– Would squeeze a little harder – VG

Naya Rivera (33) was on a boat trip with her son Josey who was then 4 years old when the two did not return with the rental boat in time July 8, 2020. It must have been a bit rough sea.

A major search was launched on Lake Piru in Ventura County. The son was found unharmed at the bottom of the boat, but it took six days before the local authorities Rivera was found dead.

Her mother and sister, Yolanda and Nickayla Previtire, posed on Wednesday «Good Morning America» and talked about missing his daughter and sister one year after the tragedy.

– Sometimes we are afraid that the grief will be so heavy that we will be afraid of ourselves because it is difficult. No words can describe what we went through. All we know is that we have each other, says the mother.

The sister says that what keeps them up is to take one day at a time:

– And to live life to the fullest and love each other to the fullest and not regret anything. Because I know that if we could turn back time, we would squeeze a little harder, says Nickayla.

Must have saved the son

According to police, Naya’s son explained that they had bathed and that his mother had pushed him into the boat and then disappeared into the water.

“She must have managed to gather enough energy to get her son back in the boat, but not enough to save herself,” the Ventura County Sheriff said.

The mother spoke to Naya and Josey via Facetime the day they disappeared, and screenshots she took of her granddaughter in the conversation helped locate where to look.

They describe the first five days of the search as “absolutely awful” and “a true hell”, but that the discovery was a form of relief.

The sister raises the nephew

Son Josey Hollis Dorsey got Rivera with actor Ryan Dorsey. The two married in 2014, however divorced 2018 after some turbulent years of marriage.

Sister Nickayla now lives with Josey and his father to help raise the boy, and the family says the 5-year-old is “a boy version of Naya” and loves to entertain.

Her mother says she hopes Naya’s legacy can be to teach people to love and care.

– And just living life. God has given you a life. You are your own person, love who you are, because you do not get another life, she says to “Good Morning America”.

Rivera was best known for her role as Santana Lopez in the musical series “Glee”.

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