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Riley Strain: All We Know About His Disappearance

Riley Strain went missing on March 8, 2024, and two weeks later, the authorities found his body in a Nashville river. The 22-year-old University of Missouri student was traveling with his Delta Chi Fraternity brothers for their annual spring formal.

Strain was last seen by his friends when he was escorted out of the Luke Bryan bar based on their conduct standards. Sadly, Strain died of accidental drowning and alcohol intoxication.

Here is all we know Riley Strain's disappearance

Riley Strain disappeared on March 8, 2024

Riley Strain was traveling with his Delta Chi Fraternity brother to Nashville for their spring formal.  He and his friends went to hang out at Luke Bryan’s bar on March 8, 2024, but he was later asked to leave.

According to the spokesperson of the bar, the security team escorted Riley from the building through the Broadway exit at the front of the building after a decision was made based on the bar’s conduct standards.

Strain told his friends he was going back to the hotel where they were all lodged. His friends tried pinning his location on Snapchat but they could not so they tried calling him on their phones but all their calls went straight to voicemails.


When they realized there was a problem, they went on to report him missing. The police checked all the local hospitals and jails but could not find him. At that point, they knew it was time to inform his parents while the police continued the manhunt.

The security footage was taken from the metro Nashville police department by the owner of Luke’s 32 Bridge. On the surveillance video, Strain was seen stumbling after he left the bar.

Riley Strain’s parents arrived in Nashville on March 10 and they headed to where Riley’s phone was last pinned. Then on March 13, the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission launched an investigation to see if Strain was overserved at the bar.

The authorities later released another footage that showed Strain talking to one police officer identified as Reginald Young on the night he went missing. Officer Young was questioned and he revealed Strain did not seem distressed when he saw him.

The last known video of 22-year-old Riley is a video footage of him walking towards a bridge.

Riley Strain’s body was found in a River

On March 22, 2024, every parent’s worst nightmare happened. Strain’s body was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville. While there are sources that claim the authorities got a lead after two women, Anna Clemdening and Brandy Baenen found his bank card at the river bank, Fox News reveals Strain’s body was found two weeks after his disappearance when a company based along the Cumberland River reported seeing a body to the police.

An autopsy was carried out and the authorities clarified that there were no signs of foul play however, his family disagreed hence ordering another autopsy. The Strain family believed there might be some unsolved puzzles surrounding the whole case. When the deceased body was found, he was not wearing his belt, pants wallet, or the cowboy boots he had on the night he disappeared. There were speculations that if he wore his belt when he fell into the river, it (belt) would have held his pants.

Riley’s family cannot believe an excellent swimmer like their son might have drowned. To make things more complicated, a medical examiner from the first autopsy revealed that Strain had no water in his lungs.

Riley Strain: Cause of Death

Born January 2, 2002, Riley Ray Strain, a graduate of Kickapoo High School and a student of the University of Missouri Columbia, reportedly died of accidental drowning and alcohol intoxication. Fox News reported that Nashville police revealed that Riley had 12-15 drinks before college his death.

Also, the medical examiner stated that he had a blood alcohol level of .228% hence he died of ethanol poisoning. According to the investigation that was previously launched to determine if he was overserved, Strain consumed so much alcohol which started on a bus from Missouri to Tennessee against the bus driver’s strict no-alcohol rule.

Reports say he had at least five drinks on the way to Nashville including vodka shots and IPAs. The surveillance camera also showed he drank a margarita at a Mexican restaurant downtown. The puzzle here is that no one knows how and where he had consumed between 12 to 15 drinks on the day he went missing.

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