Rey Rivera // 63 // unsolved

Rey Rivera was a 32-year-old writer and his family was from Pueto Rico. He was 6'5”, 260 lbs and was a water polo player. It looked like he was in great shape. People say that his big smile just lit up the room and he was very family oriented. When he was growing up, his dad was in the military, so they were constantly moving. The family had a tight bond because of this. Rey liked to always make people laugh and his dream was to be a writer and director. He was a newly wed and had just married Alison Rivera and they planned on starting a family together. 

Rey had been working as an aquatics coach at a local high school in Burbank, California. George, the assistant coach says, “I remember the players would sprint ot the side of the pool during timeouts just to listen to what Rey had to say. The kids really responded to him because they knew he knew what he was talking about.” 

Rey was also working on screenplays, but it wasn't necessarily bringing in he money they needed. He had a friend named Porter Stansberry in Baltimore who always wanted Rey to come write for him at his company. He decided to take the job and would be writing financial newsletters. Rey and his wife didn't really know anything about Baltimore or even the company that he would work for. They decided to make a deal with each other. They would give Baltimore a try for 24 months, but they ended up loving it right away. They found a great house, a church, the community was great, Rey and Alison were happy.

On May 16th, 2006, Alison had to leave early for a business trip. Rey got up with his wife to make her breakfast and load her luggage into the vehicle. Around 6:00 to 6:30 PM, Allison finished her workday, got to her hotel room and called Rey. He didn't pick up and she thought it was pretty strange for him. They had a house guest named Claudia that had been staying with them. Alison decided to give her a call to see where her husband was. Claudia told her that she heard Rey take an urgent phone call around 6:30 PM and rushed out of the house. She walked around the house to see if he had come back yet and confirmed that he wasn't there. At 5:30 AM the next morning, Claudia called Alison and told her Rey still hadn't come home. 

Alison knew something was wrong right away. She jumped in the car to head home and started calling everyone they knew. No one had talked to him and they were all worried. This was so out of character for Rey. His brother, Angel jumped on a plane from Orlando to Baltimore, that's how out of character this was. When Alison arrived, she saw that Rey's car was not there and there was an open can of pop, a bag of chips, and Rey's invasaligns on the counter. She ran up the stairs and the bedroom light was on and the office light was on as well. Family and friends all began taking flights to get to Baltimore as quickly as possible and they began calling around town. 

Porter put up a $1,000 reward to find Rey and says he hired a private detective. He also made the following statement, “He's a happy guy...He and his wife had just booked a trip to go to New Mexico in a few weeks. This is not a man that wanted to leave. I've got to find my friend. I can't imagine my life without him. He's my best friend.” During this time, Rey's cellphone was dead, there was no activity on the credit cards, and money wasn't taken from the bank account. He just vanished. Everyone was searching for days and Alison's parents had been going around town checking parking lots for Rey's car. The car was discovered in parking spot #7 on St.Paul Street. There was a parking ticket on the car and it was issued six days prior, on the day Rey disappeared. Police arrived on the scene and searched the vehicle. There wasn't anything in there that was helpful or really provided any clues. 

Two days later, on May 24th, 3 of Rey's co-workers were walking through the parking garage where his car was discovered. They went to the top and were looking around. They noticed a hole in the lower roof of the Belvedere hotel, next to the parking ramp. Next to the hole was flip flops. The hole wasn't big at all. The roof is white and the hole just looks like a black mark and can only be seen if you're standing on top of the parking garage or on top of the Belvedere hotel. The co-workers called police and they had security open the door.

A stench filled the air as soon as the door opened and blood was on the wall. The door lead to an abandoned meeting room that had a metal ceiling and that's where Rey's body came through. He had been missing for eight days at this point, so decomposition had really set in. As we all know, decomposition destroys a lot of evidence. The autopsy showed multiple ribs fractured, punctured lungs, damage to the skull, and 7-9 inch lacerations. The right leg had two breaks and the bone was protruding through the flesh. 

The injuries point to the idea that Rey fell from a pretty high height. Also, the hole in the ceiling was pretty small. It would actually be a very tight fit for his body to go through. This also suggests that he fell from a high height and basically shot through the ceiling like a missile. The hole wasn't horizontal or rectangular, it was literally only big enough for an upright body to fit through.

The first theory was that Rey came off the very top roof and dropped 10-11 stories down and busted through the lower roof. The top roof is about 40 feet of open area. The body didn't drop straight down like you'd think. The hole was out about 45 feet away. I'm not saying he dropped down 45 feet, he literally would need to fly 45 feet forward, then drop down to where the hole was. Even if he got a running start, this seems impossible. He was wearing flip flops which would make running very difficult. Also, Rey was afraid of heights. He had no history of mental illness, there wasn't anything traumatic that happened to him recently, and he had actually booked an office space for the weekend to finish up a project. Why would he bother doing that if he intended to take his life?

During the investigation, Rey's cellphone was discovered on the rooftop, near the hole. It was in working order and the screen wasn't cracked. They also found his glasses and there wasn't a scratch on them. Now, you tell me how someone could jump or fall several stories down, but your glasses and phone aren't cracked? Rey had A LOT of injuries, even his flip flops were broken. The straps came out and there's drag marks on the front of the shoes. It looks and feels very staged. His glasses and phone seem to have been placed at the scene. One thing that should have been at the scene was missing. Rey had a money clip that was like his signature thing. His wife gave it to him as a wedding gift and he always had it with him and clipped his ID and money in it. Alison says she saw the money clip in his hand before she left on her work trip. 

So, let's talk about the Belvedere hotel a bit. Like any large hotel, it has tons of windows. The guests at the hotel were questioned and no one saw or heard anything on the day of Rey's death. He obviously wasn't staying at the hotel, so it doesn't even make sense that he would be able to get to the roof. He can't just waltz into the lobby of the hotel and head to the roof. To get there, you have to take the stairs and a bunch of the doors are locked and can only be accessed by employees. The cameras were checked and Rey was never seen inside the hotel. The camera on the roof, wasn't working on this day. I'm seeing red flags popping up everywhere, but the police felt that this was a suicide. 

The family was adamant that Rey did not take his life. He was just married, got a new job, was ready to start a family, he was excited. Rey's wife Alison had more questions and was trying to piece things together. She decided to meet with the medical examiner and when she got there, the examiner closed the door. She told Allison, I know what they're trying to do and we are not closing this case. The way Rey's shins were broken, wasn't consistent with a fall, but that's all they could tell her. The medical examiner declared the case undetermined. The case can't be closed when this happens because there isn't a conclusion. 

Rey's brother Angel told the Washington Examiner off the record that staff members of the hotel say they believe Rey would have to be pushed to land the way he did. They say there is another set of doors to the roof and it would be more logical that he was pushed from there.

Allison continued to investigate and she found a note behind the computer. It was folded up small and the font was tiny. The note was folded up in plastic, taped to the back of the home computer screen and there a blank check with it. Allison had seen scraps of paper in the trash after his disappearance and she believes he wrote the note on the morning of his death. I wasn't able to find the entire note online, but here are the lines that were discussed in the Netflix Unsolved episode. The note starts off like this, “Brothers and sisters, Right now, around the world volcanoes are erupting. What an awesome sight. Whom virtue unites death will not separate.” “I stand before you a man who understand the purpose and value of our secrets. That's why I cherish them as secrets.” “That was a well played game, congratulations to all who participated.” “Life is a test to see if you can control your spirit. Take care and enjoy the festivities.” Then, there were names of people he knew, but he left several significant people out, there was a list of movies, directors, books, music, and TV shows. None of it made sense, but it could be a code. There were famous people included on the list that have died including Christopher Reeve and Stanley Kubrick. The note included a request to make them and himself five years younger. The note was sent to the FBI and all they were able to do was determine that this wasn't a suicide note.

A reddit sleuth noticed that Rey listed David Fincher's The Game in his letter. This was a 1997 film about a man who gets caught up in an elaborate scheme and the company makes him think he's lost everything and he jumps off a roof of a building through a glass ceiling. Alison doesn't believe there's any significance to that. She says that Rey actually had notebooks all over the house and he would just write random ideas and thoughts all over them. It's not surprising to her that the note doesn't make any sense. He was interested in a lot of different types of movies and was just a guy interested in everything and it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to write about things.

Alison says her husband was interested in the freemasons. On the weekend before his disappearance, he was reading a book called The Builders, a study of masonry. On the day of his disappearance, he actually went to the bookstore and purchased the book Freemasons for Dummies and he talked with a member of the Maryland lodge about joining the Freemasons. If you're not familiar with freemasonry, it's a fraternal, men-only organization and it's one of the world's largest secret society's. It's not a religion, but they do have their own beliefs and rituals. The phrase that Rey used in his note, “Whom virtue unites, death will not separate”, is a motto used on the Masonic Rings and at the Masonry temple. The Freemasons use cryptic language and symbolism which is another reason Rey's note is getting so much attention.

On the day of Rey's disappearance, he received a call that made him bolt out of the house. The call was traced and came from Stansberry Associates, where Rey worked. This couldn't actually be traced farther than that because it came from the switchboard. The company put a gag order on their employees within hours of Rey's body being found. Rey's friend, Porter Stansberry blocked everyone from helping and wouldn't return any calls to the investigators. When I say they were friends, they were BEST friends. They went to school together, they were on the same water polo team, they brought dates to prom together. This is someone Rey trusted and he can't provide a comment to the police about his friends death? Porter also declined to provide a comment for the Netflix Unsolved episode. Now, I did read that Porter has been contacting other podcasts and letting them know that this is all false information. He says he never put out a gag order on his employees and he has cooperated with the police. 

Before Rey died, he was working as a freelance videographer and was producing videos of conferences. He had also been working on a newsletter called the Rebound Report and this gives stock tips. Before Rey moved to working with Stansberry, they had some legal troubles. They put out a letter where they talked about a Russian firm that was discovering uranium. The tip didn't work out and investors complained and the SEC filed fraud charges against Stansberry and they were fined $1.5 million. This gave Porter a bad reputation and this was the reason he hired Rey in the first place. He was supposed to help clean up the mess and write financial newsletters. 

Alison says that Rey was very worried about something two weeks prior to his death, but he didn't really talk about it. On the Monday before he went missing, the house alarm went off at 1 AM. Alison went down the stairs and saw Rey flying through the house with a bat and she said she could see the fear all over his face. He was a big guy, and fit, he was never scared. The police came out and said it was probably a squirrel. The following Tuesday, at 1 AM, the alarm went off. The window had been tampered with and that evening is when Rey went missing. Alison says these two incidents are the first time their alarm had ever gone off.

She thinks Rey accidentally stumbled across information that he wasn't supposed to see. The motive could also be money related. Rey puts out his publication with stock tips, what if someone lost a shit ton of money? After the wedding and move, it's possible that Rey was low on money. What if he found something out about his employer and tried to sell the story? This may prompt someone at the company to order a hit.

We talked earlier about that mysterious call Rey received from Stansberry & Associates on the day of his disappearance. Well, it turns out, there was a second mysterious call. Radio Times reported that during an interview on the You Can't Make This Up podcast, Unsolved Mysteries co-creator, Terry Dunn Meuer, says there is another call. While police were investigating Rey's computer, someone called to ask about it. Terry says, “When Alison Rivera went to the police station to pick up Rey's computer, the detective mentioned someone had called a couple of times and asked to pick up the computers and was very interested in the status of the computers. Alison was very troubled.”

I think there's literally no way that Stansberry & Associates isn't involved in this whole thing. The call was traced to their switchboard and that call prompted Rey to leave the home. He left all of the lights on and didn't clean up. Something made him leave fast. I think there's a hidden code in the note for two reasons. All of the other things Rey wrote about in his notebooks, were laying around the house in the open. He wasn't hiding anything. This note was written small, folded small, and taped behind a computer. Perhaps it's pointing to a specific code that freemasons use? I think there's a significance to the blank check that was with the note. I looked it up and there's an initiation fee that you pay the Lodge to be in good standing with the Freemasons. We know that Rey called the lodge that day. Was the check for that? Or was it another symbol? I don't know how Rey's body went through the roof like it did, but it makes me think that he was higher up than people believe.

If he ran and jumped off the roof of the Belvedere, he couldn't have dropped through in such an upright position. I'm not an expert on that, but I don't see how it's possible. I know this sounds crazy and I can't give a good explanation on how this would have gone down, but what if he was dropped from a helicopter? If the helicopter was high enough, people wouldn't really hear it. This would explain why no one saw Rey inside the hotel. If he was pushed, how would he not land on his back or stomach when he hit the roof? Something happened to him in a different location, that money clip has never been located. They searched the hotel, his car, the house, it's gone.

RESOURCES

What happened to Rey Rivera of Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries? – The Sun

Unsolved Mysteries co-creator gives updates on Rey Rivera & two other cases | EW.com

Inside The Unsolved Mystery Of Rey Rivera's Death (allthatsinteresting.com)

Netflix Unsolved Mysteries: Mystery on the Rooftop Season one, episode one

What Happened to Rey Rivera? | Updates to Rey Rivera Disappearance (marieclaire.com)

How did Rey Rivera die? Netflix’s ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ explores questions in 2006 death of Baltimore man - Baltimore Sun

Unsolved Mysteries update: Second caller revealed in Rey Rivera case (netflixlife.com)

Everything Unsolved Mysteries Leaves Out About Frank Porter Stansberry (screenrant.com)

What Is Freemason Society? Did it Cause Rey Riveria's Death? (thecinemaholic.com)