MD MD - Rey Rivera, 32, suicide or foul play, Baltimore, 16 May 2006

[Hopperrr]

**NOTE: while the case doesn’t appear to be classified as “cold,” I was unsure where to begin this thread!***

Recently profiled on Unsolved Mysteries, the case 32-year-old Rey Rivera oscillates between suicide and foul play. The case remains open, according to Kathleen Jones, the mother of Rey’s widow, Allison (as noted in the Greely Tribune)

https://www.greeleytribune.com/2020/07/05/death-of-rey-rivera-man-with-ties-to-windsor-subject-of-netflix-documentary-series/

The Baltimore Sun outlines the timeline and surrounding questions regarding Rey’s death:
How did Rey Rivera die? Netflix’s ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ explores questions in 2006 death of Baltimore man

 

[PajammaQueen]

Has anyone explored the possibility of RR being chased thru the parking garage and hit by a car? Would the impact of being hit by a car be enough to throw him to where he went thru the roof? The broken leg bones made me question this possibility.

 

[Hopperrr]

Has anyone explored the possibility of RR being chased thru the parking garage and hit by a car? Would the impact of being hit by a car be enough to throw him to where he went thru the roof? The broken leg bones made me question this possibility.

I hadn’t heard this one! The latest theory as the sheer force of this “fall” is in regards to a possibility of a helicopter being involved.
Unsolved Mysteries investigator reveals theory Rey Rivera was "dropped from a helicopter"

 

[Liadan]

I don't think he was mentally unstable; under stress and probably being badgered at work- for sure. That would explain some out of character behaviour.

But what company puts a gag order on all communication after an employee 'suicide'. People can't even talk nicely about him to the press.

And I am sorry, flip flops, if he was going down town to meet with someone at a swanky place, would he really be dressed like that?

Don't think much of the note, probably just collecting info for a screenplay he wanted to put together. Some people hide their ideas in weird places.

His mate hired him and doesn't even have the decency to make a statement about him, to me this speaks volumes!

 

[RaeOx]

After watching the 'Unsolved Mysteries' show last month, I've been thinking about this one myself.

I have to agree with Liadan with some of your points made.
The gag order is truly odd with no explanation. Something is obvious being hidden there, what and whom is involved is unknown but its obviously a great portion of the employee's there.
The flipflop point is also right, who would go out to a swanky place in flipflops? Nobody.

Hopperr: The idea of an helicopter is one theory, it would make sense of course more so than from a ledge, but it's obviously proving it that is the problem. But it does make sense.

Like mentioned in the show, stumbling on some information about a company may have caused some other nerves to twitch a little and this was there was to deal with it.
Whatever the case, I hope the family finds out what happened. Somebody at some point as got to have messed up somewhere or somebody may confess due to being guilt ridden eventually.
I just hope one day the answers are there for his Family.

 

[kemo]

The only reason I can see that this just hasn’t been accepted as a suicide is that the body landed quite a distance from any point he could have jumped (or been thrown for that matter).

I am familiar with a case where someone jumped from a window 8-10 stories up and landed on the sidewalk close to the building. There were a number of points on the roof, ledges on the building, and even the neighboring parking structure where he could have jumped that would result in him landing near the structure he apparently landed on but it doesn’t seem that he could have traveled laterally far enough to land where he did. It occurs to me, however, that if he generated enough lateral thrust when he jumped, it might be possible. He could gotten a running jump and or used his feet to push himself off of the side of the building as if he were diving from the side of a pool. Rey was a competitive swimmer who probably did that all the time.

The big question is could a jumper generated enough lateral thrust to arrive were he did. Perhaps someone knowledgeable in physics would have an idea. I can’t see it working that way by being thrown or falling.

Somehow, Rey being dropped from a helicopter seems pretty far fetched. Who might have wanted Rey dead who would have had access to a helicopter and a pilot willing to commit first degree murder and why would they do it?

 

[Liadan]

I think the damage to the body and the presumption of suicide is quite a stretch. Esp given the damage to the roof. It almost seems prepackaged. Dig a hole in the roof, and pretend he fell through. Remember the cameras were off. Maybe not just to cover the body being dumped, but to cover whoever was preparing the murder scene for the body. Flip flops running on that roof, without his glasses on?

 

[Dylansmom08]

If someone is really good at math I am sure there is a formula for finding out if it would be possible to get enough speed to make a jump like they are claiming with the information that we know. According to the detective in the show the roof area he would have jumped off of was 40 feet long that's the running distance he would have had and it was 45 feet down to the hole he went through. In order for him to go that far and for the leg fractures that he had in my opinion he would have to go through the roof feet first and arms down to his sides which seems really unusual to me. Also you have the problem of his cell phone and glasses being found right by the hole undamaged. Then you have everyone lawyered up and refusing to talk maybe they were only trying to keep their distance for the sake of the businesses reputation or maybe it was something more either way it seems suspect to me.

 

[kittensncakes]

First time posting! This case had me hooked after I watched it on Unsolved Mysteries, I was still toiling over some of the details a week later! I wanted to get on here to see who was talking about it, so happy to find this thread! His family deserves answers!

I agree that it feels prepackaged, with the undamaged cell phone and flip flops, and I feel very strongly that his 'friend' who got him the job had something to do with it, if they were as great of friends as Rey's wife claimed, why didn't he give a statement? If my best friend went missing, I would be searching non-stop.

Does anyone remember if they investigated who was staying in the hotel that night? At the very least I think they could get a court order for the hotel records from that evening.

Also, can't his friend and the company he worked for be subpoenaed or is the evidence not strong enough to allow for that? I mean they have cell records showing that he got a call from them and ran from the house, and then ended up dead...that's at least enough to leverage a little more info from the company... How is a gag order stronger than evidence of foul play, pointing in their direction?

 

[Dylansmom08]

I thought about that too but I think with the police writing it off as a suicide they are not really taking it seriously at this point. I do know they said they talked to everyone in the hotel and no one heard or seen anything at least that's what they told police but I think we all know that some people just say they know nothing because they don't want to get involved with law enforcement. Also I find it rather odd that the security cameras were mysteriously not working at the time he would have been in the hotel. He got a call from work right before he runs out of the house and he is never seen alive again I would be wanting to talk to whoever called him and find out what was going on at that moment. I have came across a few articles that talk about how the company he worked for was a scam and people were losing a lot of money with them. So I'm thinking that could have resulted in some very angry people with lots of connections and money. That is the perfect scene for a staged suicide that wouldn't get much attention. All of this is strictly my opinions so I could be wrong but I'm going to do some digging into this company and see what I can find.

 

[Liadan]

I could probably do the calculations but seriously doubt the force of impact of his suicide jump would have created a hole that went straight through a roof. Its concrete and steel and designed to withstand more than a force of a human body despite falling from height. We would need to know the make up of the roof structure to do a true representation of the situation. AND then NO ONE heard this massive thud because it was an unused area????

What do you all think of the note? I am not sure I think it needs to be decoded or sends a message.

I think the hinkiest thing of all is that he was called and ended up at the Belvedere DEAD. That smells rotten and when no one is allowed to talk about it. That is even more smelly!

 

[RaeOx]

After watching the 'Unsolved Mysteries' show last month, I've been thinking about this one myself.

Please excuse my incorrect statement, I've completely lost track of my days/weeks/months recently with C19 going on. It was the start of the month I watched it, not last month.
-

I could probably do the calculations but seriously doubt the force of impact of his suicide jump would have created a hole that went straight through a roof. Its concrete and steel and designed to withstand more than a force of a human body despite falling from height. We would need to know the make up of the roof structure to do a true representation of the situation. AND then NO ONE heard this massive thud because it was an unused area????

What do you all think of the note? I am not sure I think it needs to be decoded or sends a message.

I think the hinkiest thing of all is that he was called and ended up at the Belvedere DEAD. That smells rotten and when no one is allowed to talk about it. That is even more smelly!

I think you're right in pointing out how did they not hear the sudden massive thud of the incident occurring. It's odd to say the least, some may say that people could have been paid off for their silence.

The whole silencing the employee's smells rotten, specially if he did indeed find something that could of caused a company public humiliation and such.

There's been a lot of talk about the note recently, in particular it being connected to the film 'The Game' which is rather interesting but its since been said that Rey’s wife, Allison believes it is in no way connected.
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES Creator Gives Update on Rey Rivera Case - Nerdist

Also since the show they've released some exclusive clips and photos of the evidence that was shown in the episode. (file contains all 6 episode folders, you'll find it in Mystery on the Roof)
‪Unsolved Mysteries | Case Files‬‏ - Google Drive

hope these links are freely allowed on the forum - I don't see anywhere mentioning they couldn't be added but I also don't want to tread on any toes and break a rule in posting them.

 

[Dylansmom08]

Nothing about this makes sense to me I don't believe even if he did jump from the roof he would land perfectly straight on his feet and go straight down through the metal roof. I mean to fall from 45 feet up and hit feet first on the metal I would think that at the least on impact a body would slump forward and land on the roof. He might have had his legs go through but for his whole body to go perfectly through in a hole just big enough for him to squeeze through is highly unlikely. As for the note I'm not sure it seems like ramblings but there could be some other meaning in there.

 

[Dylansmom08]

I've found a new article about this case and it gives some information that wasn't put in the unsolved episode. I don't know why they left it out but it could be another little piece of this puzzle.
'Unsolved Mysteries' Rey Rivera: Why the Helicopter Hole Theory Didn't Work for Investigators

 

[kittensncakes]

Isn't it funny (not really) that security cameras so often are 'malfunctioning' the same time a violent crime takes place?? I have watched more hours of Forensic Files than I can count and that happens WAY TOO OFTEN!

I don't believe he jumped either, the hole didn't have any blood on or around it, I think, and didn't the medical examiner say that the breaks in his legs weren't consistent with a long fall?? That's what makes me think it could definitely be that he was hit with a car near where his car was...and maybe thrown from the parking garage to the roof? Ooh, did they ever luminol the roof??? I mean, it's been too long now, with it being exposed to the elements, but I'm gonna dig into the notes in the post above and see about that!

I totally agree that it is VERY fishy that no one heard anything, especially with how popular and swanky that place is supposed to be and he just happened to jump through the roof into an unused room?? are you kidding me?? I mean, that company could have deep ties with The Belvedere, (which would explain the camera 'malfunction') their offices were close by and they were probably frequent customers (putting up clients there).

 

[kittensncakes]

Does anyone know if they did computer forensics on Rey's computer?? I bet his wife looked through it, with how thorough she is, but she can't take it apart and see what might have been deleted. They may be able to make more sense of the note...also, I wonder if they can get ahold of the records from his work computer, internal emails??

I had forgotten about the note until I looked through those clips, and it seems like gibberish to me or like one of his journals where it's just random thoughts, but why was it folded so tiny and taped to the computer??

 

[Tbone144]

I used to be able to do the math, about 20 years ago. My physics professor liked to write problems on the board about throwing him up into air off buildings versus dropping him off buildings versus him taking running start. My gut says with that height for distance to fall you wouldn’t need much of an angle to launch yourself 45 feet into the distance, especially if you push out and up sort of launching yourself. 180 feet high to top of building correct? Building is 40 feet across at that point and he went 45 feet out from the top? Does that sound right? Working from memory.

Rey was athletic so I’m sure he could build up a decent speed at a sprint. He could have been holding his flip flops and running barefoot.

I’ll go look up some geometry equations and see if I can figure out the angle. However the 10mph sprint speed, jump out/up...maybe some searches on trajectories will remind me of how the physics works.

 

[GoldenHawk]

Does anyone remember if they investigated who was staying in the hotel that night? At the very least I think they could get a court order for the hotel records from that evening.

It is still called the Belvedere Hotel, but it is no longer a hotel. The building was converted into condominiums almost 30 years ago. I live outside of Baltimore and have been in the building a few times. If Rey was going to meet someone in the lounge/restaurant or maybe even someone who may own a condominium in the building I can see him wearing flip flops in the summer in Baltimore. But getting on the roof and jumping at that angle is very hard for me to wrap my head around. I wonder if there are other similar cases to compare it to.

 

[kittensncakes]

It is still called the Belvedere Hotel, but it is no longer a hotel. The building was converted into condominiums almost 30 years ago. I live outside of Baltimore and have been in the building a few times. If Rey was going to meet someone in the lounge/restaurant or maybe even someone who may own a condominium in the building I can see him wearing flip flops in the summer in Baltimore. But getting on the roof and jumping at that angle is very hard for me to wrap my head around. I wonder if there are other similar cases to compare it to.

Ahh, I forgot that tidbit, that the hotel was condos now...

 

[Tbone144]

Calculator for trajectory.
Trajectory Calculator

With a relatively low launch angle of 14 degrees and a sprint speed of 10 mph I get just under 43 feet if the initial height is 135 feet. Could he build up to 10 mph in a 40 foot gap? That’s only about 3 seconds to get to speed. If I remember right the building was much longer than wide so he could have started the long way to build up some speed and then turned to get full velocity. Quick google search says long jumpers take off at 15 to 27 degree angle. Playing with the calculator, speed makes more of a difference than angle of launch.