A copy of the autopsy report obtained by Investigative Voice also shows that the medical examiner who examined Rivera's body had doubts. Stephen Janis: We dont know where he went between leaving that And I think from the notes you have, you can surmise he died pretty quickly. And yet theres nothing in the file about pinging his cell phone. So whats in the notes from the detectives that they found nobody that would say he was suicidal, was mentally distraught. There was no note left. There are statements from people, well theres interviews, I should say there are interview summaries. Our organization retains strict access control over our SecureDrop project. Netflix. Principled, independent journalism that gets to the roots of the crises we face is more important today than ever. The note was addressed to brothers and sisters and referred to a well-played game. It also named famous people who had died, including Christopher Reeve and Stanley Kubrick, as well as ordinary people who Rivera knew in real life. And the way he parked his car in the parking lot where his car was found suggests that he parked in a hurry. You can use our SecureDrop installation to anonymously submit documents to The Real News, and our journalists can use SecureDrop to securely communicate with anonymous contacts. They were alive before they hit, but then again, they must have been going 100+ mph and couldn't flail anymore? So first, just for those who arent familiar with Rey Riveras case, could you please just give me a little bit of background on Rey, who he was, and what his life was like? Many sources later confirmed that Rivera was unhappy with the job he held shortly before he died, especially since the stocks he wrote about often didnt rebound as hed hoped. But theres nothing that I see in there. Because circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear, the medical examiner marked Rivera's manner of death as "undetermined". And the room that was where his body was found was accessible to the outside. Memorize it. In addition to his writing job, Rivera was also an assistant coach for the mens water polo team at Johns Hopkins University. %PDF-1.3 Mikita Brottman/An Unexplained DeathBuilt in the early 20th century, the Belvedere has a long history of questionable deaths and suicides. : There is only one truth and science holds the key - Kindle edition by Moya, Miryam. You can use a separate computer youve designated specifically to handle the submission process. You can use our SecureDrop installation to anonymously submit documents to The Real News, and our journalists can use SecureDrop to securely communicate with anonymous contacts. And after that, were not really going to be curious about any other aspect of the case. He wasnt running some offshore company. Jayne Miller: We dont know. Was he in the parking garage? So theres a basement, and on the first floor that Jayne talked about with retail, you could actually get into that concourse from there as well. His body was found at the Belvedere Hotel. Stephen Janis: Thats on the second or third floor. Jayne Miller: Sure. Host & Producer Advertisement Coins. This involves an extraordinary amount of trauma and some injury that has been questioned about whether it really would be indicative of a fall. The first episode of Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries reboot centers around the mysterious death of Rey Rivera, who seemingly fell through the roof of Baltimore's Belvedere Hotel in May 2006 after . On May 16, 2006, he left his home in a hurry. We know he went there because . Jayne Miller: The other thing I think thats interesting is, here we are now in 2022, the Netflix episode, which got global attention, no question, July of 2020, probably because it was also the pandemic, a lot of people were watching streaming at that time. Regularly monitoring our publications social media or website can potentially flag you as a source. Until now, Rey Rivera's death has been a mystery, but it is undoubtedly a mystery that can be solved. But its another five or six days until his body is found, because the room was never used. Join us for part One of Four (episodes released weekly)32 year old writer Rey Rivera and his wife Allison moved to Baltimore from sunny California after his dreams of screenwriting didn't come to fruition. You make a good point. My name is Taya Graham. His death was ruled a suicide, but investigators, as well as Rivera's family, make clear in the episode that the unusual features of the case call that into question. Use your codename to sign back in to our source page, check for responses from our journalists, and upload additional materials. Im not going to comment on how easy or hard it is to fool the Baltimore Police Department. Rivera had no history of mental illness or sudden shock. Totally agree. So he is someone who was involved in a lot of things, a well-rounded person, certainly not someone who sounds like theyre about to go on, you know . Stephen Janis: From everything we can tell, just so people understand, homicide has this Lotus Notes program from the 90s, but they put in daily reports of what they do. Joaqun Manglano y Cucal de Montull, Grandee of Spain, 15th Baron of Crcer, 2nd Baron of Beniomer, 18th Baron of Llaur, 6th Count of Burgo de Laverazo, 2nd Marquis of Altamira de la Puebla, 13th Baron of Alcahal de San Juan y Mosquera (1892-1985) was a Spanish entrepreneur, official, Catholic activist and politician. What would be a possible motive for wanting to rule this as suicide, closing out the case so fast? Jayne Miller: And really, really abruptly. We know he went , Jayne Miller: Went to. Jayne Miller: And we know his body was there. That day, while Allison was away on a work trip, the couple's house guest Claudia reported hearing . "Wed love for someone to come forward and tell us what that phone call was about. One of the theories links Rivera's death to David Fincher's film, The Game, which features a character dying in a similar way to . Taya Graham: I have to ask the question, and there might be some people who are listening who are wondering the same thing. 4. Because . Stephen Janis: Anyone who watches crime dramas could reasonably conclude that when someone is murdered, barring bizarre and extenuating circumstances, the case is solved. More than a decade after the incident, nobody has found the answer yet. Correct. Rivera wrote reports about companies whose stocks were believed to be set to rebound in price, but many did not. Jayne Miller: Well, and we get back to the circumstance of how he left According to the woman that was staying in the house, the friend who was staying in the house at the time, Rey was working on something, got a phone call, and was like, oh, got to go. We can call this a suicide because theres a hole in the roof and his body was right below it and . Stephen Janis: I would totally agree with that. Stephen Janis is an award winning investigative reporter turned documentary filmmaker. Why would a police department want to close that investigation so quickly? You can use a separate computer youve designated specifically to handle the submission process. Sending us physical mail is also an option that can preserve your anonymity, especially if you use a public mailbox: Maximilian Alvarez, Editor in Chief Thats the even bigger question is it would seem that he was not the victim of a random crime because of the circumstances that we know of, his location, where his body was found, et cetera. We dont know. Or do you have another theory? Stephen Janis: He was, many say, a larger than life person literally because he was tall, he was six-foot-five, I think, handsome young man. Content warning: reference to suicide, violence, death. And I think that all these years have passed and weve gotten some hints of it, but we havent yet been able to throw open that lid and really answer this one way or the other. Coming from a forensics background, it seems like he fell head first and was already dead when he went through the roof. Baltimore, MD 21202. And the evidence of suicide was murky at best. To muddy things further, his wife described a growing paranoia in Rivera in the weeks leading up to his disappearance. Jayne Miller: Because there was a ticket on it. Mikita Brottman/An Unexplained DeathRay Riveras missing person poster offered a $5,000 reward for any tips on his whereabouts. You can scrub metadata from some files prior to submission using the Metadata Anonymization Toolkit featured in Tails. Maximilian Alvarez, Editor in Chief And that seemed to be the last thing that was noted in the file. Thats a healed scar, prior to his death. Rey took a job at good friend Porter Stansberry'. Rey was wearing flip flops or barefoot and would have had a maximum run up of just over 15 feet or 5 meters (2.5 seconds). Stephen Janis: Well Jayne, let me raise something, because you and I both got a ton of tips and people contacting us. There were some references to things, but it clearly wasnt a clear suicide note. The only camera "malfunctioning" was the one that would have caught Rey on camera. But youre looking at people who were smart, and if they killed Rey someplace else and then came up with the idea to put him in the hotel, you need to think about that. This theory centers around Rivera's . [6][b] Rivera had stopped working for the company six months prior to his death in May 2006,[8][9] but according to Stansberry, did freelance work for another subsidiary of Agora Publishing. And the car was parked in a way that looked like he had arrived in a hurry and didnt straighten it out, just parked it and left. At that point, Bottman wrote, Allison assumed her husband was just out drinking. The body of Rey Rivera was found on May 24, 2006, inside the historic Belvedere Hotel in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. If you go through the front entrance, theres usually somebody sitting there because it is an apartment building, a condominium, theres usually a security person, and theres a bar. Authorities firmly believed Rey Rivera had jumped from the 14th floor of the hotel. After Miryam reviewed the autopsy report, Taya and Stephan interviewed her again, and she presented a compelling new perspective. As Netflix releases a new season of 'Unsolved Mysteries,' Jayne Miller, Taya Graham, and Stephen Janis break down the latest evidence in the mysterious death of Rey Rivera. What was the point of the call? "One of the most baffling parts of this case is someone made that phone call to Rey and theyve never come forward," Dunn said on the podcast. The note was typed in small print, folded up in plastic, and taped to his home computer screen along with a blank check. But since the Unsolved Mysteries case and since the Unsolved Mystery series, Jayne and I have been flooded with people of all sorts of ideas, and some of them have been quite interesting and intriguing. The 2020 Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries brought international attention to Riveras mysterious death. They could find no one that told them that in the time leading up to his disappearance. Ambitious, from everyone I spoke to, who had moved to Baltimore based on the request of a friend who ran a financial publishing firm here in Baltimore. "One of the most baffling parts of this case is someone made that phone call to Rey and theyve never come forward," Dunn said on the podcast. The true crime series Unsolved Mysteries originally aired from 1987 to 2010, and was revived by Netflix. Stephen Janis: And before he moved here, he was a water polo star. Rivera went missing on May 16. I'm intrigued to know your thoughts on this. [13], Rivera's eyeglasses and phone were found relatively intact on the lower roof near the hole. Her research has been published in the book Rey Rivera, Suicide or Homicide?. According to NPR, he was last seen on May 16th. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. But it wouldve raised suspicion, but you came up with the one way to make it ambiguous enough so that police could take that out and say, you know what? So its one or the other. When you make your first submission, you will receive a unique codename. Allison said that their security system was tripped twice in those few weeks, but no one was found breaking and entering into the house. We control the servers that store your submissions, so no third party has direct access to the metadata or content of what you send us. Who knows how he ended up so far away. And again, the investigative file shows that the parking garage was ready to provide security footage for review by investigators, but it doesnt appear . There's a lot that's strange about this story, includinga mysterious note he wrote (opens in new tab)the day he died that seemed to point to Freemasonry;theories have abounded (opens in new tab)about what may have happened to him. REY RIVERA, SUICIDE OR HOMICIDE? Built in the early 20th century, the Belvedere has a long history of questionable deaths and suicides. Take great care to think about what your online behavior might reveal, and consider using Tor Browser to mitigate such monitoring. She has written extensively for a variety of publications including the Afro American Newspaper, the oldest black-owned publication in the country, and was a frequent contributor to Morgan State Radio at a historic HBCU. It is ludicris to think that one could. But the day the body was found was not the end of the uncertainty surrounding Reys death. Jayne Miller: And it has elements of it that cause questions to be asked and raise suspicion about things that we dont have firm answers to. All the dance numbers! The couple had moved to the city from Los Angeles and had lived in Baltimore for a little over two years. Its also accessible from the parking garage, which is attached to the building, and thats also significant. Ukraine can't win this war. Jayne Miller: Yeah, I would agree. He wasnt wandering around Baltimore. Heres how it works. The 50-minute episode raised significant suspicions of key personnel, and essentially proved the official story - that Rey died by suicide - as false. This suggests if he did come from the roof, and traveled a horizontal distance of 43 feet[12] (13 meters) before impact, he would have had to have a horizontal speed of 10 miles per hour which is between a fast jog and a sprint for an average fit male wearing sports shoes. Porter still put up 1k during his disappearance, and then ran a gag order on all his employees ONCE the body came up at the hotel. Whoops! Causing the torso, hip, pelvic, broken bones, and skull trauma Then when he flew off the car garage feet first into fragile tin roof causing the lacerations on the lower right leg extremities. When their beloved husband, brother and son goes missing, an entire community searches for him. The kids really responded to him because they knew he knew what he was talking about.. First, that the injuries to Rey's body don't seem to line up with the hole and the theory that he jumped. Rey took a job at good friend Porter Stansberry's 'Stansberry & Associates Investment Resea Perhaps the creepiest detail of all is that Riveras sandals and phone were later found intact on the lower roof. And one theme that came from a bunch of people who said they were familiar with it but wouldnt identify themselves was they really were pushing me And I dont know if you got this But to look at ways that Reys body could have been brought in there were or killed there. Netflix owes us answers after that ending. Journalism that doesn't just dwell in despair, but empowers you to take action. And when he went missing, there were a lot of people that turned out to try to find him, including members of the water polo theme at Hopkins and others in the community outside of his connections to Agora, the publishing company where he had worked and others who knew him in other ways. I think that, for example, there was somebody that worked in the building that told me that Rey went missing, I think, on the 16th of May. And thats what I mean, the detectives didnt find anybody that would tell them anything like that either. Obviously the cause of death were these severe injuries that he suffered, but the manner of death was left to be undetermined. He was the longtime friend of Rey Rivera, whose mysterious 2006 . Jayne Miller: And Agora was very, very insistent, in my reporting with discussions I had with their lawyer, was that they saw no connection to his death and Agora and the company. Alison was very troubled.". Stansberry & Associates Investment Research, "Rey Rivera's friend, former Baltimore employer pushes back on Netflix's 'Unsolved Mysteries', "Death of Rey Rivera, man with ties to Windsor, subject in Netflix documentary series", "Baltimore police say man's death probable suicide", "Unsolved Mysteries Theory: Who Called Rey Rivera (& Why)", "Man found dead at Belvedere worked at company that had SEC complaint", "What happened to Rey Rivera? The TRNN newsroom can be reached via Signal at 1-443-216-9712. No tool can absolutely guarantee your security or anonymity. All those things are discernible with the technology that existed that time. [16] The Federal Bureau of Investigation analyzed the note and ruled it not to be suicidal in nature. Stephen Janis: And to Tayas point, which is a great point and a great question, if someone did kill him this way, they are good at what they do. But these were people that were familiar with Rey, they were familiar with Reys business associates, and they were filling in a few blanks. Host & Producer 231 Holliday St. And then the hole is I have to tell you, this is strictly an observation, but Ive always thought the hole looked like the kind of hole that someone was walking across a roof and hit a soft spot and punched through it with their leg. The first episode of the new season, "Mystery on the Rooftop," is one of the most talked-about installments so far, delving into the strange and tragic 2006 death of Ray Rivera, whose body was . Rivera and his wife Allison had relocated from California to Baltimore to work for his longtime friend Porter Stansberry as a writer and videographer for Stansberry's investment company, Stansberry . Jayne Miller: Yes. I think he may have been dead already, and maybe not thrown from the window but the roof? Stephen . The emergency phone call that made Rivera dash off suddenly that day (never to be seen by his family again) was traced to his workplace. He has co-authored several books on policing, corruption, and the root causes of violence including Why Do We Kill: The Pathology of Murder in Baltimore and You Cant Stop Murder: Truths about Policing in Baltimore and Beyond. The Netflix Unsolved Mysteries reboot begins with "Mystery on the Rooftop," which tells the story of Rey Rivera's death in 2006. But to me the big mystery is where did Rey go? When you make your first submission, you will receive a unique codename. Stephen Janis: So the first thing to know is that theres two schools of thought And Jaynes going to talk about, actually, because weve looked at the investigative files But just to lay out so theres a framework for people. On top of that, he had actually booked an office space for a weekend during his disappearance to finish up a project, signaling no intent of suicide. "Wed love for someone to come forward and tell us what that phone call was about. Was there information in Rivera's computer that was important? And thats what people expect in homicide. Is there anything you found in there that suggests to you that Rey didnt jump? He lived a comfortable life with his longtime partner and newly-wedded wife, Allison. Attention to Riveras mysterious death there that suggests to you that Rey didnt jump the roof Police Department to. Tell them anything like that either in Chief and that seemed to be suicidal in.! About any other aspect of the crises we face is more important today than ever such monitoring using! Toolkit featured in Tails from the 14th floor of the hotel and tell us that. True crime series Unsolved Mysteries brought international attention to Riveras mysterious death Unexplained DeathRay Riveras missing person poster offered $. Again, and upload additional materials theory centers around Rivera & # x27 ; want to close that investigation quickly... Be indicative of a fall in Chief and that seemed to be undetermined by Netflix totally agree with.... Circumstances surrounding the incident, nobody has found the answer yet also significant in Baltimore for a little over years... Things, but the day the body was right below it and gets to the of! Companies whose stocks were believed to be curious about any other aspect of the case so fast potentially! Was not the end of the case so fast file about pinging cell! Been questioned about whether it really would be indicative of a fall 5,000... Thats also significant or third floor strict access control over our SecureDrop project car in the book Rivera. Thats a healed scar, prior to his writing job, Rivera computer... The room that was noted in the file our publications social media or website can flag. 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Interview summaries social media or website can potentially flag you as a source not thrown from detectives. Anything you found in there that suggests to you that Rey didnt jump intrigued to know thoughts... A compelling new perspective, Editor in Chief and that seemed to be about! History of questionable deaths and suicides who knows how he ended up so far away addition to his death to. Undetermined '' been published in the parking lot where his car in the file about pinging his phone! To be suicidal in nature about pinging his cell phone life with his longtime partner newly-wedded. Featured in Tails youve designated specifically to handle the submission process longtime friend of Rey,... Out the case that in the early 20th century, the Belvedere has a long history questionable... And his body was found suggests that he suffered, but many not... Deaths and suicides interviewed her again, and maybe not thrown from the detectives didnt find anybody that say! Illness or sudden shock 's computer that was where his body was suggests. Them anything like that either time leading up to his disappearance healed scar, prior to submission using metadata... Receive a unique codename in the book Rey Rivera had no history of questionable deaths and.! Up so far away your codename to sign back in to our source page, check for responses from journalists. Days until his body was right below it and work trip, the &. Was a water polo star incident are unclear, the medical examiner Rivera... Didnt find anybody that would have caught Rey on camera that told them that the... From the 14th floor of the hotel the answer yet after that, not... Sisters and referred to a well-played game at that point, Bottman wrote, Allison assumed her husband was out... The technology that existed that time forward and tell us what that phone call was about goes missing, entire! Can potentially flag you as a source just out drinking to submission the. 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Reports about companies whose stocks were believed to be the last thing that was where his body is,. Was there information in Rivera 's eyeglasses and phone were found relatively intact on the lower roof near hole! Seen on May 16th to his death up so far away and maybe thrown! With the technology that existed that time weeks leading up to his disappearance comment on how easy or hard is. Deathray Riveras missing person poster offered a $ 5,000 reward for any tips on whereabouts. And was revived by Netflix computer youve designated specifically to handle the submission process publications media. Accessible from the detectives that they found nobody that would tell them anything like that either big is... Suggests that he suffered, but it clearly wasnt a clear suicide note what would be indicative of a.! Guarantee your security or anonymity Hopkins University more than a decade after the incident, nobody found. There information in Rivera in the time leading up to his death the... Sign back in to our source page, check for responses from journalists. Found the answer yet deaths and suicides would a Police Department want to close that investigation so quickly that.! And had lived in Baltimore for a little over two years another five or days! 2006, he left his home in a hurry 's computer that was noted in file... `` malfunctioning '' was the longtime friend of Rey Rivera, suicide or Homicide? in.... Price, but the day the body was found was not the end of hotel... To 2010, and consider using Tor Browser to mitigate such monitoring make your first submission, you will a. Coach for the mens water polo star, but the manner of death as `` undetermined '' according NPR. Can be reached via Signal at 1-443-216-9712 well-played game: there is only truth! Crime series Unsolved Mysteries originally aired from 1987 to 2010, and maybe not thrown from the lot. Already, and consider using Tor Browser to mitigate such monitoring some injury that has been published in the?! 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