Death of Rey Rivera

Rey Omar Rivera (born June 10, 1973) was a former collegiate and professional water polo player who later coached at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, California, and served as an assistant coach for the Johns Hopkins University men's water polo team. At the time of his death, he and his wife, Allison, had moved from California to Baltimore so he could work as a writer and videographer for Stansberry & Associates Investment Research, a company led by his longtime friend, publisher Porter Stansberry, and a subsidiary of Agora Publishing.

In the days before his disappearance, Rivera's home alarm went off twice, and his wife said he appeared visibly frightened, which was described as out of character. On the evening of May 16, 2006, a houseguest reported that Rivera received a phone call, left the house hurriedly, and did not return. After he was reported missing, family members located his car in a Mount Vernon parking lot near the Belvedere Hotel and his workplace. From an adjacent parking garage, they spotted a hole in one of the hotel's lower roofs. Police subsequently found Rivera's partially decomposed body in the room beneath the hole; his body was discovered on May 24, 2006.

An autopsy documented rib fractures, broken shins, punctured lungs, and lacerations, among other severe injuries. Retired Baltimore Police detective Michael Baier, who had briefly worked the case before being reassigned three weeks into the investigation, said he doubted the suicide ruling and described the scene as looking "staged." Investigators noted that Rivera's eyeglasses and phone were found undamaged atop the hotel despite the extent of his injuries. Phone records showed the last call he received came from the Agora Publishing switchboard, though the caller's identity was never determined.

Rivera's wife later found a note behind his home computer containing references to Hollywood figures, movie titles, Freemasonry quotations, and other writings. The FBI analyzed the note and concluded it was not suicidal in nature. Citing the unclear circumstances, the medical examiner classified the manner of death as "undetermined," while the Baltimore Police Department maintained a ruling of probable suicide.

The case drew renewed public attention after Mikita Brottman, a writer who lived at the Belvedere Hotel, researched it for a decade and published a 2018 book on the death, expressing skepticism about the suicide finding. In July 2020, the case was featured in the debut episode of Netflix's revived "Unsolved Mysteries" series, which explored theories including a possible jump from an eleventh-floor ledge (though no witnesses or access evidence supported this, and Rivera reportedly feared heights) and a fan theory linking the death to the film "The Game," which Allison Rivera said she did not find credible. Producer Terry Dunn Meurer also said an unidentified caller had repeatedly contacted police asking about retrieving Rivera's computers, and that Porter Stansberry declined to be interviewed for the series, citing a company media policy, while denying any gag order. Meurer noted that no one interviewed for the series corroborated Stansberry's earlier public claims that Rivera had psychological issues. Coverage in Vanity Fair and The Baltimore Sun noted that Stansberry's non-participation fueled viewer speculation, though the episode did not accuse him of wrongdoing.