Advice about leak, water in spare tire well

[RMcG]

I have water in my spare tire well; I opened the plug and let the water out. The carpet in front of the rear passenger seats is also wet, especially on the right side. This rear seat carpet is wet, but fortunately not absolutely soaked. Also fortunately the carpet in front of the front seats is dry.

I put newspaper down on top of the carpet in the rear and some dry rubber carpet rugs on top of the newspaper to weigh the newspaper down and to try to get the water up & out of the carpet. I really would like to avoid getting mold in the car. I do not see any obvious leaks. It is rainy season here in the Pacific Northwest now.

I was looking at two other posts on this forum on this problem Yaris Hatch Leak Finally Fixed and Water in Spare Tire Well and there seem to be several places that could be leaking. One common one is the tail lights.

QUESTIONS: Does the fact the carpet in front of the right rear seat is more wet suggest the leak is on the right side?

Is getting the carpets dry using newspaper and possibly old towels and the car's heater plus pulling the plug in the spare tire well sufficient to dry the car out?

Does anybody have any other suggestions?

Thanks,

R.