Of all the questions raised by Unsolved Mysteries, one has continued to perplex fans above all: exactly what happened to Rey Rivera?
Although several theories have been posed about why Rivera’s body was found under a hole in the ceiling of a Baltimore hotel room, the case still puzzles many.
To complicate matters further, Terry Dunn Meurer, showrunner of the Netflix true-crime series, has revealed a chilling piece of new evidence.
“One of the things that the episode doesn’t mention is there was something else found in Rey’s pocket when his body was found,” Meurer told host Rebecca Lavoie on Netflix’s You Can’t Make This Up podcast.
“Alison had given him a small little penny that had a heart cut out of it. She had found it on one of her work trips and she had brought it home to him and said: ‘Whenever you need me you hold this penny and know I’m close.’
“He always kept that penny in a little bowl on his dresser, and she had always seen it there.”
Meurer continued: “That penny was with him in his pocket when he was found. And that’s always been very curious to Alison and very interesting.
"Why did he take that penny with him that day?”
Rey Rivera, a 32-year-old finance writer, was last seen alive on 16th May 2006. His body was found six days later in an abandoned second-story room in Baltimore’s Belvedere Hotel. Controversially, police later ruled his death as a suicide.
Since the Unsolved Mysteries episode focusing on his death aired, internet sleuths have proposed many alternative explanations. These include the idea Rivera’s body was dropped from a helicopter.
Fans of the show have also been mulling over a Rey Rivera's note which was left behind his computer.
Other theories link his death to David Fincher’s film, The Game and the Freemasons.
Unsolved Mysteries is available to stream on Netflix. Check out our lists of the best series on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix, or see what else is on with our TV Guide.
