The premiere episode of Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries revival focused on the strange circumstances surrounding Rey Rivera's death, yet one of the most unusual aspects of the case is a mysterious note discovered in Rivera's office shortly after his disappearance. The meaning of this note has defied any logical explanation suggested by both the FBI and Rivera's family.
An aspiring filmmaker and newlywed, the 32-year-old Rivera left his home in a rush in the early evening of May 16, 2006, while his wife was away on a business trip. His body was found eight days later in a closed meeting room at the Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore, having apparently broken through the thin ceiling after Rivera jumped or was thrown from a higher point. Most of the episode concerned the many questions surrounding the fall and how, while the state of Rivera's body suggested a fall from a great height, there was no apparent way for him to reach the point of impact with either a running start in the shoes he was wearing or being thrown off the top of the hotel by someone else. The question of Rivera's fall was further confounded by the discovery of Rivera's glasses and phone, completely intact, suggesting he may have been murdered and a suicide jump staged.
The note that Rivera's family found taped behind his office computer was an entirely different and perplexing mystery. Measuring just under seven inches long, precisely cut (the scraps were found in a waste-paper basket in Rivera's office) and printed in an incredibly small font, the note was far from the straight-forward suicide notes left behind by most people who plan to kill themselves. Instead, the note listed several people Rivera knew, but many important figures in his life were left out. The note also mentioned actor Christopher Reeve, director Stanley Kubrick, and many of Rivera's favorite films. There was also an unusually focused second list made entirely of M. Night Shyamalan films, save for one movie, The Others, which was directed by Alejandro Amenábar. The FBI analyzed the note and concluded, as Rivera's family had, that there was nothing in it that amounted to a confession of suicide, but neither could they suggest that there was some kind of coded message.
One aspect of the note which has fueled speculation regarding it having a hidden meaning was a quote near the start: "Whom virtue unites, death will not separate." This line had long been tied to the Freemasons, whom Rivera had reportedly developed an interest in in the months before his death. In fact, Rivera had purchased a book on the Freemasons and visited the local Freemason temple to inquire about joining them on the same day he disappeared. Some have suggested that the Freemasons might be involved in Rivera's death, but there seems little reason, even if one were inclined to believe the many conspiracy theories regarding the Freemasons, to think they would have any reason to kill Rivera or that they would kill him in such a strange manner.
There are two likelier explanations; the note was either a coded message Rivera left behind to implicate the people he feared were after him or it was planted by his killers to lend credibility to the idea that he was mentally unstable and suicidal. Either one seems equally likely, given reports by Rivera's widow that he refused to let her go anywhere alone in the weeks before his death. Some of the films listed, such as The Matrix and Wide Awake, feature scenes where a character jumps off a building, as Rivera apparently did. Many of the movies listed also involve secret societies and conspiracies, such as Eyes Wide Shut, National Treasure and The DaVinci Code.
The one thing that seems certain in Rivera's case is that his death was not a suicide, as there are far too many signs that point to a conspiracy to hide the circumstances of his death. Chief among these are the fact that the hotel security footage from that night mysteriously disappeared and that the camera for the roof was unplugged. However Rey Rivera died, his case was a worthy one to start the new series of Unsolved Mysteries.