UNSOLVED MYSTERIES Executive Producer Talks Case Updates and Teases 'Unusual' Ghost Episode Coming Soon

The reboot of Unsolved Mysteries that debuted over theJuly 4th holiday weekend hit Netflix big, with fans binge-watching the first half of the season and getting to work investigating the mysteries covered in the episodes. We’ve heard that the show has had a plethora of tips emailed to the creators as well as law enforcement, and we’ve seen the articles and reddit threads where viewers delve into the details of each case. When the show first aired on TV in the 1980s-2000s, fans loved the series, and there were many cases that were solved. But we live in a much more connected and digitized age, so it feels like this time is the perfect age for a series like this.

The Unsolved Mysteries reboot is executive produced by Terry Dunn Meurer, and Variety recently caught up with him to chat about the success of the show, how they handle the massive amount of tips that have been rolling in, updates on the cases, and a very small tease about an upcoming episode.

When asked about the tips that have come in in the last couple of weeks, Meurer said:

There’s probably around 2,000 tips and comments at this point [on unsolved.com] but not all of those are credible leads.

How can they tell a credible lead?

If someone names a name, that would be a credible tip [or] if somebody said, “I was a witness.” If somebody who was at the party where Alonzo was said, “I was a witness to what happened to Alonzo,” that would be a credible tip. We haven’t gotten that yet, let me be clear about that. Anything that has specific information is great. If somebody called and said in the Rivera case, “I own that money clip” or “I know where that money clip is,” that would be a credible lead. Or in Endres, if they said, “Oh, I know that blue Lumina with the wildlife tag.”

He went on to say that they try to get as much specific information as they can from the tippers, then pass the info along, stating that they are not investigators, and they don’t know what could possibly come from each tip.

He then offered updates on each case:

Rey Rivera:

There’s been a lot of conversation around the note that he left behind, and also the helicopter theory. When you have a case this mysterious and you cannot figure out how Rey came off of that roof and landed where he did — I was up on that roof and I’m baffled — I think people look for stuff. “Well, what other theories are there if he didn’t come off the roof? Well, maybe he was dropped from a helicopter.” That theory has been circulating.

Patrice Endres:

I know with Patrice Endres, the GBI hasn’t shared the tips that have come in on that particular case. [People are] hoping to find Patrice’s wedding ring or somebody who knows what happened to that. Or the blue Lumina. Somebody could connect that to someone that. That would be great, but we don’t have any specifics on that case.

Alonzo Brooks:

Alonzo Brooks was probably [the case] we’ve received the most emails on. Lots of theories that we had already heard when we were producing the episodes, but there are some new names that have come in and that we forwarded onto the FBI. The FBI is offering a $100,000 dollar reward.

Lena Chaplin

Well, Lena, we just would hope that someone would come forward and say where Lena is buried. That would be the dream in that case.

Xavier Dupont

Xavier, we got the most interesting tip. Somebody was actually in Chicago, I think they were on Lake Shore Drive, and they heard this guy talking French and they looked at him and they had just seen the episode. They sent us a photo, and it really did look like Xavier. It was striking. So we sent that tip on. But again, this is just a stranger — we don’t have a name, we don’t have anything specific. In the Xavier case, what we’re hoping for is that he’s remarried or he has a girlfriend or he lives next door to somebody or he has a coworker who absolutely 100% knows that’s him. We need a very specific lead, because those leads come in from all over the world. Xavier looks so much like so many other people. With Netflix’s global reach, if Xavier is going to be found, we’re really hoping that the Netflix audience will find him. If he’s alive. That’s the mystery. Did he kill himself after he went through the elaborate work that he did, or is he out there somewhere? So we’re hoping he’s catchable if he’s alive, because of Netflix reach, global reach, or national reach.

When asked if we would get a ghost story in the second half of the season, Meurer said:

Yes. But I’ll qualify that and say it’s an unusual ghost episode. That’s all I’ll say. It’s different. A bit different.

Pretty exciting! I can’t wait to see the rest of the season, which is set to hit Netflix before the end of the year. Are you enjoying the reboot? What are some of your theories on the cases?