A major search effort to recover the body of "Glee" actress Naya Rivera from Lake Piru resumed Friday at daybreak, officials said.
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Friday's search for 'Glee' star Naya Rivera 'much more technological'
The search effort to recover the body of "Glee" actress Naya Rivera, 33, resumed at daybreak Friday in Lake Piru.
As of 3 p.m., no remains had been found, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office. Teams had resumed efforts at first light.
Sheriff's officials investigating the incident say there was no evidence of foul play or any indication of a suicide. The death appears to be the result of an accident of some sort.
Friday's search effort was different than Thursday's attempt, which ultimately had close to 100 people in the water, said Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Donoghue, a spokesman for the agency.
"Today, we put fewer divers in the water," he said, "but more technology."
Specialized equipment had arrived at the scene Friday, including side-scan sonar, that would allow dive teams to search "smarter and more efficiently," Donoghue said.
About 50 people were expected to search the lake Friday, he said, including dive teams from Los Angeles and Tulare counties along with the local agency's unit.
The lake bed beneath the water has almost no visibility, which meant human divers had to basically search by feel, he said. The side-scan sonar allows crews to target, and search for, objects with a specific size profile.
When objects are located, a remote drone can be sent to look at what the sonar sees or divers can get in the water to look at those targets.
"It is a much more technological search," Donoghue said Friday morning.
Helicopter crews returned Friday along with cadaver dogs and an aerial drone.
In addition, sheriff's personnel spoke with Rivera's son.
"The interview with her son was key," Donoghue said. "We received enough specific details from him to lead us to conclude that she disappeared in the water and did not come back."
That's why the search effort is now entirely in the water, he said. Authorities are not releasing additional details about their interview with the boy out of respect for the family, he said.