The body of missing college student Riley Strain has been found and recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville on Friday March 22, 2024, after a two-week search. The 22-year-old senior at the University of Missouri went missing on March 8, 2024, after a night out bar-hopping in Nashville.
He was with his Delta Chi fraternity brothers for their fraternity formal. Strain's body was spotted by workers at the river. An autopsy will likely be done on March 22, according to Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
"No foul play-related trauma was observed," police stated, with Drake suspecting the student accidentally fell into the river. Strain FaceTimed his mother the night he was out and didn't sound intoxicated, Chris Whiteid, his stepfather, said. They also exchanged a series of texts, the last one being the student telling his mom, "I love you."
Strain was captured on surveillance footage stumbling around Nashville streets after being kicked out of Luke's 32 Bridge bar. The bar records showed he ordered one alcoholic drink and two glasses of water. In the surveillance videos, he was alone and without his frat brothers, who reported him missing shortly after 1:30 a.m.
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Drake says the police department received over 200 tips during the search for Strain, one being that his debit card was found along a Nashville river. Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell posted on social media that the city would "continue to work toward improvements in safety in a variety of ways" due to the incident. "This is not the outcome that anyone hoped for — especially his parents and everyone who loved him."
