Kriti Mehrotra
Netflix’s ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ is a mind-boggling series that uses dramatical re-enactments and interviews to retell the circumstances of, well, mysteries that are unsolved. Whether it’s crimes, tales of loss, unexplained history, or paranormal events, it covers it all and even encourages viewers to provide information, if they have any, that might solve the unexplained phenomenons.
Rey Rivera’s disappearance and death was the focal point of episode 1 of the series and the circumstances under which how he died were as scary as they were questionable. Curios? Here is all that we know!
How Did Rey Rivera Die?
Rey, a recently married 32-year-old aspiring filmmaker had a lot to look forward to in his life. He had a stable job in his childhood friend, Porter Stansberry’s company and he and his wife, Allison, were soon planning to start a family. Rey and Allison had moved to Baltimore for his job and he was excited about how life was going for him. However, that all changed when he mysteriously disappeared on the evening of May 16, 2006, from his home with no traces of his whereabouts whatsoever.
For days, there was no information about him anywhere – his cell phone was dead, his car was missing, and even the missing posters didn’t give the family or the police any leads. But, 6 days later, his missing car was found in a parking lot and after 4 more days, on May 26, 2006, his body was found in an abandoned conference room at the Belvedere Hotel. How it got there? The room’s roof had a hole in it, and Rey’s injuries suggested that it’s likely that he fell from the top of the Belvedere – after a running leap – and crashed through the lower roof.
Along with multiple other injuries, he had a few broken ribs and his leg was fractured in two places, so badly that the bone was protruding. Since his body had been laying there for days, it was decomposing, and even the medical examiners could not rule his death as a suicide, a homicide or an accident. It was declared as ‘undetermined’ and so the case remained open. Truth is, even though everything pointed towards a suicide, an examiner told Allison that the way the bones in his legs were broken were not compatible with the way he would have fallen.
Another baffling aspect of his fall was that his glasses and cellphone were found on top of the lower roof without a scratch. The fall killed him, but somehow his materials survived? That seemed improbable. Former police Commander Mel Blizzard, specializing in behavioral assessment, opened up to 11 News about the evidence: “I just find it to be highly unlikely, with that type of kinetic energy hitting that rooftop at the time,” he said. “I definitely feel that there are a lot of unanswered questions – a lot of loops that need to be closed.”
Some police officials, though, weren’t really interested in the case, they were sure that he had committed suicide, but Allison, his wife, and his family know that he didn’t. They still maintain that Rey would never do anything like it and that he was, in fact, murdered. So, the question that remains unanswered is who would do such a thing?
Who Killed Rey Rivera?
Even after 14 years, no one knows the entire truth behind his death. All we know is that on the evening of May 16, 2006, Rey had left his home in a hurry after receiving a phone call. The call was from his office but because it was made via a switchboard, the police couldn’t determine who exactly called him. Plus, within a few hours of his body being found, Porter Stansberry and his company lawyered up and commanded their employees that no one could talk to the police. So, they couldn’t get any information from there either.
The fact the Rey and Allison’s home was broken into twice just days before Rey’s disappearance also points towards his death being a murder. On ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ Allison suggested that it was somehow related to his work and implied that it’s possible that it was because Rey came across something that he shouldn’t have known about. But again, since the company lawyered up and his friend refused to speak to the police about it all, all these speculations are just that, speculations.
As for the suicide aspect of it, most people who commit suicide leave some sort of a note behind. Rey left a note, too, but in no way did it look like a suicide note or a note written by someone who was under mental duress. It had names of his friends, his acquaintances, movies he loved, and even some directors, but, nothing too suspicious. A quote in it referred to the Freemasons, but his wife said that it wasn’t weird, because Rey was fascinated by the concept of secret organizations. The note was written by someone with a stream of consciousness.
The worst part, though, is that the camera on the roof of the Belvedere Hotel on the night Rey died was disconnected. (Featured Image Credit: Unsolved Mysteries / Netflix)
Read More: Where Is Porter Stansberry Now?
