Riley Strain found: Nashville police locate body of college student who went missing after night out
Nashville, Tennessee, police said on Friday they found the body of Riley Strain, a University of Missouri senior who went missing on March 8 after going out downtown.
Authorities said Strain's body was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville on Friday morning, about 8 miles from downtown. Police said on X that no foul play-related trauma was observed, and an autopsy is pending.
"This morning, around 7:28 a.m., we received a call from a worker on 61st Avenue, at a company that adjourns the Cumberland River, that had been searching for anything that would pop up on the river, especially looking for Riley Strain," Metro Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake said during a Friday morning press conference. "As they were removing an object from the river, they noticed what appeared to be Riley Strain."
The fire department retrieved Strain’s body from the river, and the medical examiner’s office reviewed his remains. Strain’s family has been contacted, Drake said.
"There are no signs of foul play at this time, according to the examination here at the riverbank," Drake said. "Mr. Strain still had the shirt on that he was wearing, had the watch and other identifying factors that helped us identify who he is."
The 22-year-old finance student was visiting Nashville for his fraternity's spring formal trip when he vanished. He had been out on Broadway drinking with friends at Luke Bryan's downtown bar, called Luke's 32, when staff asked him to leave.
Police say his phone pinged for the last time around Gay Street, part of which borders the Cumberland River.
Nashville police released a video of Strain greeting a police officer on Gay Street while the officer was checking parked vehicles for signs of a reported vehicle burglary just before the college student disappeared.
"Shown was Riley's brief exchange of greetings w/ Officer Reginald Young on Gay St., south of the Woodland St. Bridge, on the night of 3/8. Riley did not appear distressed. Officer Young was there on a vehicle burglary call & remained on that portion of Gay St. for 45 min," police said on X. "No video has been discovered that shows Riley away from Gay St after the 9:52 p.m. timeframe."
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Luke's 32 said in a statement that bartenders served Strain one drink before staff asked him to leave.
"At 9:35 p.m., our security team made a decision based on our conduct standards to escort him from the venue through our Broadway exit at the front of our building," the bar said in a March 15 statement. "He was followed down the stairs with one member of his party. The individual with Riley did not exit and returned upstairs."
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TC Restaurant Group indicated that they were working closely with authorities in the search for the missing college student.
After leaving the bar, Strain told his friends that he would head back to their accommodations at Tempo by Hilton, which is about five blocks away from Luke's 32, as FOX 17 first reported.
When his friends did not see him again at their hotel later that evening, they filed a missing persons report, Strain's cousin, Chelsea Strain, previously told Fox News Digital.
Strain's family flew to Nashville and became involved in the search immediately after his friends reported him missing.