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Thursday April 25, 2024

Naya Rivera’s father warned her against swimming in Lake Piru before she died

George's instinct proved to be right as Naya Rivera went missing later that day

By Web Desk
June 10, 2021
Naya Rivera’s father warned her against swimming in Lake Piru before she died

With almost a year having passed since her death, Naya Rivera's father is looking back at the traumatic final call he had with her before she went missing.

The Glee star's father George recalled the terrifying FaceTime call he had her minutes before she went missing during a boat ride with her son Josey at Lake Piru on July 8, 2020.

Talking about the call during the boating trip and how he kept telling her to not go for a swim, George told People: "I could see that the wind was blowing and my stomach was just cringing.”

"I kept telling her, 'Don't get out of the boat! Don't get out of the boat! It will drift away when you're in the water.'"

Only moments after he hung up, George said he "had this bad feeling that was just killing me."

George's instinct proved to be right as Rivera went missing later that day and her son Josey was found alone in the boat. Her body was discovered floating around five days later on July 13.

Touching upon how he has been coping with the loss, after a year having passed, George said: "It's still pretty much a big blur of pain almost a year later. Things are slowly coming a little more into focus, but I don't know if I'll ever find closure from this. I miss her every day."