happening again.

Another thing that could have happened.
If the anchor weight is too small/light weight and the wind is strong enough, the boat can get dragged along by the wind even with the anchor on bottom.

So something like this could have happened and this could explain the confusion over whether the anchor was down or not.
Click to expand...

Agreed friend. I picture that she left her PFD on the boat, put the kid back on board, and and kept on swimming, while keeping an eye on the kid and the boat, when she got in trouble. She could have cramped up, got tired, whatever. The CNN article said that the boat had been found at the Narrows, where there is problem with the wind. Yes,the anchor could have dragged. But there are a lot of branches in this lake, with a very silty bottom. If the wind was taking the boat away from her, in her panic to catch up with her son, she could have exhausted herself, instead of stoping to float and rest. This is a video that will show you, at the very end, the type of boat she rented. Plenty of stuff to grab onto and clamber up on, if not exhausted. Big outboard drive.

Naya Rivera search update: Recovery efforts resume for missing 'Glee' actress at Ventura County lake
 
BeachSky said:
Dogs have that amazing Jacobson’s organ.
Those water cadaver dogs ...even riding in a boat can alert to a cadaver meters down as the gases rise to the surface.
If not today, maybe tomorrow.
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And, if she is dead, a body should float after a week, if not badly snagged, depending on diet and water temp .
 
bradfordsleuth said:
Just thinking out loud here...

I don't recall seeing if her cell phone was found on board.

If it was on board with her, they can at least check her history based on cell phone activity and narrow down the window of time between when it was last used and when the boat was located.

Even if she didn't use it to surf, hopefully she was taking pictures of her son on the boat that day. If you are cruising very slowly (or stopped), it is very easy to take pics.

It could help focus on a specific area to search in.

Even better if her location was turned 'on' and they can track backwards the path that she took once she left the dock.

I really hope this search doesn't go on for weeks. This must be agonizing for her family.

JMO
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IIRC, the boat was not anchored so who knows how long it had been drifting before her son and the boat were found.
I hope, as you do, that her phone was onboard and may give more accurate location, but when I have my phone on our boat, it just shows that I am on our lake and once in awhile it will show north end or south end but that is all.
I hope she if found soon.
 
Hatfield said:
Yes that is another possibility.

There seems to be no definite answer yet on whether the boat had its anchor down.

My main boating experience is with much smaller john boats. One thing that may be adding to the confusion about the anchor is something that happened to me often on a windy lake.

When I would put out the anchor and if I did not leave enough slack rope out then what sometimes happened is the wind blew the boat to the deeper side and the anchor would pull up off the bottom and be free floating. I was trying to fish and only noticed it as I started to see the boat was moving away from where I was trying to fish. I had to pull up the anchor, and restart the boat and go back and then the next time I made sure to put out plenty of slack line and that usually prevented it from happening again.

Another thing that could have happened.
If the anchor weight is too small/light weight and the wind is strong enough, the boat can get dragged along by the wind even with the anchor on bottom.

So something like this could have happened and this could explain the confusion over whether the anchor was down or not.
Click to expand...
 
I wish we knew exactly what the boy said. I’ve seen it reported that he said they were going swimming and she jumped in and never came up and then also reported that they were swimming and he got back onto the boat and she never did.

You would think if she helped him get on the boat and didn’t make it that he would have said something like mommy tried to get in the boat but couldn’t, mommy was splashing and then went under, etc. I’m inclined to believe maybe she dove in and hit something and never came up and that it was a terrible accident. But I’ve also heard where the sheriff said at the press conference the boat was not anchored and I don’t understand why anyone would decide to swim when the boat could drift away. It seems like the boat could have drifted so far with the winds.

I also just heard on the news that she lived 20min from this lake growing up and has been there many times and that it’s about an hour from where she lives right now, so there’s a good chance she’s probably rented a boat before. By the way she backed out of the boat dock and turned around and took off, it looked like she was familiar with driving a pontoon.
 
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Spartygirl said:
IIRC, the boat was not anchored so who knows how long it had been drifting before her son and the boat were found.
I hope, as you do, that her phone was onboard and may give more accurate location, but when I have my phone on our boat, it just shows that I am on our lake and once in awhile it will show north end or south end but that is all.
I hope she if found soon.
Click to expand...
 
Listening to the very end of the latest press conference (where the member of LE who provided info on the cadaver dogs part way through the presser is talking to a journo) it sounded to me like they have eyewitness reports which align on the whereabouts of the boat at 3pm. Josey was discovered at 4pm. Anyone else pick up on this? Excellent information about the flow of water into and out of the lake via creeks aswell. I can see a scenario where an unanchored boat is drifting and someone in the water would find themselves swimming against a current.
 
mrsu said:
I wish we knew exactly what the boy said. I’ve seen it reported that he said they were going swimming and she jumped in and never came up and then also reported that they were swimming he got back onto the boat and she never did.

You would think if she helped him get on the boat and didn’t make it that he would have said something like mommy tried to get in the boat but couldn’t, mommy was splashing and then went under, etc. I’m inclined to believe maybe she dove in and hit something and never came up and that it was a terrible accident. But I’ve also heard where the sheriff said at the press conference the boat was not anchored and I don’t understand why anyone would decide to swim when the boat could drift away. It seems like the boat could have drifted so far with the winds.

I also just heard on the news that she lived 20min from this lake growing up and has been there many times and that it’s about an hour from where she lives right now, so there’s a good chance she’s probably rented a boat before. By the way she backed out of the boat dock and turned around and took off, it looked like she was familiar with driving a pontoon.
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“Law enforcement sources tell us her son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, told deputies his mom had jumped in the water ... but didn't come back up.” Naya Rivera Heartbreaking Surveillance Video, Presumed Dead in Drowning
 
Al Hoffman said:
According to this article, the boat was found drifting. Make of that what you will. This is the CNN article I keep referring to. Lots of info. Also, the lake will be drained to a depth of 65 feet next month, for sesmic repair of the dam.

Naya Rivera disappearance: What we know - CNN
Click to expand...

I guess its possible it was really calm at first so maybe she thought she could easily swim back to the boat and maybe a weather front suddenly came in where the winds all of a sudden got strong and surprised her and dragged the boat away.

Wind plays havoc when boating for sure.

Some people like to fish in open water with the boat drifting but the winds usually move the boat too fast to properly fish so they even make a wind sock or parachute type sea anchor that has the purpose of slowing you down so you can fish at a slower pace.

This video shows how they work. It just goes to show you how wind is a common concern amongst anglers and boaters.

 
insearchoflight said:
“Law enforcement sources tell us her son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, told deputies his mom had jumped in the water ... but didn't come back up.” Naya Rivera Heartbreaking Surveillance Video, Presumed Dead in Drowning
Click to expand...

Yes, I saw that. But the article linked a couple posts above says he said they were swimming and she didn’t get on the boat. Nothing about jumping in.

Naya Rivera disappearance: What we know - CNN

Buschow said it was difficult to get information from the child, who told them they went swimming, but his mother didn't get back on the boat when he did.
 
 
mrsu said:
I don’t think so. The rental was for 3 hours and they went looking went it wasn’t returned which is when they found it. It’s unknown how long it had been drifting.
Click to expand...

You're right...

"About three hours after they left the dock, another boater out on the lake discovered a boat drifting with the child asleep on board."
 
I’m glad they’re not pressing the baby anymore about what happened. I hope the family isn’t asking too much about it either. He is going to turn 5 in September, I’m assuming he is capable of explaining more or less clearly what happened. If they had trouble getting information out him, it’s probably because he doesn’t really know or understand what happened.
 
Hatfield said:
Ive been on boats before but never a Pontoon boat and I have a question if anyone knows.

The movie "Open Water 2 Adrift" was loosely based on a true story where people left their boat and forgot to leave the ladder down to where they could climb back on board. Movie trailer link below.

My question is if someone on a pontoon boat forgot to leave the ladder hooked up before going in the water, would they be able to grab onto something to climb back on board the boat?

I know the motor area would be one place someone could try to climb on board the motor area, but what if the boat had an inboard motor? Not sure if they make those for Pontoon boats or not.

Wondering if it is even possible not to have a way to get back on board the boat. Those large tubular metal ballasts on a pontoon would be slippery and are pretty large width so I am not sure if someone could climb up those from the water level.

Click to expand...
Yes, it is possible to get back on the pontoon as my kids and grandkiddos have done it.
I can no longer do it as I don't have the upper body strength anymore to pull myself up, (or my bottom end is heavier than it was LOL )but I used to be able to do this...We would grab hold of the side, swing their legs onto the pontoon, and swing up.. like, straddling a horse, I guess is the best visual I can come up with.
Once they are straddled on the pontoon, they can scoot up to the boat area and be on the boat.
 
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