NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Following an extensive search that stretched on for nearly two weeks, officials found missing Missouri student Riley Strain’s body Friday in the Cumberland River.
Authorities received a report of a body found in the river in the Nations neighborhood of West Nashville on the morning of Friday, March 22. After further investigation, the Metro Nashville Police Department confirmed it was the missing 22-year-old.
According to police, “no foul play-related trauma was observed.” An autopsy is pending.
Strain disappeared while on a fraternity trip in Nashville on March 8. One of his friends called 911 the next morning after saying he went to the Central Police Precinct and called the sheriff’s office to file a missing person’s report.
During the investigation into his disappearance, investigators analyzed several bits of surveillance video from different bars and businesses showing his path through downtown Nashville.
One of the final pieces of footage of Strain that night was bodycam video from a Metro Nashville officer who interacted with him on Gay Street just south of the Woodland Street Bridge.
Strain’s last phone ping was near James Robertson Parkway and Gay Street, where the search was focused for several days. Then, on Wednesday, March 20, officials began focusing efforts at the Cheatham Lock and Dam near Ashland City.
In addition to law enforcement, several volunteers and Strain’s family members were heavily involved in the search. It was two TikTokers who reportedly found Strain’s bank card on the riverbank days after he disappeared.
Strain’s family drove down to Nashville immediately after his friends alerted them to his disappearance on March 9. In an interview on March 15, Strain’s cousin, Jake Bradley, told News 2 there was much more to him than this picture of a “college kid having fun.”
“That’s not — if you saw him outside of that, his love and his care and his kindness were of a five-year-old boy that loved every toy he ever had, you know?” Bradley said.
Now that Strain has been found, the search will turn more to the investigative side. The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has been conducting a separate investigation to determine whether Strain was overserved the night he disappeared.
In a statement released last week, TC Restaurant Group, which owns and operates Luke’s 32 Bridge, said records show Strain purchased and was served one alcoholic drink and two waters before he was kicked out of the bar.
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