Since the reboot of Unsolved Mysteries hit our screens last week, a theory has been bubbling around the internet over what might have to the subject of the first mystery, Rey Rivera.
The show’s co-creator Terry Dunn Meurer has now spoken out about the “note theory.”
Rey Rivera was working for his friend, finance publisher Porter Stansberry, in Baltimore, Maryland, when he disappeared from his home.
His body was found six days later in a second-floor meeting room in the Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore.
The remains were only discovered after a hole was spotted in the roof.
The authorities deemed that he must have jumped from a height before falling through the roof into the empty room. His death was ruled a suicide.
However, family, friends, and some investigators believe it wasn’t suicide, and they suspected murder.
The ‘note theory’ could explain what happened to Rey Rivera?
One fan on Reddit has an idea, though.
Rivera left behind a note that listed the names of family and friends and referenced the Freemasons, filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, and a specific movie.
The Reddit user points to the movie listed — David Fincher’s The Game from 1997. The film tells the story of a man (Michael Douglas) convinced by a company that he has lost everything.
The character is driven to jump from the roof of a building through a glass ceiling. It was all a ruse, paid for by his brother (Sean Penn) to make his brother appreciate his life again.
The theory posits that Rivera, an unsuccessful movie scriptwriter, was acting out the events to this movie.
Unsolved Mysteries co-creator says ‘no’
Not so, says Terry Dunn Meurer, who co-created the original Unsolved Mysteries along with the current reboot.
Speaking to EW, Meurer says that Rivera’s wife and the FBI spent a lot of time studying the note but found no connection between it and his death.
According to Meurer, Rivera’s wife has said that it was merely a movie that he liked. The note could be seen as unusual if it was just a one-off occurrence, but Rivera reportedly wrote full journals with this kind of random writing.
Meuer added that his wife had been through all his journals and determined that there was no other reference to The Game.
Unsolved Mysteries had theory about what happened to Rivera
Another theory that is heavily researched on the show is that his friend and employer Porter Stansberry might be behind his death.
Rivera’s long-time friend has refused to cooperate with investigators when asked questions about the death. Stansberry reported lawyered up just hours after Rivera’s body was discovered.
Rivera was trained as an investigative journalist, and some have theorized that he had dug up some dirt on the millionaire Stansberry.
Stansbury was found guilty one year after Rivera’s death of security fraud and was fined $1.5 million.
The new series of Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix has been well received by fans, and it’s popularity has soared.
The fifth episode which featured UFOs and alien abductions from 1960s Massachusetts especially thrilled and terrified fans in equal measure.
If you’re looking for further scares on Netflix, then you might want to check out this list of the streaming service’s best horror movies as compiled by Monsters & Critics.
Unsolved Mysteries is available to watch on Netflix.