Dot-Marie Jones recalls congregating at Lake Piru with the Glee cast to pray for Naya Rivera

Dot-Marie Jones recalled congregating with her Glee castmates at Lake Piru to pray for missing co-star Naya Rivera, just hours before her body was discovered on Monday.

‘It just shows how much we all cared and loved that girl. Rivera was a good kid. We loved her,’ said the 56-year-old actress in an interview with The Talk on Wednesday. 

Once at the lake, Jones and her castmates ‘cried and prayed and talked, and you know, told her she had to come home, so we could all rest, and especially her mama and her family.’

‘The kids being there, and all of us praying and talking, and I know Cory [Monteith] had something to do with it,’ insisted Dot-Marie.  

Cory Monteith – who played the role of jock Finn Hudson on Glee – died of an accidental drug overdose in 2013. He was 31.

‘He had to because, God bless, they found her on the seventh anniversary of Cory’s death, which is unfathomable.’   

Naya confirmed dead on Monday, when her body was discovered at Lake Piru after having disappeared during a lake outing with her son Josey, four, on July 8. She was 33. 

Jones – who played the role of Coach Beiste on Glee – revealed that the entire Glee cast had ‘been in a group text the night before’ and had originally planned to hold their vigil on Sunday evening. 

‘But it was already coming on 5 o’clock, and the lake from where I live is like 45 minutes away, an hour,’ so the plan changed to Monday morning. 

Dot-Marie recalled telling her wife Bridgett Casteen that she felt compelled to attend the gathering to pray for her missing friend.

‘I just said, “I gotta go.” And she said, “I know you do.” And so, I went out by myself.’

As for her personal experience working with Rivera, Jones admitted that she has nothing but love for the late actress.

‘I love her so much because she’s the real deal. She’s no BS. She’s not fake. What you see is what you get…her heart and the sincerity of that girl, it’s just, people don’t even know.’ 

Naya Rivera played the role of Santana Lopez on Glee, which aired for a total of six seasons on Fox.

The series, centered around a high school glee club, concluded in 2015.