An autopsy report has revealed that Dan Rivera, a veteran ghost hunter who toured with an infamous doll that was said to be possessed, died of natural causes.
Rivera died unexpectedly at 54 on July 13, while he was midway through his Devils on the Run paranormal events tour. County of Adams Coroner Francis Dutrow said that Rivera passed away due to “cardiac-related” causes.
The coroner also confirmed that the Annabelle doll, which traveled with Rivera during the tour, was not in the hotel room where Rivera died.
The Raggedy Anne Doll that brought Rivera fame has a half-Century-long history stretching back to its original owner in the 70s, a nurse who claimed that the doll had been taken over by the spirit of a dead six-year-old girl named Annabelle.
Famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren took the doll from that nurse and placed it within a display box at their Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut.
The box was intended to contain Annabelle’s malicious powers, but the Warrens claimed over the years that it still managed to terrorize various residents of the small town.
This year, the Annabelle doll went “missing,” but Rivera and other paranormal pros soon revealed that Annabelle was actually on tour. The doll made stops at a penitentiary in West Virginia and an orphanage in Pennsylvania, both supposedly haunted.
It was during the tour’s stop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that Rivera passed away. His death, and the revelation that the Annabelle doll had “gone missing” from his room, sparked immediate speculation in occult circles.
Annabelle doll has gone missing from the room of paranormal investigator Dan Rivera, who was found dead shortly after starting a US tour with it. pic.twitter.com/PWeyxaZ2ls
— Creepy.org (@creepydotorg) July 25, 2025
Earlier in the tour, the doll had become embroiled in controversy when multiple mysterious events—including a resort fire and a prison break—occurred in Louisiana shortly after an Annabelle visit to the state.
Rivera helped quell concerns about demonic intervention in worldly affairs on TikTok, where Annabelle’s tour had gone viral.
Rivera was a senior lead investigator for the New England Society for Psychic Research, which was founded by the Warrens and is run by their son-in-law.
The organization’s website said that “at an early age [Rivera] was introduced to haunting phenomena, having witnessed paranormal events occurring in his home.”
He told tour attendees in Gettysburg that he built the Annabelle doll’s case with wood stained with holy water and engraved it with symbols representing the Holy Trinity.
Outside of his work for NESPR, Rivera appeared on the Travel Channel show Most Haunted Places and consulted on the Netflix show 28 Days Haunting.
A fellow paranormal investigator for NESPR mourned Rivera in a statement to the Daily Mail, calling him “a true legend” and “one of the kindest, most genuine and funniest guys.”
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