Netflix has rebooted the once popular series Unsolved Mysteries, where various unexplained phenomena are highlighted and the show asks viewers for tips and information that could help lead to answers. The reboot has been a resounding success since it has been re-released, with internet sleuths flooding message boards and Reddit threads with their theories about each episode.
Many of the cases revolve around murder mysteries, disappearances and occasionally the UFO or ghost story. In the streaming service's first episode of the reboot, now available on Netflix, well known stock newsletter tycoon Porter Stansberry, of Stansberry Research, is discussed extensively after the mysterious death of his former best friend and one of his former employees.
Episode one of the series highlights the case of a 32 year old newlywed named Rey Rivera, who picked up his life to move across the country to Baltimore and to work for his friend Porter Stansberry. Rivera was doing video editing for Stansberry's company at the time he died.
Rivera was seen alive on May 16, 2006, but his body "was found six days later in an abandoned room in the second-story annex of the Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore," according to Radio Times.
The last phone call that he received, before rushing out of the house, "was tracked to the switchboard of Stansberry & Associates, though who it was from remains a mystery." The area Rivera was found dead was nearby to Stansberry's offices.
A mysterious hole was found in the roof of the annex, suggesting that Rivera may have fallen through the roof. But his personal belongings, including his glasses and his cell phone seemed to be in good working order. Additionally, he had fractures in his shin bones and other areas that made it difficult for the medical examiner to pinpoint a cause of death.
Ultimately, Baltimore Police ruled his death a suicide, despite the medical examiner calling it "inconclusive". As Netflix points out, he would have had to have jumped outward 45 feet from the nearest roof to land where he did.
Thus, the mystery of the case is how Rivera wound up plunging through the roof, if he even did.
Rivera also left behind a mysterious sounding note that included language with ties to Freemasonry. At one point, it said: “brothers and sisters, around the world right now volcanoes are erupting, what an awesome sight,” a line with ties to Freemasonry.
Porter Stansberry didn't actively participate in the Netflix show and the documentary alleges he put his company under a gag order just hours after Rivera was found dead. That claim was disputed by Stansberry on July 3.
According to Esquire:
The Netflix documentary claims that Porter Stansberry refused to speak to or cooperate with investigators or media following Rey Rivera’s disappearance and death, and gag ordered his company’s employees from doing so as well.On July 3, a spokesperson for the company disputed claims made in the Netflix episode, denying that Stansberry’s employees had ever been barred from speaking about Rivera's case.“There was no gag order or direction given to employees to not speak to the press, law enforcement or any other party," a spokesperson for Stansberry Research told the Baltimore Sun last week.
You can watch the trailer for the episode here:
The internet is replete with theories and analysis about this episode, like this video, as well.
