Demi Lovato and Glee star Heather Morris lead stars posting messages of hope for Rivera

Naya Rivera’s friends and co-stars have taken to social media to post messages of hope after the actress went missing on Lake Piru in California and is presumed dead.

Demi Lovato, 27, and Glee star Heather Morris, 33, both took to Instagram on Thursday to urge fans to pray for her safe return. 

Demi, who played struggling artist Dani in Glee, appeared alongside Naya, 33,[Santana Lopez], for six episodes in season five as her love interest.  

The singer shared a picture of a candle and wrote: ‘Please pray for @nayarivera to be found safe and sound. 

Heather, who plays Brittany S. Pierce, wrote on her Stories: ‘We need all the prayers we can to bring our Naya back home to us. We need your love and light.’ 

Glee cast member Harry Shum Jr., [Mike Chang], simply wrote ‘Praying’, and Iqbal Theba, [Principal Figgins] and Max Adler, [David Karofsky], have also posted messages on social media. 

Naya is presumed dead after her four-year-old son was found alone in a boat in California. 

The star and her son Josey rented a pontoon boat on Lake Piru on Wednesday afternoon, but three hours later another boater raised the alarm after seeing the vessel drifting and the child asleep on board. 

Cops found Rivera’s life vest on the boat and believe that ‘she did go in the lake’ to go swimming, acknowledging that ‘this may well be a case of drowning’. Her car was reportedly found nearby. 

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department confirmed last night that the missing woman was Rivera, who starred in Glee from 2009 to 2015.  

Divers and helicopters were scouring the reservoir until darkness fell but the search has now been halted until first light.  

Rivera and her son are said to have been swimming in the lake, with only the boy getting back on the boat.

Authorities believe Rivera to be ‘presumed drowned’ and a search has been launched to locate her body, according to Captain Eric Buschow, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.  

A search and rescue dive team and a helicopter with a drone have both been dispatched to the scene to assist in the search.

Buschow told reporters: ‘They were seen going out on the lake together in the early afternoon, and approximately three hours after they left the dock another boater out on the lake discovered the boat drifting with the [son] on board asleep.

‘So they contacted the rangers and began an investigation and we’ve been actively searching for the mother since that time. We have both aerial search going on and our dive team as well.

‘Indications are that we believe she did go in the lake. At this point it’s still a search and that’s what we know up to this point.

‘The [son] said that she had been swimming with her mother and that she got back in the boat and her mum didn’t.

‘We know that the girl had a life vest on, there was another adult life vest found on the boat. It’s somewhat challenging interviewing a three-year-old.

‘We’re going on the belief that she did go in the water, and we’ve not been able to locate her. This may well be a case of drowning.

‘This is a big reservoir, it’s deep, these kinds of things happen. We don’t know all the circumstances. Investigators are working on that, getting as much information as possible.’

The sheriff’s office initially referred mistakenly to a three-year-old girl, but later clarified that the child is a four-year-old son.  

As of 8pm, a body has not yet been located.   

Rivera had just taken to her social media on July 7, sharing a touching photo of her with her son, Josey Hollis. ‘Just the two of us,’ she said in the post. 

Naya welcomed son, Josey Hollis, with then-husband Ryan Dorsey in 2015. 

The actress starred in Glee from 2009 to 2015, playing high school cheerleader Santana Lopez in the popular series. 

Lake Piru is a reservoir located in the Los Padres National Forest and Topatopa Mountains, created in 1955.