3 Unsolved Mysteries Theories Explaining How Rey Rivera Could Have Died

The mysterious death of Rey Rivera, who was a financial writer and an aspiring screenwriter, is the subject of the first episode of Netflix's new Unsolved Mysteries.
Rivera's 2006 death was officially ruled a suicide. But his family has long doubted that official ruling, and continues to look for answers to this day.
Below, we take a look at a few theories of what could have happened to Rivera.

The first episode of Netflix's new reboot of Unsolved Mysteries, "Mystery on the Rooftop," looks at the mysterious death of a man named Rey Rivera. Rivera, 32 at the time of his death in 2006, was an aspiring screenwriter who had recently moved to the Baltimore area for a new job writing a financial newsletter for his friend, a publisher named Porter Stansberry.

As the episode details, Rivera was missing for 6 days before his body was found in a room of The Belvedere, a hotel and event space in Baltimore. There was a hole in the roof of the room he was found in, indicating that he had somehow come down from above, whether that means he jumped, was pushed, or something else. As with every case presented in the show, Rivera's death remains unsolved and a mystery. But here are a few theories of what could possibly have happened.

Rey Rivera Theory 1: Suicide

The Unsolved Mysteries episode makes it clear that the official ruling for Rivera's death is a suicide. However, a number of factors bring this ruling into question. The first? Allison, Rivera's wife, had a house guest staying at their residence, a colleague named Claudia. According to Claudia, the last time she heard Rivera, he answered a phone call and rushed out of the house in a hurried fashion. Additionally, while Rivera was seen with many significant injuries, the injuries to his shins were said not to be consistent with a fall.

Additionally, the episode laid out three possible spots within The Belvedere hotel where Rivera could have jumped from. One option was the top of the hotel, and another was from the top of the hotel's parking garage. It was pointed out, though, that these two were far fetched, as Rivera would have had to take a running start to even conceivably reach the spot where his body went through the lower building roof and was found. A third option was explained, a ledge on the 11th floor, but he would have had to go through the entire hotel and through someone's space, which was reported by no one.

Late in the episode, a note found from Rivera's home is analyzed with the idea that it could be a suicide note. But it doesn't read as such, instead reading as a sort of scattered manifesto where he talks about movies that were important to him, secret societies like the free masons, and a reference to a "great game." No one quite knew what to read from this, but his family has refused to acknowledge it as a suicide note.

Rey Rivera Theory 2: Murder

Given that the evidence to suggest Rivera's death was a suicide has never really added up, another option would include foul playindicating that Rivera was murdered. In the episode, Rivera's brother speculates that someone with a lot of money and power may have lost money as a result of Rivera's financial advice, and had him killed and set up to look like a suicide.

The episode implicates that Stansberry, who was essentially a lifelong friend of Rivera's, could be involved. Just after Rivera's death, Stansberry lawyered up and put a gag order on every employee of his firm, making it illegal for any of them to speak about what happened. He also refused to be interviewed for the Unsolved Mysteries episode.

2 Days. "Mystery on the Rooftop" is the story of a beloved Baltimore man, his suspicious death, and a family searching for answers. What happened to Rey Rivera? #unsolvedmysteries #suspicious pic.twitter.com/1wXpyMWsm7 Unsolved Mysteries (@Unsolved)

Rey Rivera Theory 3: Ever see The Game?

As Newsweek reported, a Reddit theory has emerged since the Netflix series' debut last week that connects Rivera's death with David Fincher 's 1997 movie, The Game. The Game was one of the movies Rivera states that he admired in his bizarre letterthe same letter in which he also mentions a "great game." The movie also features a scene where a character jumps from a rooftop, landing through a lower glass rooftopalmost identical to the metal rooftop that Rivera appeared to have gone through in The Belvedere.

The user who , u/zumalightblue, first noted a few similarities between the real life case and the movie.

The whole movie is about this crazy game that a company arranges that makes you think you lose everything in order to let you appreciate life again.

Rey was an unsuccessful movie script writer and maybe he got involved in sth that tried to imitate The Game in some way.

The user also noticed in the episode that there were two glass windows next to the hole that Rivera is believed to have jumped or fallen throughand wonders if Rivera might have been aiming for these instead, and something went wrong.

"in the episode you can see two see-through roof windows next to the hole caused by Rey. Did he try to go through one of the windows like in The Game?"

You can see the screenshot being referred to below:

rey rivera unsolved mysteries theory BusinessInsider USA Images

At the end of the episodeas with all episodestext appears on screen suggesting anyone who has any information about Rivera's death to head to Unsolved.com .

Check it out here!

3 Unsolved Mysteries Theories Explaining How Rey Rivera Could Have Died

Rey Rivera Theory 1: Suicide

Rey Rivera Theory 2: Murder

Rey Rivera Theory 3: Ever see The Game?

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