Netflix’s revival of Unsolved Mysteries has brought a new generation of amateur crime-solvers to the fold, and Redditors are attempting to help crack the case for one of the show’s new mysteries. The true-crime show has gotten plenty of attention on the streaming service in recent days, and one case in particular has gained steam as fans believe they discovered an overlooked key to the case.
The collection’s first episode, “Mystery On The Rooftop,” details the case of Rey Rivera, a 32-year-old Baltimore man whose body was found apparently crashed through the roof of a the Belvedere Hotel, where his car was found after days of searching. It took days to find his body, but things get strange when investigators try to piece together what happened. There was no easy access point to the roof of the hotel, for one, and his phone and glasses were not shattered when found with his body.
You have the chance to solve a mystery. How did Rey Rivera end up dead at the Belvedere Hotel? Watch "Mystery on the Rooftop" on Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries. #unsolvedmysteries #mysterious pic.twitter.com/4LnxO1dKv4
— Unsolved Mysteries (@Unsolved) July 3, 2020
Strangely, Rivera’s wife later found a note taped to the back of a computer that contained rambling references to the Freemasons, Kubrick, and other entertainment he’s fond of, including a David Fincher movie called The Game. According to some Reddit sleuths, the case actually has some strange similarities to the 1997 Michael Douglas movie, in which a man is caught in an increasingly-elaborate scheme to make him think the life he’s living is not real. Through the complex series of events, he jumps through the roof of a glass-ceilinged roof in the movie’s climax.
Via Reddit user /zumalightblue:
“The whole movie is about this crazy game…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 [something] that tried to imitate The Game in some way.”
With nothing else making much sense, many have attached themselves to this theory as the key to unlocking the mystery and suggesting that Rivera may have been acting out the movie. But those actually involved with the show and that know Rivera aren’t so sure. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, co-creator Terry Dunn Meurer says that the fan theory has been addressed with Rivera’s wife, but neither are convinced it is the key to the case:
“I spoke to [his wife] Allison Rivera about that,” Meurer tells EW exclusively. “She’s spent a lot of time with that note, as did the FBI, just going through the note trying to figure out if there were any clues or anything else in there. She doesn’t place any significance on the movie The Game. Rey liked a lot of different types of movies. He was just a guy who was interested in everything. If he had only ever left just that writing or if it was the only thing he had ever written randomly, then people would be a little bit more suspect. But this is what he did all the time. He kept so many journals full of random writing. Allison feels that she’s been through all the journals just trying to find any clue that could help her figure out what happened to him, and she couldn’t find any real or strong connections in The Game.”
According to that, the coincidences are just not enough to make any real connections. The Game was one of many things he listed, for one, and it wasn’t something he seemed to be stuck on according to his wife. Certainly, new perspectives are the point of Unsolved Mysteries, as the show quite literally presents cases stuck in neutral and with no leads. But according to its creators, The Game may be a popular lead online, but in reality, it’s another road to nowhere in particular.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
