Unsolved Mysteries: When the show actually made a difference to a case IRL

If you’ve watched the iconic Unsolved Mysteries show, you’ll know its time on Netflix has only been a brief part of its history: The show spans over 600 episodes, with the first case airing in 1987. It actually changed the way people watched and engaged with television, because at the end of the show the producers put contact information to submit any suspicions or evidence about their mysteries, or even share their own unsolved cases. Netflix has carried on this tradition since gaining the rights to the show in 2020 and encourages watchers to send in tips via the Unsolved Mysteries website.

During the original show’s long run, many of the cases were actually solved and it looks like the Netflix reboot will be going in the same direction: The case of Kayla Unbehaun has already been solved, and she’s been reunited with her family. So what other major moves have happened in the cases since the show came out?

Alonzo Brooks’s body was exhumed and cause of death confirmed

via Netflix

In 2023, the FBI reopened the case of Alonzo Brooks and were granted permission to exhume his body. If you remember his chilling case, he went missing after attending a house party and being racially abused. His body was found after a month of searching in a location authorities had apparently already searched. His death was originally listed as “undetermined”, but an autopsy revealed that it was the cause of a homicide. Unfortunately, nobody has been arrested in association with the case.

An analysis found that the New Jersey Transit Police mishandled most of the Tiffany Valiante crime scene evidence

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via Netflix

The episode of Unsolved Mysteries that covers Tiffany Valiante’s death shows that her parents didn’t believe that their daughter would take her own life as she was a very happy person with plans for college. However, we might never know the truth now after a post-show forensic and DNA analysis revealed that the New Jersey Transit Police seemed to have lost or damaged key evidence.

The Transit Police did not secure the scene of the crime properly and overlooked key evidence, stored the shirt she was wearing in a plastic bag that went moldy, even mishandled her blood card containing Tiffany’s DNA. Transit Police also actually lost a potential murder weapon in storage: An ax with red markings – how does one lose an ax?! Who knows what that could have led to.

Forensic experts investigate and claim Rey Rivera didn’t die by suicide

via Netflix

If you cast your mind back to episode one of the show, you’ll remember Rey Rivera, whose body was discovered at the Belvedere Hotel in Maryland in May 2006. The Baltimore Police closed the case as an apparent suicide, but Unsolved Mysteries reopened speculation that his fall from the top of the hotel was actually staged.

Since the episode aired on Netflix, forensic scientist Miryam Moya invalidated the idea of suicide, and instead claims his injuries are more consistent with someone who was beaten by another person or hit by a car. She mentions that victims who jump feet first (aka from a window) have severe foot damage and injuries all over the body, however, Rivera had injuries predominantly on the left side of his body, which just doesn’t match up. You can read more about her findings in her book, Rey Rivera, Suicide or Homicide?

JoAnn Romain top suspect proves his innocence in a post-show interview

via Netflix

In the second season of the show, Lady in the Lake, Romain’s cousin, Tim Matouk, was one of the primary suspects in her mysterious death. Her car was abandoned near her Church and footprints were leading to Lake St. Clair, but she was nowhere to be found in or around the water. The police labelled her death a suicide, but it didn’t convince her family, or viewers.

After two months, her body was found in the Canadadian end of the Detroit River, 30 miles from where she had last been seen. Fans thought it was especially suspicious when he declined to appear in the show. However, he surprisingly got it contact with the show’s creator, Terry Dunn Meurer. During their conversation, he confidently denied killing Romain and solidified an alibi with Michigan State troopers who confirmed his phone records and testimony matched existing evidence. I guess the mystery lives on.

The Kayla Unbehaun case is solved, and she’s reunited with her father

Kayla’s case is an absolutely wild one, and was a very recent discovery. She went missing back in 2017 in an apparent abduction by her non-custodial mother, but by showing old photographs of her alongside a projection of what she may look like now, she was identified as a missing child by a North Carolina resident. It turned out that somebody recognised her there, and contacted the authorities. This led to the case being cracked, and a wholesome reunion with Kayla and her father.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Finished Unsolved Mysteries? Try these nine twisted Netflix shows next

• This is all the evidence and details Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix missed out

• The FBI has exhumed the body of Alonzo Brooks after Unsolved Mysteries Netflix series